Upgrading RAM from 4 to 8 Gigs on Dell Precision 390 - best recommendation?

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I would like to upgrade my Dell Precision 390 from the current 4 gigs to 8 gigs of RAM to help the overall speed of the computer as well as with professional photo editing which is currently very slow and frustrating in Photoshop. I currently have (4) 1 Gig modules of Kingston DDR PC2-5300 ECC. I would like a recommendation on the best quality RAM to upgrade with, since this is an older system, that will help to improve speed and performance! I read that my system will only support 667mHz so I guess the 800 is out of the question.
 
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okcnaline

okcnaline

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Nov 17, 2013
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You can't upgrade anymore. As far as I know, Precision 390 has 4 DDR2 RAM slots, and the motherboard requires very specific DDR2 RAM models that are "Dell Certified". I doubt any of the Dell Certified RAM still sold are ECC. And 2GB RAM modules, even without ECC, and certified by Dell, costs $59.99. I suggest you just sell your current computer and build a computer using X58, Intel Core i7-920, softmod a GPU to Quadro.
 
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Selling and buying or building another one is not an option financially right now. After much research, I bit the bullet and just purchased 2-4 gig kits from Newegg for $98 bucks. Not what I'd like to spend but you do what you have to do. Sure, there are cheaper brands for less but I don't feel like dealing with the risks of bad sellers and bad products so I'd rather buy name brand from a reputable company. Later on, I plan on buying a new computer but for now, this will have to do.
 
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NOT_PROVIDED_295

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P.S. This is the same type of memory, just now in a 4 gig kit, that I upgraded with back in 2006 so it should work now as well. It doesn't have to be "Dell certified," just needs to be compatible with my system.
 
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william p

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Go to Crucial.com they will show correct maximum memory capacity. Dell info is often wrong listing only modules they tested when the computer was new. Crucial can be wrong about max speed though. I would suggest buying 800, it will work either way, unless your existing chips are 667 and re-used then you will get the lower speed. My e520 lists 4GB capacity and 667 speed, I'm running 8GB@800 with no problems. Timing is 5=6=6=18 @800.
 
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I ended up buying 2 4GB kits of Crucial PC2-5300 memory from Newegg.com for $100, not what I would have wanted to spend but I'll be keeping this computer for a while longer until I build a system next time, so it will be money well spent. I purchased the non-ECC because I couldn't find it in the ECC in the 2 gig sticks. I can definitely tell a difference in the speed now when running multiple applications and having many browser tabs open. My next computer will be a self build and I'm going for 32 gigs of RAM for intensive apps like Photoshop, etc.
 
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