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chanant
10-01-2003, 02:18 AM
I have recently purchased a Dell Dimension 2400 P4 2.2G that comes with only 128mg DDR PC2700 RAM. Planing to increase RAM by purchasing a stick of 512mg PC2700 or PC3200. Question is can I use the 128mg and 512mg sticks together to achieve 640mg? The MB only has two memory slots. Someone told me that if I were to use 2 sticks of memory, they better be the same speed and same size...true or false?


:)
pave_spectre
10-01-2003, 02:35 AM
You should have no trouble using both a 512 and a 128 stick so long as they are both PC2700.

Only the speed ratings really need to be the same to work properly.
Budfred
10-01-2003, 02:59 AM
However, the Windoze version you are using may make a difference. I am guessing you are using WinXP which will love the extra memory. However WinME and I believe Win98 get indigestion with anything over 512...
saphalline
10-01-2003, 03:59 AM
Only the speed ratings really need to be the same to work properly.That rule can be bent, also. ;) Well, actually what happens is all RAM will operate at the speed of the slowest stick, so mixing PC2700 with PC3200 will force both to PC2700 speed.
mjc
10-01-2003, 09:39 AM
That machine comes with XP so the OS limitations shouldn't be a concern, plus, I believe, the machine has a limitation of 1024MB....so you should be ok.

But I thought that for right now it came with 256MB (128MB base and free 128MB upgrade.....or is that only for buying online, not sure)....if that is the case then you would be looking at 768MB, which for XP is actually more than enough (for now... ;) ).
chanant
10-01-2003, 09:56 AM
Thank you folks. My OS is XP and it uses shared video, therefore I need more RAM for sure. Right now is 128mg, what should be the appropriate RAM for this situation?

My older computer is a Dell P3 450 with 98SE with 640mg RAM, what kind of indigestion should I expect? A slower speed?
Budfred
10-01-2003, 10:03 AM
Here is some info from Microsoft (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;253912) about the RAM issue...
Gwen
10-01-2003, 02:27 PM
If the main use of your computer is for internet and games, 256MB of memory is all you will ever need. I suggest that you purchase another 128MB stick of memory with the same specifications for processor speed. Also check and see if you have SIMM or DIMM memory sockets. Plugging in the wrong type will cause damage.
mjc
10-02-2003, 01:22 AM
If the main use of your computer is for internet and games, 256MB of memory is all you will ever need.

No matter what way you look at it XP DOES perform much better with 512MB than 256MB...
chanant
10-02-2003, 08:34 PM
Thank you all for the advises. I just made a purchase on ebay for a 512MB stick PC2700, it should solve my problems.