Dell XPS 1330 RAM upgrade

Love my new 1330 but want to take it to the next level with RAM. I opted for the 2 GB DDR2 667MHz (2DIMM) at time of purchase from Dell. Could you help me -- will I see a benefit at 4 or only up to 3? Currently have Vista Home Premium with the 128 Nvidia.

Are there 4 slots so I can just buy incremental RAM? Thanks.

 

only two slots for the memory module

 

No, you will not notice a difference going from 2GB - 4GB. You are using a 32-bit OS so it will not see more than ~3.25 GB of it.

At this point, the sweet spot for RAM is 2GB, unless you are doing some serious power computing with your laptop with RAM intensive apps (photoshop, etc).

 

Similarly even if you move to 4Gb and go to 64 Bit, you wont see a difference unless you are using games or more ram intensive applications.

I actually find that 64bit manages my ram better and there is less in use now than there was with the 32 Bit system...strange.

 

That is incorrect. There is a difference between 2 GB and 4 GB, and under Santa Rosa, you will get 3.5 GB, not 3.25 GB. My boot-up time with 4 GB is 20 seconds from logo to welcome on the Dell factory-installed Vista. Word, Outlook, etc. start up in about 1 second. You will not see those times with 2 GB of RAM.

I would definitely go for it, if you have the money; it's not required, but I think you will certainly feel the difference. Also, the one time you do want to render a video or edit photos of the family dog, you will be grateful to have 4 GB under the hood, as Vista really needs 2 GB just to get moving.

 

i agree with samuel613, you can see the difference especially when running softwares...

 

Thanks to all so far -- very helpful . Does it mean I have one 2G installed with an open slot for another to be added? Or could I have two 1G installed -- where can I confirm that at?

Any recommedned vendors -- newegg maybe?

Thanks,

 

you can check it online or you can check the order details of you system but most probably you have 2 1GB Memory

 

You apparently don't know what you are talking about. The amount of RAM you have has absolutely no effect on boot-up times.

And on the "Santa Rosa" comment, you are wrong again. That is just the intel specified platform (ie northbridge/southbridge, FSB speeds, etc) and has nothing to do with RAM. The amount of RAM addressed in any 32-bit OS is limited by 32-bit addressing.

I wish ppl would think before spewing comments

 

I upgraded to 3gb ram and I notice a difference while running vista. It is definitely faster in loading apps.

 

Here we go:

Size does not equal speed. The problem with laptop memory is that they tend to have high latencies and slower timings than their desktop counterparts. Most of the DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) chips are all CAS 5, except some G.Skill RAM I have seen (but not tested).

Basically, as FSB speeds increase, the memory is running at higher frequencies to match FSB (except the current Santa Rosa platform - the cpu is running at 800MHz, while the memory is at 667MHz). However, manufacturers are dealing with higher frequencies by changing the timings, thus most 533Mhz DDR2 PC 4200 chips are just as fast as the 667Mhz chips.

What you are noticing is a placebo effect because computers just don't work that way. Also keep in mind that at 3GB your RAM will actually be running slower. This is because it is not in dual channel mode and is not utilizing both 64-bit data channels in tandem for a total throughput of 128-bit.

I have tested Vista with 2,3,and 4 GB. Even at 2GB I had about 1.25GB free. Unless you have 8 million apps running at startup and are running some serious CAD, you will not need the extra 1.25GB that 4GB will give over 2GB.....

 

I don't know what you tested, but I've used various flavors of Vista with 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB, and I can tell you with certainty that there is a very noticeable difference between the 3 configurations.

On my 4 GB system (3.5 GB available to Windows), with only Firefox and Outlook running, I am using close to 1.5 GB of RAM and Windows is using 1 GB of my swap file.

That's for numbers. I can tell you that you will not find Word, Outlook, etc. opening in 1 second with fewer than 4 GB of RAM. You also will not get a boot-up time of 20 seconds with even 2 GB or RAM.

Vista with only 1 GB is far from a pleasurable experience, and very different than 4GB.

Also, you're much better off with 3 GB (even without dual channel) than 2 GB, as you will have more RAM available, rather than constantly swapping out to the page file.

 

I am done arguing the fact that the amount of RAM you have has absolutely ZERO bearing on speed.

I don't know how more plainly I can put it (sesame street doesn't have a "fundamentals of microprocessing" course that I am aware of).

Enjoy living in your alternate universe.....

 

You apparently are very arrogant, in addition to being misinformed. Here are two facts. On a Precision M90 (non-Santa Rosa) only 3.25 GB out of 4 GB is available. On an M1330 (Santa-Rosa) 3.5 GB out of 4 GB is available.

Incidentally, 32-bit means it can address 4 GB of RAM, though some of that address space is used for other memory, reducing the amount of system RAM available to be addressed.

As for boot-up, you can't be serious? With less memory, Windows can do less at once, therefore will need more time.

Peace.

 

Maybe if we are talking about 512MB or 1GB of memory. But that's not what we are talking about, is it?

The OP started off by saying he has 2GB; therefore, I told him that you will not see a difference by putting in 4GB.

 

As I said, I humbly disagree. I upgraded a Dell with 2 GB to 4 GB - same exact system, and the performance was noticeably better with 4 GB vs. 2 GB.

Peace.

 

Does ram make apps load faster? I mean, isn't that to do with the time it takes to get the app loaded from the HD onto the ram? If so I don't see how having extra ram could help.
Also - although again I'm not sure - as I understand it vista is pretty clever when it comes to using your ram and caches programs you use often: perhaps the load time has increased simply because vista has started preloading it?

 

Vista has something called Superfetch, which pre-loads programs based on usage patterns. If you use Firefox a lot, then even if you close it, Vista will try to keep it in RAM and switch to it when you do click on the Firefox icon. It's like a smart RAMdisk...even better because the program doesn't have to be moved from RAMdisk to RAM, it just runs from where it is. Of course running programs take priority, so with 2GB it might have to abandon the effort to keep five different programs waiting in RAM, whereas with 4GB it stands a better chance.

So, while more RAM doesn't make physical disk reads any faster, it can make program loading much faster in Vista. Works only if you use that program a lot; it won't help with programs you're using for the first time, or if you have twentyseven windows open.

More RAM won't decrease booting time.

Sleey0: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

 

Chuckles,

I am glad someone here has some sense

 

I've been following the M1330 each week and it appears Dell Canada has dropped their price by $100 and also expanded their upgrade options. Previously they were offering 4GB for $400 and now it's up to $500.

My question is, what is the difference between paying Dell $500 for 4GB or taking a 1GB configuration, pulling out their memory and replacing it with CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory (VS2GSDS667D2) from Canada Computers which retail for $119, so x2 is $238 total?

 

Thats the smart move and I did exactly that with Canada Computers when they had the OCX deal on.

 

Do you know if it's possible to simply order a unit with no RAM at all? Seems like a hassle to go through the process of reselling the memory on eBay or something.

 

Hey, I see it's been quite a while since the last post, but I'll try -
I have the XPS M1330, 2GB ram etc, running Vista Business.

I thought this will be a very strong one but I found that after a while, when I have multiple IEs opened, Outlook, Excel and SQL tools, then I'm experiencing some memory problem, like right-click disabled and other features. Not to mention that some progs like Photoshop wont open then.

My question is - if I'm upgrading to 3GB (1 + 2 slots?), will it improve something?

Additinally, how do I know the manufacturer of the RAM? Can I just put another memory or it must be identical to the other slot?

Thanks...