Desktops General - Read Only

[sparker781]

I am in the process of upgrading the Inspiron 530 for my mom. It was running great but has started to show it's age.  I want to snag some new faster memory, was contemplating upgrading the processor but at this point not going to bother cause of the fact that it's an older machine, she mainly uses it for emails and the occasional web surfing session.

I see that Dell is silling RAM but feel it's a little more expensive side and was trying to find it elsewhere but see there's different speeds...So rather than get the wrong speed and have it not work, can someone point me in the right direction so I make sure I get the right memory?

Thanks

[rdunnill]

You can get an E8400 CPU on eBay for a modest sum. You can get four GB of lifetime warranty memory for $50, including shipping.

The biggest improvement you can make will be an SSD boot drive; it will make the 530 seem like a whole new computer, faster than some new entry level models.

[shesagordie · Accepted solution]

I am in the process of upgrading the Inspiron 530 for my mom. It was running great but has started to show it's age.  I want to snag some new faster memory, was contemplating upgrading the processor but at this point not going to bother cause of the fact that it's an older machine, she mainly uses it for emails and the occasional web surfing session.

I see that Dell is silling RAM but feel it's a little more expensive side and was trying to find it elsewhere but see there's different speeds...So rather than get the wrong speed and have it not work, can someone point me in the right direction so I make sure I get the right memory?

Thanks

sparker781

I assume that you have the Inspiron 530 Mini Tower with the 300w/350w PSU and not the 530s Slimline version, with a 250w PSU.

The 530 MT systems were build with two different models of motherboards.

If your 530 was purchased with either a Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual-Core, or Celeron processor and a 300w power supply, this system usually has a 0RY007/G679R/CU409 [FoxConn G33m02] motherboard, that only supports LGA 775 Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual-Core and Celeron processors and 4gb of RAM.
   
If your Inspiron 530 Mini tower was shipped with a LGA 775 Core 2 Quad processor and a 350w power supply, you have the 0FM586 [FoxConn DG33m03] motherboard.
   
The 0FM586 motherboard can be used for both Quad 4 & Core 2 Duo processors and can support 8gb of RAM, with a 64-bit operating system

Which motherboard does your 530 MT have?

The Inspiron 530 with a G33M02/0RY007 motherboard will support either 4gb [either 4 x 1gb, or 2 x 2gb modules DDR2 PC-2-5300, or DDR2 PC2-6400 memory. 
    
Bev.

[Danny1976]

I just got a Dell  530 with 0RY007 motherboard from a neighbor who upgraded his PC. The processor that it has currently is Intel Celeron 450 / 2.2 GHz processor. I just ordered from eBay the Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8600. My question is in regards to the memory. The PC currently has 2x1GB DDR2 PC2-6400. I installed one 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 (240-pin DIMM 800MHz)  in one of the empty slots. From what I read in the manual, its preferable to use 2x1GB so that all of the memory slots are filled with 1GB of ram on each slot. The manual says that if the memory is not in pairs, it will not have the full performance.

Can someone elaborate on how much reduction is there in performance?

[shesagordie · Accepted solution]

Danny1976

Around 10% reduction, if not installed in matching pairs.

Bev.