How Much RAM is Too Much for an Older Vostro 1320?

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/vostro-1320

As Crucial says, "not to exceed manufacturer supported memory." The maximum memory for the current generation of Vostro 1320s is 8MB. Back in 2009, the most you could get with a Vostro was 4GB. The questions remains: will an older Vostro 1320 support 8MB RAM?

Thank you,

Terry

They all have the same  memory limit - 8G total (4 per slot, 2 slots).

That said, the system uses obsolete DDR2 memory, which is expensive new (a 4G module is about $70, making a pair $140).  And the cost of that RAM alone is on the order of 4X more than what the entire system is worth.

Further complicating the picture, 4G DDR2 modules aren't that common - meaning that even if you find used RAM, the upgrade will cost more than you might think.

If the system is still running a spinning hard drive, replacing that with an SSD will make more of an impact than the added RAM will.  And as newer releases of Windows 10 arrive, that processor will fall further behind the curve - I suspect a new system will be in order sooner than your memory upgrade.

That said, removeable batteries have all but disappeared from everything short of high end boutique gaming chassis, and standard "A" USB ports are also rapidly disappearing in favor of USB C format, for packaging reasons among others.

Thank you for responding. There are a few companies that sell 4GB RAM modules, and that is about what they charge. What prompted my interest in more RAM was the Win 10 v2004 update, which brought my system to a screeching halt. Pagefile writing appeared to be overloading the system. Reversing the update took care of the problem.

I thought about buying a new Vostro during Dell's small business sale last month, but I don't like the design of the new models: internal battery and only one standard USB port. For now, I'm sticking with what I have, though I may upgrade the memory to 8GB eventually.

Terry

Thank you for the suggestion @ejn63 . I upgraded to a 1TB ssd back in January. A week ago, I was unable to install the Win 10 v2004 update because the System Resource Partition was too small. I enlarged it and installed the update, it all went to heck (he__ is apparently not permitted in the community), so I restored everything from a backup. I am using the restored small partition to protect myself from having the update forced on me. Hopefully, Microsoft will iron out the bugs and I'll be able to install it later. The Vostro is running well at the moment, so the added memory may be unnecessary.

Terry

It may also be that this release (or if not this one, a future release) will never work with an 11 year old system.  As time passes, and code and features change - more and more older systems will slip beyond the current release of Windows 10.

Certainly, it's unlikely anyone at Microsoft is testing new releases on systems that are as old as this one.