Worth upgrading or buy new?

[spanglerg]

I have a XPS 410 9200 C and D drive. The D crashed and had to reload; now I'm getting a RAID degraded message. Dell wants $$$$ for call or repair and see additional dollars to upgrade coming in each time and event happens.

Upgrade consists of 2 additional 1 GB corsair memory cards, 1 TB C drive. My current hard drive as less than 11% left on it.

I don't run games and my son the culprit of many problems (possibly) for games has finally left my computer, has a laptop. So if I upgrade this may take me several years...conversely the mother board could go next and other parts + professional help costs, etc.?

Suggestions?

Thank you,

 

[WR2]

Hello spanglerg;

Is the XPS 410 a C2Q Q6600 model? What RAM does it have installed now?
CPU-Z will till you the RAM that's currently installed and give you the motherboard/mainboard.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

 

[wribbs]

I would upgrade but don't pay dell to do it and do not RAID.
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) $53 AR
Hard Drive Deals

 

[spanglerg]

Hello spanglerg;

Is the XPS 410 a C2Q Q6600 model? What RAM does it have installed now?
CPU-Z will till you the RAM that's currently installed and give you the motherboard/mainboard.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

CPU- intel core 2 Duo E6600
Caches 32KB ytes
MainBoard dell OWG855 11/22/2007
Memory - DDR2 2048 Mbytes
SPD DDR2 1024 Mbytes
Graphics – NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE

My snap shoot

thank you,

 

[cpatel1987]

CPU- intel core 2 Duo E6600
Caches 32KB ytes
MainBoard dell OWG855 11/22/2007
Memory - DDR2 2048 Mbytes
SPD DDR2 1024 Mbytes
Graphics – NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE

My snap shoot

thank you,

What OS are you running and at what bit (aka 32 or 64 bit?) Because upgrading the RAM, if you have 32 bit, you'll only benefit from 3 GB max due to 32 bit's limit on RAM. If this was for my parents, which all they do is basic internet, using Microsoft Office, and me sometimes going on there and using photo editing programs, just replace the hard drive and up the RAM with only a 1 GB stick extra. Disable RAID, honestly, especially if its RAID 0 (aka data is written between two drives, which effectively doubles the failure rate).

BUT, this also really depends on how much Dell is charging you in labor and parts/ how much are you willing to explore options outside of Dell doing everything for you. Most cost effective option would be to frankly disable the RAID, get one drive as a replacement, buy the RAM yourself from Newegg.com or a similar site, installing the RAM yourself (really a matter of popping it in the socket properly) and reinstall the OS. If they gave you recovery disks, awesome, you can use them on the new drive. If they didn't, you'll need to either find a copy of the Windows you have and use the OEM key thats on a sticker somewhere on the Desktop to reinstall the OS and download all the necessary drivers (drivers available at support.dell.com). Or, it may be worth it just ordering the recovery disks from Dell (should be no more than $40, I could be wrong).

 

[spanglerg926]

What OS are you running and at what bit (aka 32 or 64 bit?) Because upgrading the RAM, if you have 32 bit, you'll only benefit from 3 GB max due to 32 bit's limit on RAM. If this was for my parents, which all they do is basic internet, using Microsoft Office, and me sometimes going on there and using photo editing programs, just replace the hard drive and up the RAM with only a 1 GB stick extra. Disable RAID, honestly, especially if its RAID 0 (aka data is written between two drives, which effectively doubles the failure rate).

BUT, this also really depends on how much Dell is charging you in labor and parts/ how much are you willing to explore options outside of Dell doing everything for you. Most cost effective option would be to frankly disable the RAID, get one drive as a replacement, buy the RAM yourself from Newegg.com or a similar site, installing the RAM yourself (really a matter of popping it in the socket properly) and reinstall the OS. If they gave you recovery disks, awesome, you can use them on the new drive. If they didn't, you'll need to either find a copy of the Windows you have and use the OEM key thats on a sticker somewhere on the Desktop to reinstall the OS and download all the necessary drivers (drivers available at support.dell.com). Or, it may be worth it just ordering the recovery disks from Dell (should be no more than $40, I could be wrong).

Thank you very much - from the research I've gathered this is excellent advice. Running XP at 32 bit. The most problem I see is getting rid of RAID, reloading the OS system and getting the drivers reloaded.

Most likely will contact local vendor.

Thank you again this wil save me money for what I use the system.

G