Optiplex GX280 and PC2-6400 DDR2-800 memory

Question

Hi

In January this year lambdapro asked whether Crucial's PC2-6400 DDR2-800 would run at 800MHz in an Optiplex GX-280.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=oplex_other&message.id=21571&query.id=558632#M21571

In response Hydralisk00222 said:
"PC2-6400 is a waste of money. The GX280 supports PC2-4200 (533MHz) max."

I'm just wondering if this is definitely still the case with BIOS A08 (released 13 March 06)? I can't see any mention of it :-( but am looking to buy some more memory and would consider paying more for faster memory if it would run at the FSB speed (I'm P4 3.0GHz/800MHz)

Thanks!

Simon
PS. sorry to start a new message but the old one appears closed to me.

Dev Mgr · Answer

The GX280 uses the Intel 915G chipset.

Per Intel, this chipset supports only 400MHz and 533MHz memory (see here). A bios update won't add support for faster memory (it can't without overclocking, which Dell doesn't offer on Optiplex systems (only a few select Dimension XPS systems offer any overclocking)).

Simon300 · Answer

Thanks for the reply Dev Mgr.

Just one other thought - the Intel 915G web page you suggested says:
"Flexible memory support, for dual-channel DDR2 533/DDR2 400 or DDR400/DDR333 memory, in configurations of up to 4 GB RAM"

I understood the GX280 small form factor supported up to 2GB (2*1GB DIMMs) - does this mean it will support the newer 2GB DIMMs, i.e. a total of 4GB? Or is that only the larger chassis versions (desktop/mini-tower) which have 2 banks of 2?

Simon

Dev Mgr · Answer

Odd that Crucial says that, as Intel themselves reports the maximum memory quantity to just be 4GB, but they may just do this as most users will be running 32-bit Windows, which doesn't go over 4GB (there are some capabilities, but if you know about those, you're probably not the average user and know the limitations of the extra memory as well).

Simon300 · Answer

Thank you Dev Mgr!

Curiously I've just had a look at Crucial:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=OptiPlex+GX280+%28Desktop+and+Mini%2Dtower+Models%29

They're saying that the GX280 DT/MT versions will support 4*2GB = 8GB!!! I'm assuming they're wrong. ...not that buying 2GB DIMMs makes much sense at the moment - they're not far off the price of a new PC!

Thanks again for the advice - I'm going to go for DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz memory like my existing memory (though it runs at 400MHz in my systems).

Simon

Dev Mgr · Answer

Yeah, the larger chassis options have 4 dimms and can support 4 x 1 GB.

(the DDR (non-DDR2) support would allow a motherboard manufacturer to make a board with DDR support, but I don't think I've seen any vendors offer boards with DDR support and the 915 series chipset)

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Optiplex GX280 and PC2-6400 DDR2-800 memory

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