RAM question for Dell owners?

[Pokey93]

I am going to buy my father-in-law some more memory for his Dell computer for Christmas. My local Fry's has generic OEM pc133 256mb sticks on sale for $25. However, the salesman says that the Dell system may not accept this memory and that I should buy name brand RAM. Is this true or is he just blowing sunshine in my rear in order to make a larger sale?

Has any Dell owners out there had trouble with generic RAM?

Pokey

 

[eplebnista]

Hello,

I have a Dell Dim. XPS-R and had major problems getting the OEM ram to work with any generic ram. I had a lot of errors, BSOD, etc. I tried the generic by itself and it worked fine, so I left the OEM Ram out. All the modules were the rated at the same speed(PC100), type, etc. Here is a Link to some more info about Dells in general.

eplebnista

 

[MulLa]

Is it a Dell laptop you are talking about? I've had this guy come in with his Dell laptop (it's a Inspiron, or however they are spelt), the other day asking for a memory upgrade. He claimed that he's been to many other places and none of the rams they have works. I've tried a few different rams in it... (sorry can't remember what brands 😱) but it just doesn't like it.

If it's a laptop then I suggest you physically take it in and try it out first just to make sure it works.

 

[MasterHoss]

That's really, really odd. Why don't you pull out the try to get someone to look inside your father-in-law's computer and look at the chipmarkings on the RAM. What the hell kind of RAM chips does that Dell use?? Odd, my old Compaq computers (1997,1998) took mixed ram with the OEM Hyundai (sp?) stuff...I'm talking 3 different DIMMs without problems.

But check out getting some good stuff...get Crucial PC133 SDRAM...it's still cheap.

 

[John]

The Fry's dude is correct, some Intel mobos do not like high density modules. You may or may not have problems.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

just buy the memory from dell's software & accessories page,
dell brand (actually original Micron made module) pc133 256M could be less than $25 after 25% discount.
don't buy the overpriced junk memory from fry's.

 

[bluemax]

I got lucky... the new Dimension 4300 uses plain old PC-133 SDRAM. I grabbed a 256MB module from a seller who would take it back if it didn't work, and it works fine. Way cheaper than Dell Canada's STUPID memory pricing.

I'm going to run a memory test all the same, just to be 100% sure it works perfectly. IE crashes regularly, but nothing else. Could be the fault of bad RAM - most likely just IE sucks. 😉 NOTHING else crashes, no BSOD.

 

[AmigaMan]

Spend a couple dollars more and get Crucial. Only around $40 for 256MB of PC133. Not the cheapest price, but it's guaranteed to work with Dells.

 

[Horsepower]

I added generic ram to my XPST and XPSR with no problems, BUT I once got a stick from Fry's that didn't have the right coding to tell the mobo what speed it was.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

<< BUT I once got a stick from Fry's that didn't have the right coding to tell the mobo what speed it was. >>

That's because it has improperly written spd or even doesn't have spd. Most cheapy generic memory are like that.

 

[Vegito]

I have work on a lot of dell systems 75% of the memory came form crucial, except the rdram - samsung, had some toshiba and something else... forgot what it was.. most of the newer sdram are from Crucial/Micron

 

[neuralfx]

the fry's guy was, kind of right, but mostly giving a generic cop out .. what model do you have? last week i upgraded my works "server" with 2 256 PNY sticks, its a poweredge 1300 or something like that, it really depends on the model .. if its fairly newer, its pretty much bank that standard memory will work .. well just my thoughts ..
-neural

 

[heartsurgeon]

Dell + PNY memory - no problem.

you can always call up the customer service for the memory company, or go to there web site to see if you choice is compatible with your computer. i have not been mislead by this information (yet). good luck -