RAM UPGRADE

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I HAVE A DELL DIMENSION 4550, 1GHZ, WITH 256 DIMM ORIGINAL RAM UPGRADED TO A TOTAL OF 768, CAN SUPPORT A TOTAL OF 1GB. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF IN ADDITION TO ADDING MORE RAM…CAN I UPGRADE TO A HIGHER SPEED RAM…I DON’T K NOW IF THIS VINTAGE DELL USES DDR RAM OR NOT. ANY INSIGHT??

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The technical specifications for your computer can be found here . Upgrading to a higher speed RAM won’t really accomplish anything, as the speed for the complete system is determined by the SLOWEST ram installed.

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John,

just after posting I located my configuration…my thought was updating all the ram…just don’t think my system would support the change from 333 mhz to 533mhz; found out that the pin configurations are different 184 v 240

Thanks John……..

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Even if the pinout was the same, John’s original statement about ‘not noticing the difference’ sic is still valid. You’re not going to get any noticeable increase in performance from it. Your computer’s speed is the result of many different components (bus speed, video, disk type, etc) and memory is just one of them.

With your current 768MB installed, I would guess it’s more than enough for what you use the machine to do. Adding more RAM would not result in any further performance increases unless you have many programs open simultaneously.

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Why are you looking to add RAM? What OS are you running?

Joe

--Joe

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Please don’t use ALL CAPS, it is the Internet equivalent of shouting
Thank you.

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Got it……thanks Hans

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Examination of the Crucial website for a Dell Dimension 4550 indicates that there are two variants, one with a 400 MHz FSB that supports 2 GB of memory, and the other with a 533 MHz FSB that supports 1 GB of memory. In both instances you have only two memory slots, so currently I presume your configuration is 1 x 256 MB and 1 x 512 MB of memory.

Leaving aside the minimal benefit that you would likely obtain from increasing memory above 768 MB (unless you are doing very intensive things with your PC, or have a large number of programs running simultaneously) you would have to remove (and discard or sell) either both of the current memory sticks or just one, depending on which FSB you have, to be able to install maximum memory. My view, and that of previous posters, is that for XP this ‘upgrade’ would probably be a waste of money…

John

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