Memory upgrade for DELL XPS-B 800?

[psongman]

Hi, I just bought a used Dell XPS-B 800 and want to upgrade from 256mb
to 512mb. I hope you can direct me to the right RDRAM (PC700 or PC800)
and where to get it, or bid on one via ebay. I am getting conflicting
reports, such as 512 is max but someone told me 1024, was possible.
Anyway, I will await your expertise and then move accordingly. Thanks
for listening and assisting, Derrick

 

[Bob Knowlden]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dmag/specs.htm

In brief, the system has two RIMM slots, and Dell claims that it needs 128
or 256 MB RIMMs, for a maximum capacity of 512 MB. (It's possible that this
isn't the actual limit - Dell tends to list only configurations that they
sold, even if others can work. Do you feel lucky?)

You might get more or better information from alt.sys.pc-clone.dell. I
haven't read it in years, but it used to be pretty good.

I'd normally refer you to www.crucial.com for a safe memory purchase, but
they don't sell RDRAM.

www.newegg.com lists 256MB RDRAM for approx. $90 (US) and up. (For
comparison: Newegg will sell you a 256 stick of PC133 SDRAM for about $30,
and PC3200 DDR for as little as $23.) This is part of the reason that RDRAM
isn't popular.

I suggest avoiding sinking much additional money into an old PIII system.
That's not to say that I think that you got a bad deal, but brand new
systems are cheap enough now that it may not make sense to spend a lot of
money on upgrades.

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

 

[psongman]

Hi, Bob, thanks for all the help. I guess I will wait until I check out
the unit. You are right about getting a newer unit. I have been
stalking ebay and people are bidding more for Dell packages than you
can get them from Dell, strange, this computer changeover is giving me
fits. OH well, got a good price on the unit and it came with Windows
XP, and a Cd burner, etc., all this stuff costs a lot more than $130 so
think I will use it for awhile and get a new one next year like you
stated. If you or anyone has any other ideas, fire away...knowing the
proper ram would help, pretty sure it is PC800 RDRAM. Heading out,
grateful, Derrick

 

[Bob Knowlden]

Derrick,

I have no personal experience with RDRAM, but I believe that PC800 is what
you want. (The Dell support site I gave in the earlier post has the
particulars.) If the memory already in the machine is one of the slower
variants, I believe that the PC800 would run at the same speed as the slower
stuff. It ought to be fully compatible.

You might have trouble finding RDRAM slower than PC800 at this time, anyway.
There's also PC1066 RDRAM (for 533 MHz FSB P4 systems that use the Intel
850E chipset), but I don't know whether it would be compatible with an older
system. (It would offer no advantage that I know of.)

I'm not knowledgeable about the fair market value of old computers, but if
you got the machine for $130, I'd guess that you did OK.

Use it for a couple of years, and then put it back on eBay. Maybe it'll be a
sought-after collectible: I believe that relatively few PIII machines with
i820 chipsets were sold. ;-)

Bob Kn.

Hi, Bob, thanks for all the help. I guess I will wait until I check out
the unit. You are right about getting a newer unit. I have been
stalking ebay and people are bidding more for Dell packages than you
can get them from Dell, strange, this computer changeover is giving me
fits. OH well, got a good price on the unit and it came with Windows
XP, and a Cd burner, etc., all this stuff costs a lot more than $130 so
think I will use it for awhile and get a new one next year like you
stated. If you or anyone has any other ideas, fire away...knowing the
proper ram would help, pretty sure it is PC800 RDRAM. Heading out,
grateful, Derrick

(Snip)