Now I have a RAM question

[1tchy trigger]

Thought this would be simple to upgrade, but its turinging into a knightmare.

I have 128 Mb non ecc rdram (365mhz) - my question is : if I want to upgrade do I have to keep with this type of RAM? I've checked up on this particular spec and to get 512MB one company quoted my more than £350 !! Most other places don't stock it at all (Crucial Memory etc).

I've tried putting extra memory in before, but they don't fit into the slot (mine seems to be an unconventional design).

My PC is a Dell XPS B1000, P3 1 GHz. Any help would be brilliant!

 

[.Cask]

£350 for 512mb RAM?

You could get a brand new mobo, processor and 512mb DDR for that

 

[S-Gray]

Rambus Memory...

That was one bastard, i had a P3 Mobo which supported that type of Memory and i went to hell and back.

Rambus Memory is fast, but it gets Hot and plus it was taken over by DDR memory which is Faster and Cheaper.

I had a Hard time finding the Memory Cheap and in the end i give up and opted to buy a new Motherboard.

 

[Trem]

I dont think DDR is faster SG, hmm maybe i dont know shit though. Go for a sheep instead 1tchy they are better in bed.

 

[1tchy trigger]

But you can't play Battelefield 1942 on a sheep (although riding one into battle might be fun!).

OK - what motherboard do you recommend - you might have guessed that my hardware knowledge is a bit ropey.

 

[S-Gray]

heh, cant remember now then if it is faster, but i know the memory gets hot i believe they have to have Plating to stop control the Heat...

Infact, i think i have my 256RD Ram in my Old Computer (Optiplex) i used that computer to take out Parts etc, its Toshiba Branded if i recall

*Goes have a looksy*

 

[Will]

I've really being avoiding posting on this thread because of the huge numbers of issues I'm going to dig up if I get started, but let's begin.

365MHz RAM = wrong. At least, I really hope it is.

The reason it won't fit is, most likely, that it's the wrong type of RAM. Do you know if your motherboard takes SDR ram, DDR ram, or RDR ram?

 

[1tchy trigger]

According to the parts list I received from Dell it is indeed 365MHz ... /me runs away.

Not sure, but I guess it takes RDRam

 

[Yaka]

rd is faster than ddr ram its a fact

 

[Will]

Yeah, I did a quick search on your PC, and it takes RDR (Rambus) RAM. I have to say I'm not familiar with Rambus at all, and I'm really a bit surprised to see it on a PIII system.

I'll bow out gracefully here, and let an Intel boy take over.

 

[S-Gray]

With the constant cat-and-mouse game AMD and Intel have been playing, it's no surprise that the 1Ghz Pentium III has arrived at the same time as the 1GHz Athlon.
It's not just the processor that's special in Dell's new flagship product, though. It's supported by an Intel VC820 motherboard, with its i820 chipset giving support for RAMBUS (DRDRAM) memory. The big advantage of Direct RDRAM is higher bandwidth - the single 128Mb Samsung PC700 module in the B1000 gives a peak transfer rate of 1.3Gbytes/sec, as opposed to 763Mbytes/sec for a standard PC100 DIMM module. The much-publicised technical problems of the system means the number of RIMM sockets are limited to two, however.

Unusually for a system vendor, Dell is now taking the lead on the component manufacturing front. The B1000 Special Edition sports Dell's GeForce 256-based graphics card, with DVI output, plus DDR (double data rate) SGRAM. Nothing too unusual there except that there's 64Mb of it, making it the first GeForce to sport more than 32Mb and reducing the performance hit from pulling textures from main memory over the AGP bus.

The Pentium III is a Slot 1 device and, as with the 1Ghz Athlon, is no different from the Coppermine PIIIs, except that it's clocked faster and runs with an increased 1.7v core voltage. Not surprisingly, the 1Ghz PIII is an EB chip, with a front-side bus speed of 133Mhz, helping to take advantage of that increased memory bandwidth offered by the RDRAM.

To eliminate any potential heat problems, the CPU in the B1000 has a monstrous heatsink mounted on it, and is actively cooled by the company's standard arrangement of a cowling that directs air flow from the case fan. This does make things look a little cramped in the case, but the cowling is easily removed to get access to the processor.

The rest of the system is up to scratch, with the processor and graphics card supported by Quantum's latest 30Gb Fireball Plus LM hard drive. Its specs equal the more popular IBM Deskstar GXPs, with a spindle speed of 7200rpm and a 2Mb data buffer.

Dell hasn't forgotten to pay attention to that all-important aspect of any high-end system, the monitor. It's thinly disguised with a Dell badge, but it's a Sony-made 19in FD Trinitron unit. It's not up to the standard of Sony's latest G500 19-incher, with an older variant tube that has variable centre-to-edge grille pitch, but it's still an excellent monitor that will manage 1280 x 1024 with no problem.

As far as expansion capability goes, the VC820 maintains Intel's goal of legacy-free systems by denying you any ISA slots, but you do get three free PCI slots, with the other two occupied by the 56K modem and SoundBlaster Live! Value sound card. With the presence of the NEC DVD drive and the Sony CD-RW drive with eight-speed CD-R, four-speed CD-RW and 32-speed CDRom performance, there are no more 5.25in bays, but there are two front panel 3.5in bays spare, plus an internal 3.5in drive cage.

Just about the only state-of-the-art feature that the Dell lacks is an optical mouse, but the three-button Logitech Mouseman Wheel is pretty good. Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition and Norton AntiVirus 2000 provide a solid software base.

With a SYSMark 2000 score of 184 and almost 5000 3DMarks, the B1000 outclasses the Athlon-equipped Mesh Matrix 1Ghz Ultra in the speed stakes. But a serious downside is that the graphics card, the 820 motherboard and RDRAM all add up to a considerable price premium over the Mesh, making the B1000 affordable only for seriously dedicated early adopters. And the provisos regarding the installation of Windows 98 and the small quantity of RAM on such a powerful system apply as much to this machine as they do to the Ultra.

Overall, though, it looks like AMD needs to release the Thunderbird Athlon and come up with DDR SDRAM-based systems to carry on competing effectively with Intel in pure performance terms.

Questions of price aside, there's no denying the Dimension B1000 SE is a top-notch system in every sense of the word, and if you must have the fastest machine around, it's the PC to go for.

Contact Dell 0870 907 5869

 

[Will]

And RDR is faster than DDR. But not for the price.

 

[1tchy trigger]

Thanks for the feedback guys, but now I'm more confused than ever - do I go for the RDR or buy a new Motherboard + DDR?

If the latter, then which motherboard do you recommend for a P3 processer and (just bought it today thanks to your advice) Leadtek GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB?

 

[Will]

I'd just upgrade the RAM on the motherboard you've got, I wouldn't upgrade the mobo for a PIII.

 

[1tchy trigger]

Once again - thanks for your feedback guys!

I've found a site that caters for the Dell XPS B1000 and have just purchased the RAM.

[fingers_crossed] Everything will arrive and work without any problems - or no doubt you'll be hearing from me again [/fingers_crossed]

 

[S-Gray]

Price for Memory?

 

[tris-]

Originally posted by 1tchy trigger
But you can't play Battelefield 1942 on a sheep (although riding one into battle might be fun!).

OK - what motherboard do you recommend - you might have guessed that my hardware knowledge is a bit ropey.

KT333, latest model what ever it is, athlon xp 2200+ 512 mb DDR ram =

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by 1tchy trigger

I have 128 Mb non ecc rdram (365mhz)

sounds like i820 based P3 mobo mofo shenanigans - in a word get an upgrade!

Originally posted by Super_Gray[SG]

Rambus Memory is fast, but it gets Hot and plus it was taken over by DDR memory which is Faster and Cheaper.

Taken over by DDR? when? Last time I checked (about 15 mintues ago) my PC1066 RAMBUS raped DDR400 CAS2 by scary margins... care to expand?

Originally posted by 1tchy trigger

OK - what motherboard do you recommend

For pentium III, just to get rid of the rambus conundrum but not make any substantial upgrade get yerself the ASUS CUSL2-C and some SDRAM... otherwise go for a new P4 rig (socket 478) and look at the P48SX (budget conscious DDR/P4 combo) or P4T533C (RAMBUS/P4 combo right up to PC1066 and the new 533Mhz FSSB CPU's)

Oh, and a Pentium III will do Jack Schitt with DDR simply because of the low bus speeds and choddy interfaces on most PIII chipsets... make the leap and get a Pentium 4 boyee!