Help finding two more dimms of ram.

[Tieox]

HI all.

 

As part of fixing this old Dell tower, I have need of 2x1GB Dimms of DDR2 Memory.  Attached below is one of the two dimms I just took out of the machine. (I've discarded the 2x512mb dimms which are pointless since I am putting a 64bit OS on it.

 

I can find listings on eBay such as :

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-HP-1GB-RAM-Stick-M378T2863QZS/293002549343?hash=item443850185f:g:CUsAAOSwYnhchl4s

 

 

But I notice a few differences, could I purchase two of those and likely be fine?

 

 

[FakeCIA]

While it is possible to mix RAM, you'll probably get an FBI raid on your house because they'll think you are mixing some LSD. I think you should just stick with the same, but I don't make LSD PC builds that often, so I'm unsure. I think you should choose 1 and make it consistent across the board.

[Tieox]

16 minutes ago, FakeCIA said:

While it is possible to mix RAM, you'll probably get an FBI raid on your house because they'll think you are mixing some LSD. I think you should just stick with the same, but I don't make LSD PC builds that often, so I'm unsure. I think you should choose 1 and make it consistent across the board.

Not sure on the LSD front and the FBI will need a boat to get to me being in the UK

 

Anyway, looking at it (been a long while I looked at DDR2 ram!) it seems most cost effective to triple check the board (G33m02) can support DDR2 800Mhz, and just getting it 4x1Gb sticks from eBay.

 

 

edit: To help those who may come here from Google this gives a good readout of the boards limitations:

 

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-foxconn-g33m02-specifications

 

[SupaKomputa]

You don't need identical stick.

Just match the Speed and capacity.

You can have this from any brand.

[Tieox]

3 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

You don't need identical stick.

Just match the Speed and capacity.

You can have this from any brand.

Thanks, I've been looking into these dimms in the machine they're all 667mhz, so I am ordering 4x1GB DDR2 800mhz for it. 

 

Main reason for the investment of time/monies the system belongs to the widow of the chap who bought it and it's her only way to stay in contact so it must survive at least for another decade or so. 

 

And if it can do a bit of light photo editing/video/music editing too, it will benefit her relatives too.  Does not have to be LTT standards of capable just enough for amateurs

 

 

[Hip]

You can also buy higher clocked RAM. It will always downclock to the lowest frequency though. I can see 2GB DDR2 RAM Sticks on ebay for 10 €

[SupaKomputa]

667 or 800 won't matter, same crap.

if you can, get 2gb sticks, more capacity is better than speed.

with 8gb you can comfortably use windows 10, even in old cpu.

[Tieox]

The motherboard in this machine is limited it seems to 4GB according to the above link.  So it's getting that. 

 

Tempting as it may be to replace the motherboard with the higher end available in this machine and a Q6600, it's getting a bit triggers broom by that point surely?

[SupaKomputa]

so they say, 4gb is considered very high back then when 512mb is enough and 2gb sticks is very expensive.

i've managed to get some system in that era with 8gb no problem.

A higher end motherboard with the latest chipset maybe a good idea.

Q6600 is still very capable for todays task - non gaming.

[Tieox]

2 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

so they say, 4gb is considered very high back then when 512mb is enough and 2gb sticks is very expensive.

i've managed to get some system in that era with 8gb no problem.

A higher end motherboard with the latest chipset maybe a good idea.

Q6600 is still very capable for todays task - non gaming.

Would go beyond the budget though I was given.  

 

Tempting as it may be, I'd have to sort a cpu cooler too, will have to give it some thought.

[SupaKomputa]

i managed to get my hand on a couple of super rare 4gb ddr2 sodimm, plug it to a "4gb max" core 2 duo macbook, and it worked.

showed that specs may not be that strict.

[Tieox]

The most demanding application this machine will ever run is Mixcraft for light audio editing.

 

All of this is at 1600x900.  I think the Core2Duo should easily suffice once I slim down Windows 10 a bit and disable stuff.  Plus it will all be on a brand new PNY SSD. 

[SupaKomputa]

many producers doing stuff with 2 cores back then with 5400rpm disk in their mac.

4cores + ssd would be a beast.

[Tieox]

I do agree with you, just working in the confines of a budget, all I can do is offer it too them and given any board I get is a gamble on a working unit given the age, I doubt they'll go for it. 

[Beerzerker]

2 hours ago, Kierax said:

Not sure on the LSD front and the FBI will need a boat to get to me being in the UK

 

Anyway, looking at it (been a long while I looked at DDR2 ram!) it seems most cost effective to triple check the board (G33m02) can support DDR2 800Mhz, and just getting it 4x1Gb sticks from eBay.

 

 

edit: To help those who may come here from Google this gives a good readout of the boards limitations:

 

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-foxconn-g33m02-specifications

 

Now you've gone and done it - They do have a few stashed (Somewhere) and they'll use 'em just to prove you wrong.

Good luck with that.

 

About Win 10 and RAM - It's gonna need all the RAM you can stuff into that board since it's DDR2 you're using, those don't come in the sizes sticks are sold as now.

 

Speeds aren't as important as just having enough of it to run smoothly but does help.

I'm with others on this, it's best to have it all the same to ensure all the sticks will play nice with each other.

I'd also look into a chip such as a Q8400 or a Q9550 like I have.

 

Both are great chips, faster than a Q6600 plus they run cooler/use less wattage (Q8400/Q9550 = 95W vs Q6600 = 130W) with faster clocks as default speeds for them.

Whatever you decide to do here, good luck.

[Tieox]

1 minute ago, Beerzerker said:

Now you've gone and done it - They do have a few stashed (Somewhere) and they'll use 'em just to prove you wrong.

Good luck with that.

 

About Win 10 and RAM - It's gonna need all the RAM you can stuff into that board since it's DDR2 you're using, those don't come in the sizes sticks are sold as now.

 

Speeds aren't as important as just having enough of it to run smoothly but does help.

I'm with others on this, it's best to have it all the same to ensure all the sticks will play nice with each other.

I'd also look into a chip such as a Q8400 or a Q9550 like I have.

 

Both are great chips, faster than a Q6600 plus they run cooler/use less wattage (Q8400/Q9550 = 95W vs Q6600 = 130W) with faster clocks as default speeds for them.

Whatever you decide, to do here, good luck.

The motherboard installed is limited by VRM power to Core2Duo's, installing a Q6660 will not post because of this. I could replace the board with the later one, but for the cost and the gamble of a good working on, I doubt they'd go for it.  

 

Given they're working at 1600x900 and have little reason to change (heck I have to find a DVI/VGA converter for them!) I hope this will be enough, and should it come up in conversation, I can look into a basic new case (thanks Dell for making the i/o panel WELDED IN THE CASE) and swapping quite a lot of the bits over to a Ryzen 3 system, keeping GPU/PSU/HDD/SSD/DVDRW Drive/CardReader etc.  

 

 

[Beerzerker]

Same basic thing with my REX, it doesn't really like quads but does fine with dual cores.

Do what you can do and go with it, I have to say a good E8500/8600 would be the ticket here.

[Tieox]

Just got the DGGM03 board which is the higher end one for the Inspirion 530 WITH a Q6600 installed with bios update already in place for under £30 delivered  

 

Means my budget is sat pennies off maxed that I was given, but should be a substantial upgrade that will see the machine last for a good few years yet.