What is special about this RAM?

[1405]

I have a pair of these Kingston 1333MHz sticks in a Dell Optiplex 9020 MT (2 x 4GB). I also have a couple other matched pairs of other brand DDR3 1333MHz RAM laying around that I wanted to add. But none of them will let the system boot when installed with the Kingston stuff. What is special about those sticks that I need to look for?

 

[awolfe63]

I have a pair of these Kingston 1333MHz sticks in a Dell Optiplex 9020 MT (2 x 4GB). I also have a couple other matched pairs of other brand DDR3 1333MHz RAM laying around that I wanted to add. But none of them will let the system boot when installed with the Kingston stuff. What is special about those sticks that I need to look for?

I think you need to look for other RAM that say 2Rx8

 

[william p]

Low Density RAM si what Dells require. Another notation to look for is ***x64 in the description. 256x64 would be 2 GB modules, 512x64 would be 4 GB. if you go to Crucial.com and search for memory kits you will see this in their listings.
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/optiplex-9020-%28desktop%29
High Density RAM would be ***x128 and need fewer chips on the modules. 256x128 would be 4GB.

 

[1405]

Thanks William P. But isn't it odd that late Dells (Haswell) still used older low density RAM? And what's worse, don't work with modern high density RAM? What's with that?

 

[william p]

Dell due to their size and close relationship with Intel, and other suppliers is often an early adopter of new tech. sometimes they're even involved in writing the specs. They were part of the UEFI project. So Dell may have offered DDR2, and DDR3 memory sooner than others, But AMD adopting later got the cheaper to make high density product. Dell doesn't mind being incompatible with aftermarket sources. But they do like to simplify their own inventory, so they stick with waht they already use.