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May 7th, 2018 03:00
Inspiron 580, using Optiplex 390 1600MHz ram?
The Inspiron 580 manuals say it won't support beyond 1333 MHz memory and not more than 8 GB total. I also have a couple of Optiplex 390s, which are about 9 months newer model than the Inspiron and have a slightly faster i3 3.3 GHz. When researching that model, I found people were able to run faster and more memory than the manual spec'd. I am able to run 2 x 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz for 16 GB in the Optiplex. The memory specs for the Inspiron are nearly identical except it has 4 banks instead of 2 so I though maybe I could fill it up with 4 x 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz DIMMs. But the BIOS would never proceed past the F2 setup and simply reboot when I tried any of these DIMMs. Either the Inspiron doesn't support that speed (although some here said it should), or the size was too large (someone said it only supports up to 4 GB DIMMs). I went back to the original configuration, a 4 GB 1333 MHz and 2 GB 1333 MHz DIMM, but also added a pair of 2 GB MHz 1333 MHz matching DIMMs, for 10 GB total, which works. Can I run this in mixed dual channel mode and how should I place the DIMMs? Do I place the matching pair of DIMMs in slots 3 and 4 (channel A) and the mismatched DIMMs in slots 1 and 2 (channel B) and should I place the 4 GB DIMM in slot 1?
fireberd
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May 7th, 2018 03:00
The Inspiron and OptiPlex are two different lines and marketed to different users. The Inspiron is a "consumer" line where the OptiPlex is sold for commercial Business/Workstation uses.
Dell also uses custom motherboards and although specs for an Intel chipset may state it can use for example 1600Mhz memory Dell may limit it to a lower speed. That happened on a Dimension desktop that I had (and was a popular model), the Intel specs for the chipset showed it could use a Dxxx CPU up to a D960 but the Dell's would only accept up to a D945 CPU. A D960 would cause a POST failure and would not boot.
Another issue with many Dell's is non-Dell memory compatibility. Dell's have had a history of not working with some brands/models of non-Dell branded memory. The compatibility is random, some will work with almost any brand and some will not. For that reason we have always recommended Crucial memory for non-Dell memory as it is guaranteed to work in Dell's (at the spec'd speed).
speedstep
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May 7th, 2018 04:00
You cant use odd sizes and speeds.
You have to use pairs.