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Dimension 8300 - is it worth adding 2x1GB memory?
Hi Guys
I have a dimension 8300 and it runs so slow even with fast broadband and is just slow to start up and load these days - expected because it's very old now! I want to speed it up. I only have 2 free ports (I have some sort of ports on the other two - think one is firewire which I never ended up using!) - currently running 2x256 Memory and I am thinking of replacing them with x2 1GB Memory (DDR-400 UDIMM 2RX8 Non-ECC) .
My question is - is it worth it? Will buying the 2GB memory modulespeed up my PC? Or is it the processor rather than memory that needs replacing (in which case is it better to just buy a new PC as I am very unlikely to be able to rebuild my computer)?
The product site has 2 warnings that I don't fully understand :
1) that even if you add 4.0GB it reports lower - so what worth is adding 2.0 GB? What is the real equivalent for 2.0GB? (what do current PCs use as memory/processing speed?)
2) memory offered may differ in speed from original system memory: does that mean faster OR slower, or just slower?
I need to know whether it's worth investing £90 on two of these memory modules or better to just buy a new PC!!
My processor is a February 86 Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.0GHz. And it has a 120GB 1st SATA Hard Drive (7200rpm) with 8MB Data Burst Cache.
Thanks for any help you can give...
From_Earth_
osprey4
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4 Operator
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34.2K Posts
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June 12th, 2013 17:00
Hi From_Earth,
I see 2x1GB PC3200 on Ebay for less than US$20, so it's certainly NOT worth investing £90.
The question is whether it would significantly speed up your system. I would say probably not as much as performing a clean installation of the operating system. That's free.
Your two other questions. If you have 4GB of RAM but use a 32-bit OS, only about 3.5GB is seen by the OS. Second, your RAM will run at PC2700 speed whether you install PC2700 or PC3200.
rdunnill
6 Professor
6 Professor
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8.8K Posts
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June 12th, 2013 18:00
The biggest single performance improvement you can make is to add an SSD as a primary boot drive.
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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June 15th, 2013 10:00
Theres a few things to consider:
Clean installation. Windows XP installations deteriorate in performance as time passes. Clean installation of XP in your current systems state will recover some system performance.
The memory modules will help. I would say 2 GB should be the minimum required to run Windows XP comfortably. I don't think its worth upgrading to the 4 GB as the rest of the computer isn't so powerful.
Crucial.com/uk has the 2 GB kit for £45.59: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=Dimension%208300%20Series&Cat=RAM
Offtek.co.uk has the 2 GB Kit for £31.08: http://www.offtek.co.uk/ram-memory-2/dell/dell-desktop-memory/dimension-8300-series/mid27623#nav
I have successfully used Offtek for many Dell systems on many occasions and for such old Dell models it is often cheaper.
I would personally recommend removing your 2 256 MB modules and replacing them with the 2 1 GB modules. I would then clean install Windows XP. To do this follow my Windows Reinstallation Guide:
http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/
However one thing you should note is that Windows XP is reaching its End of Life in April 2014 for more information see: Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 - End of Life April 2014.
I personally wouldn't waste any cash investing in solid state drive upgrades, a windows license or graphic card upgrades for such an old model. If you tally the cost of all these upgrades it can get quite pricy.
The lower end Inspiron 660 would be vastly superior to this model in all ways and you can get it for £299: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-660/fs
Or consider the higher end XPS 8700: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-8700/fs