Dell Dimension 4400 Desktop Memory

Neil154

You can find the Dimension 4400 specifications HERE <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

For 1gb of RAM in the 4400, you need to install 2 x 512mb modules, not 1 x 1gb module.

You can buy memory that's certified to be compatible with the 4400 from HERE <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

Bev.

Thanks for the response, I suspected that I needed to use both slots which you confirmed.

Do you think I will see a signicant change in performance.  It appears to me that the hard disk is being acceessed more than it use to be accessed and thereby slowing the system down considerably.  I have defragged with no improvement.  My other choice would be to reformat the hard drive and do a fresh install since it is quite a bit slower than it used to be.  Your thought swould be appreciated. 

The memory that you pointed out comes in 2 speeds (3300 & 2700) and I have also seen 2100.  Do you have any thoughts on the speed?

Thanks

Neil154

Yes, you will see some improvement in performance using the additional RAM, but how much, I have no idea.

It makes no difference, DDR memory is backwards compatible and will run at PC2100 supported by the 4400.

Bev.

Thanks for the feedback.  I guess you are telling me that the Dimension 4400 does not support a faster DDR so no matter what speed I buy it will only operate at 2100.

That is correct.

Thanks

Why am I not getting an email when you or someone else reply to my questions?

Neil154

You are welcome.

Make certain the th ' Email me replies to this post' box is checked before you post a message.

Also, check your 'Profile', open 'Site Options' and see if all the boxes in 'Email Configuration', are set to 'Yes'.

Bev.

Thanks the site options were not set properly.

Thanks the site options were not set properly.

Neil154

Pleased to have helped.

Bev.

I have Norton Internet Security 2010 installed on the machine.  This particular machine is used by my wife and she doesn't really go many places on the web and Limewire or any other file sharing program has never been installed on this machine.

The machine is used only for basic emailing and web access.  Occasionally it is used for other things and I do have Acrobat Pro & Roxio installed but they do not start with the start of the machine ( I have stopped anything like that from starting by using my startup manager and my startup manager.

It seems very clear to me that when the machine is very very slow I can hear the hard drive being accessed.  There is plenty of free space ( 37 gig drive with 13 gig free) on the drive and it is defragged monthly.  I don't think it makes any difference but I have a second internal hard drive installed and there is an external hard drive also connected by USB.  This same machine is also part of my home network and if I print from my laptop it goes thru this desktop.

As far as fresh install, XP automatically wipes everything out if I do a fresh install and that is what I really meant to say.

Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for the response, I suspected that I needed to use both slots which you confirmed. Do you think I will see a signicant change in performance.  It appears to me that the hard disk is being acceessed more than it use to be accessed and thereby slowing the system down considerably.  I have defragged with no improvement.  My other choice would be to reformat the hard drive and do a fresh install since it is quite a bit slower than it used to be.  Your thought swould be appreciated.  The memory that you pointed out comes in 2 speeds (3300 & 2700) and I have also seen 2100.  Do you have any thoughts on the speed?   Thanks

You don't have to reformat the hard drive for a fresh install.

512mb is sufficient for XP Home unless you are doing something especially intensive, like database use. Have you installed something recently? Do you use an antivirus program?

Recently, I fixed a slow-running XP PC for someone, and found the root of the slowness to be malware that had been downloaded through Limewire. A McAfee trial found and fixed it. BTW Microsoft has released the free Windows Security Essentials antivirus product if you don't have antivirus and can't afford one.

Hi Neil,

How much memory can your system hold? You need at least 2 GB of ram for today's tasks! I max out the ram on my Dell Dimension 4700 which holds only 2GB. It's still not enough IE 7 is still very slow. Some big programs need at least 1GB of ram like Microsoft office, and gaming. An 37GB hard drive could be a other reason why your system is running slow. Remember your probably running service pack 2 on your machine, that takes a little more memory then service pack 1.

Here what I suggest to you:

1. Back up data

2. Do a system restore to factory settings

3. Add more memory

4. Reinstall internet security software

5. Set your computer to automatically install updates

If your computer is still running slow after you completed the above steps:

Replace hard drive

By the way I would not recommend defragged monthly. Your putting more stress on your hard drive. If your hard drive is making nose like you indicated above it sounds like your hard drive is stressing out. You may want to considered replacing the hard drive, and add more memory to your system.

Here the break down of what it cost me to upgrade:

Hard drive 90GB $80.00

Memory 2GB     $150.00

Total Upgrade     $230.00

Labor did everything myself!

Hope this information helps. By the way I had the same problem with my system. (Not enough system resources from factory).

Good luck

MIKE

Re: Dimension 4400 Memory

• I did a search on dimension 4400 memory and the answer seems to you can use  2gig (1gig in each slot pc2100, pc2700 or pc3200. I found the above searching dell forums

This machine is using XP Pro with all of the latest update and is only used for very basic items like Outlook 2007 and web access.  I really find it hard to believe that I need 2 gig of memory.  The system has been working fine for a long time but only recently has shown the significant slow response.

The system has been working fine for a long time but only recently has shown the significant slow response.

My thoughts are malware. And you don't need 2gb of RAM for such basic use.