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MORE PC Ram, which one??

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:23 pm
by Miniwilliams
Hi I'm doing more and more photo work and images are taking a while to process.
So was thinking some more ram might be a good idea.

Me computer is a Dell Optiplex GX270 Pentium 4, 512 ram. It has 4 ram slots.

there are so many sorts and specs to buy and I know if I get the wrong ones the PC will run slower! :o

Any help would be great thanks.

Matt

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:28 pm
by alexb
As you've got 4 slots rather than 2 it seems you have the desktop-size GX270 instead of the Small Form Factor version. Therefore apparently you need:

DDR333 PC2700 184 pin CL2.5.

Something like one or 2 of these should do the trick (it will support up to 4GB):

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... 4294955847

Cheers,
Alex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:30 pm
by Miniwilliams
wow cheers Alex that's just the job. yes i have the larger desktop size machine.

One thing does it matter what the MHz is?

Many thanks :thumb:

Matt

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:26 pm
by alexb
No worries :)

I *think* if you use faster memory it'll just operate at the speed it needs, but if you get slower it will operate slower...

Cheers,
Alex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:43 pm
by Miniwilliams
are that makes sense. thanks for your help. :grin:

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:01 am
by Miniwilliams
Bought some ram a few weeks ago for another pc (1GB DDR PC2700 333MHz 184pin ) great i thought save some cash.

but when after placing it in the slot on it's own when i turn pc on it keeps bleeping, not sound nice any thoughts?

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:19 am
by alexb
Hmm, sounds like the POST (Power On Self Test) trying to tell you there's a problem. Apparently you can tell something's up from the pattern of bleeps but of course you need to know what the pattern means...

Sounds silly but is the memory fitted correctly? also if you add that new module to the exsiting installed memory does the machine boot? if so does it show the additional ram in the control panel system applet?

Cheers,
Alex

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:28 am
by Miniwilliams
That's interesting about the bleeping Alex.

And i'm sure it's fitted correctly as i tried it a few times. yes when i fitted it with another card, the control panel, didn't show the extra card size so it wasn't picking it up.

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:03 pm
by alexb
Bugger. As much as I hate to suggest it a call to Dell or a local PC business might be useful in determining exactly the memory type you need. In the mean time a google search for "Dell Optiplex GX270 memory" might be useful.

On another tack, if you can download some diagnostic s/w (I'm a mac user now but I seem to remember SiSoft Sandra's demo version would tell you) and get it to interrogate the working memory and I think it will tell you exactly what type, speed, timing (the CAS bit) it is.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Alex

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:07 pm
by Miniwilliams
That's top mate cheers, top man. =D>