I want to buy a sGB stick of RAM to put in my Dell Inspiron 1420, but when I search I see all this stuff about pins and DIMM. I don’t really know what it all means. How do I find out the specifications I need for the RAM?
Read the manual. More than likely, it’ll tell you whether it’s DDR, DDR2, etc… and the acceptable speeds.
From the promotional stuff it looks like you need DDR2 dual channel 667 mhz memory.
It might also be indicated in the computer’s BIOS. When you start up the machine, you might see “Press <DEL> to open setup” or some such. There’s lots of info in there; just don’t save any changes.
And of course you could always pull the existing memory and take it to the store for comparison. In fact, I recommend opening the computer before going shopping simply to see if you have available slots for new memory.
cnet had a recent discussion about finding RAM for an older PC. I notice they recommend Crucial’s website also. There are some more tips in the discussion.
Not to be a nay-sayer, but I just ran that program on my Dell and it didn’t work at all. It told me I have 0 sticks of ram for 0 Megs installed and that that was the maximum possible for my system.
I’d suggest double checking what it says.
I’d be interested in the make and model of your PC.
Dell Inspiron 530, I don’t know remember the motherboard model off hand motherboard off hand.
I actually have 2Gigs of DDR2-800, with two slots open,if that helps
I recommend Belarc advisor. It’s a down load, but will tell you more about your PC than you ever wanted to know.
The report is organized well and you can print it out.
What the…? It’s advising me to step away from the computer and get back to renovating my bathroom!
Seconded. Excellent little tool.
Although i’ve never had trouble with Crucial’s memory tool either.