View Full Version : Some Questions on Getting More RAM
XboxMaster
02-17-2005, 11:19 PM
Hey, I'm pretty satisfied with my computer specs right now, but I'm thinking of upgrading in the future. I'm running on a Dell 8400; I got a Pentium 4 : 3 GHZ, 512 MB RAM, and a RADEON X300 Series. This all came witht he package I bought, so I haven't currently done anything to it. My computer can run Half-Life 2 smoothly, and Far-Cry pretty good. Therefore, I don't really need anymore right now, but should I get more for upcoming games? If so, how much more/how/how much does it cost? In general, how is my current set-up (quality)?
guyver2077
02-17-2005, 11:22 PM
512 aint bad. you might want to look into another 256 or 512 stick. id probably upgrade your vid card before the ram....
SpeedFire
02-17-2005, 11:27 PM
1gb is pretty much standard now. If you wanna game in high settings you pretty much need it.
What you need to find out is what speed RAM you are currently running.
Kayden
02-17-2005, 11:28 PM
FarCry, HL2 and Doom 3 are the most taxing games I can think of... the only things I can think of for you now are 1) get something other than a damn dell! :P and 2) more ram! Ram is the PC gamers best friend.
CPU and GPU are both important, but nothing criples your gamage like too little ram.
512 stick will be 50-120 depending on the quality and brand... Kingston or Corsair are your best bets.
1gb will be about 100-200, again, depending on the maker.
If you want to get the 512 make sure its the same model as your current stick, sometimes different brands arent compatible.
XboxMaster
02-17-2005, 11:32 PM
1gb is pretty much standard now. If you wanna game in high settings you pretty much need it.
What you need to find out is what speed RAM you are currently running.
How would learn what speed my RAM is running at?
Kayden
02-17-2005, 11:51 PM
1gb is pretty much standard now. If you wanna game in high settings you pretty much need it.
What you need to find out is what speed RAM you are currently running.
How would learn what speed my RAM is running at?
:rofl:
GB is a denomination of size. GHZ is the clocking speed of your cpu.
oh... but incase you almost know what youre talking about...
try a tool like aida32 and that will give you a total system rundown.
SOSTrooper
02-18-2005, 11:26 AM
If you bought the 8400 recently, this spec sheet (http://outlet.us.dell.com/Dispatcher?target=SpecPage&serviceTag=ZB29TJA7&ses sionID=CWFaj6qS!1100119921!-753979861!1108739546911&tgtSeg=I) says your PC should have a 400MHz (or PC3200) DDR2 memory. I'm guessing it's a one piece 512MB, but you can open up the case to check. You're not required to get the same brand or size of memory, but that is somewhat difficult to do if you don't know what brand of memory Dell uses (most likely Samsung, Infineon, Kingston or the likes). Just get some memory w/ brands you can recognize, Kingston and Crucial are a good start. Don't get ECC either, since the piece you have in your computer isnt ECC. Also don't mix DDR w/ DDR2, DDR2 has more pins (240) than the original (184).
Steggy
02-19-2005, 01:49 AM
get this. I use two of these in the system im on now http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-139&depa=0
nah... thats not really necessary for you. For real get a stick of this http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-424&depa=0
some reason im just a kingston whore :)