Should I max out my ram chips to 4gb for my dell dimension c521?

Mr Shadows

June 17, 2011 5:11:21 PM

My computers stock 512mb(x2) ram chips have recently burnt out on me, leaving my computer as a big paperweight. I frequently run music programs, and graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop Cs5, and Acid Music Studio. I also have a high performance graphics card and use the computer for movies all the time. I'm sure it would be a good investment, but I'm not sure which route to go, since there are so many options. Like the following:

512MB Module 512MB-533MHz DDR2-533 PC2-4200, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

1GB Module 1024MB-533MHz DDR2-533 PC2-4200, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

512MB Module 512MB-667MHz DDR2-667 PC2-5300, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

1GB Module 1024MB-667MHz DDR2-667 PC2-5300, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

512MB Module 512MB-800MHz DDR2-800 PC2-6400, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

1GB Module 1024MB-800MHz DDR2-800 PC2-6400, 240p DIMM, 1.8v

Any suggestions for maxing it out? I run Windows Vista Premium, but I also plan on upgrading to 7.

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jaquith

Memory Master

June 17, 2011 6:02:06 PM

Welcome to Tom's Forums!

C521 specs:
ref http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Dimen...
Memory Type: DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 (non-ECC)
Maximum Memory: 4GB
Slots: 4
Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 PC2-6400 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*

IMO get 4X1GB or 2 kits of (2x$34 = $68) Part Number: CT787952 2X1GB http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=11...

Good Luck!

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DXRick

June 17, 2011 6:25:47 PM

Are you sure it's the memory that fried? That would be really weird. If it fried because of too much heat, you need to address that too.

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Mr Shadows

June 22, 2011 12:25:59 AM

Thanks for the advice & link!

Well, the one I have is a smaller desktop. So It could have problems with cooling, but only due to it not being as big and spacious as a normal one. My fans work fine though. I honestly think I was running too much on the 1 gig of RAM I had. I have HUGE programs, that use a lot of memory, as well as the strong graphics card, that even requires me to use a special cord to hook it up to monitors and such. Adobe Photoshop itself takes a lot of memory to use, because its such a complex program.

Anyways, I looked up the warning signs for what happened and the beep sequences it made after booting it back up with a disc, and they were for the RAM failure. It stopped working at first and then randomly one day, so I had it booted by the disk. I turned it on after that and it worked again, but still made beeping noises. Then about after a week or two it just stopped booting, even with the disc.

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