RAM for the Dell Inspiron XPS

Hmm..I bought a Dell Inspiron XPS... and ...im sorta worried....i included a 256mb ATI radieon Mobility 9800 GPU and i chose... 512mb DDR SDRAM for my Inspiron XPS over 1 GB primarily because its $215 bucks less for 512mb RAM... hmm... i wonder is there a HUGE difference between 512mb and 1 GB of DDR SDRAM that it DECREASES performance when i play something like UT2004 on the HIGHEST POSSIBLE settings?..or is there NOT MUCH of a difference... Please help i need to feel 100 percent sure that i made the right decision on getting 512mb RAM instead of 1 GB...can someone comfort me on this subject...THANK YOU ALL...

 

no i meant the 512mb RAM costed.... 215 dollars LESS than the 1 GB... thats why i bought it

 

Instead of getting your notebook with 512MB, you should have seen if they had a 256MB option. It is a ripoff to buy your memory pre-installed in most if not all notebooks. At least you didn't buy the full 1GB...Jeeze $215 for 512MB, that's robbery! After you get your notebook or even right now if you know you want another 512MB, go to www.newegg.com or www.crucial.com and order it. I know the going price for 512MB of PC2700 for notebooks is between $90 & $100.

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

By the way, you can get 2 512MB modules from Newegg.com for around $180.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

I recently upgraded my RAM from 512MB to 1024, and it was a gigantic difference. Whoever told u it would decrease performance has had little experience upgrading computers. That radeon 9800 is extremely bottlenecked. Here is what gaming was like before and after my upgrade:
Max. playable specs:
1280x800
medium detail (still stutterred a lot due to paging from insufficient RAM, stuttered just as much at 320x240) barely playable, definitely not pleasant.
Loading time: 86 seconds
Time to be able to do other stuff after closing UT: around 60 seconds

After upgrade:
1680x1050
High detail (WAY smoother than before, lovin it)
Loading time: 36 seconds
Time to be able to do other stuff after closing UT: 3 seconds!!!!!!

I upgraded afterwards to a 7200 RPM HDD and that cut loading time to around 20 seconds. This was the best upgrade I have ever made. Unreal tournament and Windows XP combined totaled to around 800 megs of my RAM use. Before the upgrade, that meant 388 megs had to be paged on the hard drive, accounting for the stutter every 3 seconds. before the upgrade, I would load only after I have died a few times. Now, I'm usually the first one
[ ]
Bottom line: 1GB is the MINIMUM for a gaming system.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

Yea dont skimp on the ram, thats one thing that can mean your computer is good for 1 year or 3 years.

And it also increases performance in just about every way.

512MB isnt bad, but its just about the minimum now so wont be good for games in the near future.

Dell is pretty good about changing orders, give them a call if you can get another $215. Honestly you should change this, I couldnt in good conscience say its alright. If you just got it you can send it back within a couple weeks too.

 

Defenetly need at least a gig of ram for todays nextgen games, and when I bought my 9100 I don't remeber the upgrade being so much, but if you are going to get ram from Newegg make sure it's pc3200 seeing how thats whats meant to be used in it and anything else would just hinder proformance...

I just looked online (09/21/04) and it was $190 for the upgrade, The big thing with Dell is you have to check there promotions for a little while before you buy, and make sure they have free upgrades that will help with coasts when you upgrade like on the 9100 free upgrade to 512MB instead of the stock 256MB that'll help with the overall price.
Curently I don't think you can't beat the 9100 for proformance vs price... Does anyone know how much faster the IXPS is over the I9100!?

"To Be Great Is To Be Missuderstood" ~Unknown

Dell Inspiron 9100
Pentium4 3.2GHz Desktop
1GB DDR 400MHz
60GB Ultra ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9800, 256MB, 256-Bit Graphics Card