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    #1

    Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

    Service Tag:
    System Typeimension 4550 Tower
    Ship Date:4/7/2003
    Dell IBU:Americas



    QuantityParts #Part Description

    11W392Processor,80532,2.4G,512K, 533,Socket N,C1
    12U819Card,Planar,Dimension 4550, Audio/NIC
    12U326Module,Dual In-Line Memory
    Memory,256,333M,Non-Error Correction Code

    I want to max out the RAM in this dog. Right now I have 512 of DDR in it. Dell says it can take a max of 1GB of Ram 2X512. My brother says that he ran 2GB of Ram in a unit just like this one and he says that it saw all 2GB. My point is that the PC may have "Saw it all" but it may not have used it all. I guess I'm shooting for 1GB "2 X 512" of some kind of DDR RAM. Help me, help me! Junk Part's "Stupid" is showing again..... Also I think DDR means Dubble Data Rate. Is this the same as Dual Channel RAM? Junk just don't know what RAM he is looking for. Should I buy faster RAM and let it slow down to my bus speed, what ever my bus speed may be... My understanding kind of stops at PC133 RAM. I used to put good PC133 RAM in PC100 PC's, and they zipped along real well with this mod.
    "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
    Mark Twain

    "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
    John Paul Jones

    There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
    Rod Serling
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

    www.crucial.com is your friend. Not necessarily to purchase, but at least to look up and get specs. Then take it to newegg and get it for cheaper

    According to crucial, it tops out at 1gb. The 512 that you have in it - is that one stick or two? If only one, you'll only need to purchase one. If two, you'll have to replace both, obviously.

    You can pick these up for $10 ea :o http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145407

    As long as the MIR comes back, anyway...
    Ludicrous gibs!

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

      It came with one stick in it, and I added the second stick from my old 4550 that lightning ate. This means I have 2 X 256 for 512 total. From the info in my first post does this mean my FSB is 533mhz?
      Last edited by Junk Parts; 01-27-2009, 10:28 AM. Reason: more
      "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
      Mark Twain

      "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
      John Paul Jones

      There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
      Rod Serling

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

        Yep, the processor is running at 533, so that's the FSB
        Ludicrous gibs!

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

          DDR 400 is your max, at reasonable price. Stick to curicial, kingmax, good brands.

          Stay out of big stores memories, like best buy, staples, etc. They are trash using generic memory at vastly inflated price.

          Cheers, Wizard

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

            If I'm not mistaken, it would not benefit him to run DDR400 memory. if he ran 266mhz, it would be *2, = his 533fsb. Could be mistaken...
            Ludicrous gibs!

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

              I think the RAM thats in it now is 333mhz. The mobo is jumperless except for a cmos clear jumper. Well at least I think that it jumperless.
              "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
              Mark Twain

              "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
              John Paul Jones

              There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
              Rod Serling

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                Actually DDR 333 or 400 will work.

                Bit expensive to get, please stick to good memory brands. Not the GP, etc like that you get from big box stores.

                Cheers, Wizard

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                  Originally posted by dood
                  If I'm not mistaken, it would not benefit him to run DDR400 memory. if he ran 266mhz, it would be *2, = his 533fsb. Could be mistaken...
                  Well, ddr 400 ram actually runs at 200mhz, ddr 333 runs at 166mhz, and ddr 266 actually runs at 133.

                  Anyways, it all goes through the chipset with a pentium 4. So his processor is talking to the chipset at 533mhz, but the ram currently at 166mhz. So, if he ran ddr400, the processor could then theoretically talk to the ram at 200mhz instead of 166mhz. Better to run ddr400, but ddr400 is much more expensive.

                  Plus the 533mhz fsb is actually a 133mhz "quad pumped" fsb (as intel calls it)

                  And yes junk parts, just simply pop out your old ram, pop in the new stuff, our dell usually give a beep and tells you in the post that the ram size has changed (shows original and new value,) and then you can just boot up. Ours is a dimension 4600 though, so it might be a wee bit different.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                    I think I learned something today. 400 is 200mhz 333 is 166 and 266 is 133. When I was looking on newegg 400 was just a few dollars more than the 333 stuff. By the way the old PC133 is 133 mhz or is it really 66.5mhz....LOL How do they come up with these goofball names for this shit. It seems like they got me to name this stuff right after getting home from the Pub.
                    "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
                    Mark Twain

                    "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
                    John Paul Jones

                    There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
                    Rod Serling

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                      Next question! What about the voltage? I think my 333 ddr is 2.5 CL and the voltage is 2.5 V. Most of that DDR 400 is 2.6 or 2.7 v. Will this be a problem?
                      "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
                      Mark Twain

                      "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
                      John Paul Jones

                      There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
                      Rod Serling

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                        2.5v is standard voltage so its likely to be supported. its more likely to have problems to support the higher voltages on some odd boards.

                        anyway just try the ram and run memtest86+ for some passes. if no errors then thats fine and you can go to the pub again
                        capacitor lab yachtmati techmati

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                          I've always taken the voltage rating on RAM as a limit vs a requirement but I've never actually looked into it.
                          -
                          So, I -think- it's okay but I'd like to know for sure too.
                          Mann-Made Global Warming.
                          - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
                          -
                          Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
                          - Dr Seuss
                          -
                          You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                          -

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                            Most DDR is backwards compatible to the slower speeds by way of the micro code in the SPD chip on the module. (It works sort of like a firmware.)
                            The only time you might have a problem that way is with old/early DDR chips or maybe an el'cheapo brand.
                            Mann-Made Global Warming.
                            - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
                            -
                            Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
                            - Dr Seuss
                            -
                            You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                            -

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                              I buy RAM here now and then (4 or 5 times) and it's always been good.
                              http://www.upgrade-solution.com/index.cfm

                              One of the other members here has recommended this guy a few times but I've haven't had a occasion to buy RAM since I became aware of him.
                              http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfsgw

                              .
                              Mann-Made Global Warming.
                              - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
                              -
                              Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
                              - Dr Seuss
                              -
                              You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                              -

                              Comment

                                #16
                                Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                                DDR stands for "dual data rate"
                                That means system is accessing the memory twice for each memory clock cycle.

                                PC66, PC100 and PC133 memory are accessed only once for each memory clock cycle.

                                Regarding the SPD memory, all it contains (as far as I know) is a table that indicates which timings correspond to each memory frequency. What I mean is, it tells the chipset what timings to use if working the RAM at 100MHz (DDR200), 133MHz (DDR266), 166MHz (DDR333) or 200MHz (DDR400). That's why some BIOSes give you an option to choose between SPD timings or custom ones. You can see the contents of the SPD table using cpu-z

                                http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

                                Comment

                                  #17
                                  Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                                  As far as I know, only those interested in overclocking care about DDR voltage specs. The idea is that in order to push the memory frequency higher, they pump the memory voltage up.

                                  Comment

                                    #18
                                    Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                                    Ok...

                                    DDR is Double Data Rate. That means it transmits or receives data twice per clock cycle. That means DDR400 has an effective clock of 400MHz, but the actual clock speed is 200MHz.

                                    Intel's FSB on reasonably modern processors can be thought of as quad data rate. Meaning they transmit / receive data 4x per clock cycle. So a "533MHz" FSB is really operating at 133MHz.

                                    The chipsets can usually run the memory asynchronous from the FSB. So it's possible to have a 533FSB (133MHz) with DDR-333 (166MHz).

                                    The official, safe, spec voltage for DDR-1 (or just DDR, I put the 1 on to distinguish it from DDR-2 or DDR-3) is 2.5v. DDR-2 is 1.8v, and DDR-3 is 1.5v. The modules you see with 2.6v or 2.7v are factory overclocked, for all intents and purposes. The manufacturer rates them to run at the specified speed and timings with that amount of voltage. They're really for enthusiasts.

                                    I recently upgraded a customer's Dell Dimension 3000 to 2GB of memory. It had 2 256MB DDR-333 modules in it. I had 2 1GB DDR-400 2.6v modules laying around unused on my bench I wanted to get rid of. The Dell only ran them at 2.5v DDR-333, which is fine. I would be surprised if your 4550 didn't work with 2GB.

                                    I say get 2GB, throw it in there, and see what happens. Try this:

                                    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178101

                                    Edit: I typed it up about an hour ago and finally got back to post it. Sorry if I duplicated some info from previous posters!
                                    A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.

                                    Comment

                                      #19
                                      Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                                      About SPD, yes.
                                      If the data table for a DDR 400 module has the DDR 333,266,200 timings it will work properly with recorded in the SPD then the BIOS can use those timings automatically.
                                      The BIOS of course has 'to agree' those timings are 'legal' for the CPU installed.
                                      -
                                      If not in the SPD then it's hit and miss with manual settings [if the BIOS will let you].

                                      Except for old/early or el'cheapo DDR 400 modules the settings for the slower speeds should all be in the SPD table. It's pretty much standard these days to support all the slower speeds via SPD so you are not likely to run into that problem with new RAM.

                                      .
                                      Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                      - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
                                      -
                                      Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
                                      - Dr Seuss
                                      -
                                      You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                      -

                                      Comment

                                        #20
                                        Re: Memory Upgrade Dell 4550 Tower

                                        RAM limits are partially due to BIOS code.
                                        You can go to 2GB with BIOS is updated to A08 or later and low density RAM.

                                        http://en.community.dell.com/wikis/d...b-not-1gb.aspx
                                        Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                        - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
                                        -
                                        Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
                                        - Dr Seuss
                                        -
                                        You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                        -

                                        Comment

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