Upgrading RAM in Dell Inspiron 8600

[embetsmeister]

Howdy,
I'm upgrading my RAM (and buying a new hard drive) after my computer crashed often enough and the hard disk died completely (data recovery attempts are in the works).

I'm looking at the Patriot Signature 1 GB 184 Pin DDR 333 (PC 2700) RAM, which comes with heat spreaders (I'd be getting two (1 GB) RAM chips). The reviews are pretty much positive, but I'd like to know if this is the best deal for a computer that will be in use for a couple more years. I know that the Inspiron 8600 tends to run hot, but do you think the heat spreaders would make much of a difference? Is this a good choice for the RAM upgrade?

//background & FYI
I don't do much gaming on this machine (although that could change) - I have a 128 MB NVIDIA graphics card. I primarily use Firefox, iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, MS Excel (2003) and soon, also Dreamweaver...probably Visual Studio too. I tend to have a crap-ton of tabs open in Firefox, so it usually takes up most of the RAM when I have multiple programs running. I tend to force-quit any other programs/processes that aren't critical to the system though. That's when I run WinXP. When the new hard disk comes in, it'll be dual-boot Linux (Ubuntu 7.10) and WinXP

Thank you!

[qrs321]

What is your budget for 2 gigs? These recommendations are PC 3200(DDR 400) ram. It's faster, and also cheaper because it is more common. The price is for a 1 gig stick.

Cheap: $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220030

Mid-range: $42
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146545

High end: $57
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104013

good luck, if you have any additional info just post!

[qrs321]

Also, you wanna make sure your board is compatible with PC 3200. Cause i saw you posted some PC 2700.

[embetsmeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qrs321

Also, you wanna make sure your board is compatible with PC 3200. Cause i saw you posted some PC 2700.

Yeah, I think my mobo is only compatible with DDR 333 PC 2700 - It's a laptop, bought it new in March 2004 so it's been around for a bit, although still pretty awesome.

Thank you for your recommendations! I wish they would have fit - the cheaper one would have been fine, I bet.

//edit
Oh! I'd like to spend no more than $100 USD total for the two (1 GB) chips. I'd prefer to spend no more than $75, but $100 USD is my cut-off.

[fourthbean]

You need to get laptop ram not desktop ram (laptop ram is smaller in size). You won't have to worry about heatsinks as in laptops that is not common for ram. The ram should not get anywhere near hot enough to cause any trouble in a laptop. Here is a search on newegg for 1GB sticks of ddr1. I would opt for a name brand such as patriot (40 bucks after rebate) or ocz. Looks like you can still get in just under your 100 dollar mark with either of these after shipping.

Running pc3200 (400mhz) ram should not be a problem as your motherboard will simply run it at a lower clock speed (333) where the cpu is at.


Link to newegg search

[sr71000]

Hey guys. This is a friend of mine. It takes ddr333 sodimms. I recommended http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820172109

What do you guys think?

btw bets...latest stable version of ubuntu now is 8.04

[embetsmeister]

This one by Crucial cost $4 less ($49.99/each) because it's on sale: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145068

Patriot has this one at $46.99 each (they were $39.99 last night, bummer!)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220111

Any recommendations with respect to Patriot vs. Crucial vs. Kingston? If Kingston is more kick-arse, I'll go with that.

If I were to get pc3200, would it heat up the motherboard more, even though it'd run at a lower clock speed? Those are a bit more expensive, though.

Ah...I forgot it was April. (Almost May)

Dual-boot Ubuntu 8.04 & WinXP it is.

Thank you all for your input on this. I'm just getting back into this after years of neglecting my passion for computers, hardware and coding.

[qrs321]

Yah sry, didn't know it was a laptop. Didn't really read the "Inspiron" part.

I recommend the Crucial...much better reviews

And the PC 3200 really isn't worth the heat. No point in risking frying your computer for a little extra performance

[sr71000]

putting ddr400 ram in a computer that only takes ddr333 with a locked bios that doesn't allow you to modify clock speeds can be a dangerous (bad) thing. Rendered my dell inspiron unbootable . As long as I run with a stick of ddr 333 and a stick of ddr 400 it automatically underclocks my ddr400. If i run all ddr400 is won't boot. My emachines desktop freaked out with ddr400 ballistix ram as well! If your laptop calls for ddr333 you should always put ddr333 in as opposed to ddr400. ddr400 won't necessarily produce more heat. It's just that it can cause all sorts of crazy issues if your computer isn't smart enough to handle the differences....just speaking from my experiences.

[embetsmeister]

Thank you all for your feedback. That's neat that the DDR 333 will underclock the 400 - kind of like "you're only as fast as the slowest man on the team".

I ended up getting the 1GB Crucial, although just one stick and just in time; as of today, the price went up to $69.99 ($20 more) and they tacked on shipping (which was free when I ordered). I also ordered a 512MB PC 133 for my Thinkpad, which has an open slot and is currently running on a sole 256MB chip.

I'll update again once I receive and install. Thank you all again!!!