XPS 600 Memory

Dell sales will not configure the xps 600 with 4 GB of memory. As you said the max is 2. If you ask the sales person, they will tell you to add it yourself, and that they don't know why you can't build it with 4. I suspect that they will eventually change it. I purchased mine with 2 and I bought 2 more from Dell. Some will tell you to buy from New Egg etc. and I am sure they are right, but I liked the idea of putting in what Dell put in. I know that my system is using the 4.

besides it's cheaper to order additional RAM through other channels than Dell.
I read somewhere here on the forum that the XPS600 can address only 2GB memory or 8GB when 64verision of WinXP is installed... Make sure you don't waste your money on RAM your system won't recognize and utilize.

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@Tom McCune wrote:

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@T3raYon wrote:
besides it's cheaper to order additional RAM through other channels than Dell.

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I wouldn't just make that assumption without checking. When I added RAM to my XPS 400, 2GB at 667mhz via Dell, was less expensive than buying 2GB of 553 at Crucial.

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Well I don't know the details of your purchase but when I made my RAM upgrade for my XPS Get 4 a year ago the Dell price was 70% over with what I managed to get.
What is important in the comparison:
Use the same brand as Dell offers, use the same type in every aspect of the memory chip. Dell typically recommends and sells Kingston RAM when upgrading, but for the configurations they ship they put completely different (and cheaper) ones. One of my config came with Samsung another with Infeon (this is like low end low cost manufacturer). When I upgraded the Samsung I managed to get the additional RAM very similar to the original (within the 16 digit product code that describes the RAM IC module I only had 2 digits different --> the manufacturing batch version number for the chip...)

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@T3raYon wrote:
besides it's cheaper to order additional RAM through other channels than Dell.

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I wouldn't just make that assumption without checking. When I added RAM to my XPS 400, 2GB at 667mhz via Dell, was less expensive than buying 2GB of 553 at Crucial.

I may have just been lucky with my timing.

I purchased my machine with 1GB RAM. Doing the upgrade to 3GB with my additional Dell purchase of 2GB, wound up costing me only $20 more than if I had purchased the machine with 2GB.

KarthikAdla,

This statement,
"If you are ordering the regular Windows Xp operating system , YOU can install only up to 2GB of RAM.",

should be changed to,
"If you are ordering the regular Windows Xp operating system , DELL can install only up to 2GB of RAM.".

Dell will provide an XPS 600 loaded with the 32bit Windows XP with 2GB of ram.

If you decide to add another 2GB of ram, we cannot validate how much of the 4GB windows will "see".

OK.  I understand.  Thank you.

Hi,

So Dell-ChrisM you mean to say that Dell will ship only max of 2GB memory with XPS 600, but if I purchase and install more than 2GB, will it show up in my system properties.

Regards,

Karthik Adla.

There must be something strange happening with this XPS-600 memory configuration.
Facts I have been able to find:
1. DELL XPS-600 manual says about memory upgrades:
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Addressing Memory Configurations

If using a 32-bit operating system such as Microsoft® Windows® XP, your computer will support a maximum of 2 GB of memory. If you are using a 64-bit operating system, your computer will support a maximum of 8 GB (2-GB DIMMs in each of the four slots) of memory.
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2. nVIDIA technical specifications for the nForce4 SLI/SLI X16 chipset
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(http://www.nvidia.com/page/pg_20041015917263.html)
Frontside Bus: Pentium 4 CPU Interface (Intel only)
- 36-bit addressing for access to 64 GB of memory space
Up to two DIMMs per controller for a maximum of four DIMM support
- Separate 64-bit data bus per controller
- Separate address and control bus per DIMM
- Up to 16 GB using four 4 GB DIMMs
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So the 2GB RAM limit is not coming from the abilities of the components but seems to exists. Question is why is this mystery around it? Is Dell happend to be using a "dummy-down" cheap/economic version of the original nVIDIA chipset that limits the amount of RAM to be handled? (see OEM videocards from Dell that does not have the same functionality set than the retail version)
From my point of view being able to add 4GB RAM in these days should be natural, especially with Windows Vista coming out. 1GB is clearly not enough under XP to run games decently. I have to believe (despite the communication from Microsoft) that Vista is going to ask for more. Microsoft has never made something more efficient only bigger in size and more hungry for resources. No reason to believe it will be different in the future.

Final tricky question. The manual says that with a 64bit version of WinXP the max memory goes up to 8GB. So the question comes - why 2GB with 32. Evidence of the chipset (above) and the fact that a 32 WinXP can utilize 4GB of RAM (XPS-400) shows it's something beyond understanding...

Message Edited by T3raYon on 05-04-200601:20 PM

The XPS 600 will only let 32 bit operating systems (Windows XP, Linux, etc). see 2 GB, so don't waste your money by buying more (I did and returned the extra 2 GB to Dell).  It WILL let 64-bit operating systems see more than 2 GB.

Some people have mistakenly said 2GB is the limit in Windows XP, but that's not true.  Microsoft's web page states 4 GB (although the OS will only show 3.4 GB), and Dell even sells 4 GB with the XPS 400 running a 32-bit Windows.

The XPS 600 BIOS will automatically decrease the amount of memory it shows to the operating system when it detects a 32-bit OS.  If you happen to have more than 2 GB installed, reboot into setup (F2), go to the 2nd-to-the-last option (don't remember it's name) and view the POST message log.  It'll say something about decreasing the amount of memory.

What Chris said is correct. Though it will say only 2 is being used, it is in fact much closer to 4. I wouldn't send the 2 back.