I have an old Dell Precision 490 computer, for which I would like to upgrade the memory. It is vintage 2011, and came with Windows XP. Upon upgrading it to Windows 7 (32 bit), I realized that it didn’t have enough memory. There are 8 slots, with two of them populated with DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 512, 533M, 64X72, 8, 240, 1RX8, totaling 1 GB. I would like to get 6 more of these modules, but can’t find them anywhere. They are Kingston memory and have heat sinks on them.
Even with this little memory, the Win 7 performance index is about 5.0
According to the specifications page (link), you want DDR2 533Mhz ECC RAM. It’s unlikely to be in stores anymore, but you should be able to find it online (Amazon, NewEgg, etc). Make sure that it is a DIMM not a soDIMM as soDIMMs are usually for laptops.
Here is a website selling what you want: DRAM, Solid State Drive (SSD) & Memory Upgrades | Crucial.com
Also note that unless you are willing to re-install Windows using the 64 bit version (this would require a clean install), you will be limited to 4GB of RAM.
Thanks, AHarris. I need to use the 32 bit version, due to other software compatibility. Also, I don’t know what the maximum size of one DIMM is for this computer, but since there are 8 slots, I plan to just use 8 1/2GB DIMMs (the same as the two current ones).
The specs page suggests that 1, 2, and 4G DIMMS are supported.
If you are staying with 32 bit Windows, don’t install more that 4GB of RAM. You will just be wasting money.
Also, make sure that your BIOS is up to date. A quick search suggests that there is a bug in earlier versions that prevents the computer from seeing more than 2GB of Ram.
You might have a lot of trouble finding 512MB DIMMS at all, and even if you can, it’s likely to be much cheaper to use a few larger ones.
For old memory, eBay is the way to go.
Here’s 16GB of RAM that I believe will work for just $32.
And that was just the first result. You can probably go cheaper. That’s overkill, but if even one of those modules works, you’re done 
64 bit Windows will run almost all 32 bit Windows software. The exceptions usually being related to hardware and copy protection.
If the OP is trying to run a 16-bit program, then it won’t work. Other than that, yes, it should run most programs that work in previous versions of Windows.
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I was deliberately specific.
It was written for Win95; was that 16 bit?
Windows 95 was 32 bit.
Windows 3.0 and 3.1 (and NT 3.51) were 16 bit.
ETA: Windows 95, 98, and ME allowed direct hardware access. All versions of Windows NT have what is called the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) which prevents programs from directly accessing hardware. There are some programs written for Windows 95, 98, and ME that will not run on any version of NT.
Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10 are all versions of Windows NT.
If the program will run on XP, chances are very good that it will run on Windows 7 32 bit.
True, but a lot of programs were 16-bit, largely for backwards compatibility. And even if the program itself is 32-bit, the installer is often 16-bit.
And, AFAIK, there is no direct upgrade path from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows, meaning he would have to reinstall the application.
OP, it would probably just be best to name the programs you suspect aren’t compatible.
This particular program, Micrographix Designer, ran fine on my Win 7 32bit computer. I got a new hard disk and installed Win 7 64 bit, and Designer wouldn’t install.