Avoid the Kingston Value RAM, that is known to be incompatible with many Dell's. I have an E510 and bought G.Skill memory from newegg (I bought 4 1GB modules) and it is working OK. However, Dell's can be finnicky with memory, one brand will work with one PC and not with the other. If you use all one brand, such as I did many brands will work. Most of the techies here recommend using Crucial memory as it is one brand that is guaranteed to work with Dell's. Crucial is sold by newegg and direct (and prices don't seem too bad). Crucial has a configurator that will show you exactly what the E510 requires. www.crucial.com Our E510's require 1.8V memory and a lot of the newer and higher speed memory is 2.2V.
Buying higher speed memory than 533 won't get you any faster as you are limited to the PC's bus speed.
Keep in mind with a 32 bit Operating System (XP or Vista) you will not fully use 4GB because of addressing limitations of a 32 bit OS. My E510 shows 3.3GB of RAM, with the 4GB installed. Also, you need to install memory in pairs for full use of the Dual processors in E510's. For example you have two 512 modules (1GB total) and if you wanted to upgrade to 3GB you would need two 1GB modules for the two open memory slots.
I tried the configurator at crucial.com and it recommended sticks that were DDR2 667mhz (PC2-5300) (But they were 1.8v's, would I still get the boost?). But considering how you said that it won't go any faster than 533mhz because of the limitation, would this be the right memory stick to buy?
First the motherboard requires the use of 1.8V memory, but that has nothing to do with bus speed.
The 667 will work but it will only run at the speed of the bus on the motherboard which is 533. That chipset may be capable of more but that is the max the way Dell implements it.
If you want to upgrade to 3GB you will need two 1GB memory modules.
I've been through several upgrades on my E510 and we are limited by the Dell implementaton. e.g. the Intel chipset that is used on this motherboard is capable of supporting up to a D960 dual core CPU but the highest dual core that can be used in the E510 is a D945 (I upgraded my E510 from the original D805 to a D925).
Hi Fireberd, In my E510, would it be better to install the two new 1Gb modules in channel A and the two original 512 Mb modules in channel B? Or doesn't it matter? The reason I'm asking is that I would think the computer would see and use the two 1Gb first if they were in the A channel (slots 1 & 2) and run the system quicker??
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
1
January 14th, 2009 10:00
Avoid the Kingston Value RAM, that is known to be incompatible with many Dell's. I have an E510 and bought G.Skill memory from newegg (I bought 4 1GB modules) and it is working OK. However, Dell's can be finnicky with memory, one brand will work with one PC and not with the other. If you use all one brand, such as I did many brands will work. Most of the techies here recommend using Crucial memory as it is one brand that is guaranteed to work with Dell's. Crucial is sold by newegg and direct (and prices don't seem too bad). Crucial has a configurator that will show you exactly what the E510 requires. www.crucial.com Our E510's require 1.8V memory and a lot of the newer and higher speed memory is 2.2V.
Buying higher speed memory than 533 won't get you any faster as you are limited to the PC's bus speed.
Keep in mind with a 32 bit Operating System (XP or Vista) you will not fully use 4GB because of addressing limitations of a 32 bit OS. My E510 shows 3.3GB of RAM, with the 4GB installed. Also, you need to install memory in pairs for full use of the Dual processors in E510's. For example you have two 512 modules (1GB total) and if you wanted to upgrade to 3GB you would need two 1GB modules for the two open memory slots.
ZeRoX99
7 Posts
1
January 14th, 2009 13:00
Thanks for replying!
I tried the configurator at crucial.com and it recommended sticks that were DDR2 667mhz (PC2-5300) (But they were 1.8v's, would I still get the boost?). But considering how you said that it won't go any faster than 533mhz because of the limitation, would this be the right memory stick to buy?
Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161400
Note: I don't plan to upgrade to Windows XP 64-bit. At most I'd want is 3gigs of RAM.
ventureboy
9 Posts
0
January 14th, 2009 23:00
fireberd
9 Legend
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33.4K Posts
1
January 15th, 2009 03:00
First the motherboard requires the use of 1.8V memory, but that has nothing to do with bus speed.
The 667 will work but it will only run at the speed of the bus on the motherboard which is 533. That chipset may be capable of more but that is the max the way Dell implements it.
If you want to upgrade to 3GB you will need two 1GB memory modules.
I've been through several upgrades on my E510 and we are limited by the Dell implementaton. e.g. the Intel chipset that is used on this motherboard is capable of supporting up to a D960 dual core CPU but the highest dual core that can be used in the E510 is a D945 (I upgraded my E510 from the original D805 to a D925).
ZeRoX99
7 Posts
0
January 15th, 2009 13:00
ventureboy:
Thanks for the link but I prefer to buy within the country. Still appreciate your help!
fireberd:
Ahh, I see. Then just to be certain:
Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161400
This is the correct Memory Stick to buy?
ergojm
3 Posts
1
February 10th, 2009 11:00
Hi Fireberd, In my E510, would it be better to install the two new 1Gb modules in channel A and the two original 512 Mb modules in channel B? Or doesn't it matter? The reason I'm asking is that I would think the computer would see and use the two 1Gb first if they were in the A channel (slots 1 & 2) and run the system quicker??