XPS 435 Owners Thread

Crucial has an online memory diagnostic which scans the PC to match the memory correctly to it I suggest doing that with your system. I have used Crucial for my XPS Gen 1 laptop upgrades and my XPS 600 as well w/o any issues the memory they specified worked exceptionally well. I did check my 435T when I first got it but Crucial stated none of the memory they currently had was compatible but I'm sure this has either changed or will soon enough. The other alternative RAM I've seen bandied about are OCZ and Corsair if I remember right but a quick review of the lengthy 435T owners thread will tell you for sure, good luck.

Fishnbanjo,
Thanks for the suggestions. Indeed, I went to Crucial, used their configurator, it came up with many "compatible" suggestions for my 435 MT i7 920. And the only one I am interested in (1066 MHz / PC3-8500) has a exact similar model (same specs, same price) but a second different P/N on their web site.
And the second P/N is the only one I can find at Newegg (not the first one, not sure why).
For the older posts, I looked into them, and most, if not all of them, were more about upgrading with 1333 MHz RAM, which is not the option I am looking for.
I'd like to keep the existing RAM, and add 2 or 3 GB with the same specs 1066 MHz, with the minimal compatibility issue.

Yes it happened on mine too. Don't do any updates from Creative. I just let Windows do updates to the sound drivers and all is well. I've never had a problem with Creative updates like this in the past (been doing this for 25 years) so I have to agree with previous comments about Dell's quality control. To get a BSOD on a update is inexecusable. Somethings wrong with the sound software they put on these pc's.

I'm posting today mainly because I was bored and tried to run the Creative(soundblaster) Software AutoUpdate and got a BSOD!!!!!  I was surprised because that was the first one I've seen on my new XPS 9000.  After the restart I tried to run it again and it gave me another BSOD.  So now I'm confused by the fact that this program apparently is trying to screw up Vista somehow.  Anybody else seen this issue?!?

I'd be careful about mixing with the Dell RAM via a 4 (Dell) + 2 (new) thing. I'd keep them in identical groupings of 3 for triple channel.

Also be very careful about what places like Crucial say are compatible. There are reports the voltage must be 1.5V on the 435 boards, and many of those supposedly "compatible" indicate they're 1.65V.

And lastly, if you're looking for RAM on Dell's website, once you find what you think you want do a search for the same thing based on the manufacturer part number. You'll often find the identical thing listing at a lower price when it's indicated for another system. But it's exactly the same product otherwise. For example, the 2GB RAM modules listing for the 435 / 9000 are $10 cheaper when listed for a couple Alienware models. But the RAM is the same.

yup - the Creative update is a DDT, as it will BSOD everytime.  Outside of the Creative BSOD, I've been fairly lucky and can count on one hand the BSOD's I've gotten since took delivery.  Really shouldn't of had any though - My old HP with XP was a much more stable platform.  Oh, well... Dell is a different company than it used to be, and some key components to their previous successes have gone out the window.

D99X,
Thanks for the tip on the Manufacturer part. I found 3 different items, 1 for the Studio XPS / 435T/9000 at $75, 1 for the XPS430 and 1 for the XPS 730X, both at $25.
And all 3 have the same Mfg P/N and the exact same description, and I confirm with a Dell rep, it is a 1.5V.
So I ordered 2 of those for the "XPS 430". Hopefully with CPU-Z I will see if they are absolutely the same than my original 4x1GB sticks.
(Note : for others who are interested in the Crucial, those 2 references of Newegg I put in my above post, they are also 1.5V. And they are the exact same than the versions recommended by the Crucial configurator but simply with a  different P/N, I confirmed this with a Crucial rep).

Just to let all ya'all know.  I was able to order my Win7 upgrade disc today.  Hope I gets it soon!

After 3 days of not being able to keep my 435T operating using Multiprocessor set @ 2 (DEFAULT is ALL) I got on Technical Support Chat and got one of the best technicians I've ever worked with, she later called me and we did a few things with me removing 6 Gb of RAM leaving 3 Gb and the Multiprocessor set to ALL and she would call me back on Sunday to get an update on how things went with this configuration. Unfortunately 3 Gb of RAM did not alleviate the problem as the best I could achieve was 30 minutes of run time at best before the system locked up with often the total lockup occurring before it totally booted so she referred the ticket to Tier II Tech Support and said I would have an outcome in 4-5 business days. Today she called me and told me I would receive a new system and once it was operating successfully I was to ship my old system back in the prepaid packaging the new system arrived in. Will know by next week what I get.........

anybody know if you can replace the stock hsf from the 435t ?  i've had dell systems in the past where the heatsink/fan was a dell design, and couldn't be swapped out.

My Dell XPS 435T does a very slow BIOS post. I have two OCZ SSD drives in RAID-0 and one 1.5TB HDD on the ICH10R controller. The system waits a long time for BIOS POST to complete and then waits more on the RAID BIOS screen. Completely defeats the point of having 2xSSD drives in RAID-0 for a fast startup and Win7 bootup. Any fixes or suggestions? Does anyone else have the same experience? BIOS is A13 and is set to fast POST.

I have an XPS 435T/9000, the "base model" with no options.  When booting, it will generally sit for 2-3 minutes on the initial Windoze Vista startup-screen: the screen with the moving "progress bar" about 1/5 of the way from the bottom of the screen.  Generally, the screen is dimmed so much that the screen looks black.  I saw a previous poster mention this, so I consider it a "normal" part of the boot process.

My Dell XPS 435T does a very slow BIOS post. I have two OCZ SSD drives in RAID-0 and one 1.5TB HDD on the ICH10R controller. The system waits a long time for BIOS POST to complete and then waits more on the RAID BIOS screen. Completely defeats the point of having 2xSSD drives in RAID-0 for a fast startup and Win7 bootup. Any fixes or suggestions? Does anyone else have the same experience? BIOS is A13 and is set to fast POST.

I've expereinced the same delay on the Windows start-up as you have goldfish1,  with the dimmed screen.  In my case it is very intermiitent--- maybe once every week or so.  It's as if the Windows boot/load is frozen and or is waiting for "something"?  Not sure what causes this and/or how to even troubleshoot it?

Otherwise, my normal boot time is abot 60 seconds from cold start to the login screen...  I have a single drive, non-Raid system with my 4870 graphics card being my only 435T system "option".  The original Dell 4870 driver was my original culprit for slow boot time, and that has been well documented by many in this thread and was "fixed" in my case with a clean OS reinstall and use of the AMD driver from their website.  I say "fixed" because every once in a while it will hang again for about a minute or so in the same place it did originally--- AFTER the Windows progress bar finishes and before you get the Windows login screen.  Neither of these two "slow boot" issues happens frequently enough to get me to call Dell about it, but clearly something isn't 100% right...

All the delay I see is even before the OS starts to load. The BIOS check status goes to about 3/4th and sits there for a good 25-30 seconds. Then comes the RAID BIOS check which lasts another 20-25 seconds. Then the OS starts to boot and by this time, I am already tearing my hair out.