RDRAM help

[kaos kid]

Yeah, I know this is ancient tech but I'm troubleshooting a friends' Dell Dimension 8200 (she is too poor to get a new computer so I'm upgrading what I can for her for free) and I have found that it uses RDRAM. It currently has 256MB (2x128MB) and considering that WinXP needs at least that much as the minimum, I suspect that the lack of memory is one of the reasons her computer is slow as molasses. I am not familiar with RDRAM, but I have found that it needs PC800 non-ecc 40ns RDRAM in matched pairs. I see that there is a lot of RDRAM for sale on ebay that states it is compatible with her 8200, but I noticed that some of it is ecc, and most is the 45ns variety. Will that make much of a difference? AFAIK the ecc memory would be OK since it would just disable the ecc function and only run as non-ecc, but will it make any difference in having the 45ns RDRAM instead of the 40ns RDRAM? According to Dells manual, it came with 40ns non-ecc so would it hurt to mix in a pair of ecc RDRAM with the 45ns speed? And if they can be mixed would I put the 40ns memory in the 1/2 slots and the 45ns memory in the 3/4 slots? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[sxr7171]

I had one of those machines and I have to say RDRAM was the biggest PITA to deal with.

Within 2 years I deemed the machine a paperweight. Getting RDRAM that worked with it was way too expensive. Anyway this is what I found:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/foru...erence-between-45ns-rdram-and-40ns-rdram.html

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=266525

I guess people are saying both could work, but don't expect it to. From what I know of Dell I bet they locked down that thing to 40ns RDRAM. Also I don't ECC RAM will work either.

 

[kaos kid]

Thanks for the reply. And I agree, RDRAM sux from what I've heard. I was hoping it would take DDR when I first saw the installed memory total upon bootup (I have plenty of that lying around), but looking up the service tag left me disappointed. I just can't understand why Dell would even offer such a small amount of memory on a WinXP box from the factory. If they would have upped that to 512MB at the start it would have been adequate for simple use at least. Now it is completely ridiculous, lol. She has never been happy with this box, now I know why. This is the first time she has let me look at it, or I would have tried to upgrade it for her long ago. Luckily she only uses this box for surfing and office programs, so if I can even get installed memory up to 512MB it will probably suffice.

Thank you for providing those links, it appears that I should definitely stick with the 40ns memory and non-ecc to be as sure as possible of compatibility.

 

[RebateMonger]

RDRAM was always outrageously expensive, which is probably why Dell only included 256 MB as standard.

Dell's specs for the Dim. 8200:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8200/specs.htm#1101572

Memory Architecture
RDRAM

Memory connectors
four

Memory capacities
64-, 128-, 256-, and 512-MB non-ECC RDRAM

Minimum memory
128 MB

Maximum memory
2 GB with Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Windows XP; 512 MB with Windows Millennium Edition (Me)

Memory type
PC800 (non-ECC)

Memory speed
40 ns or faster

 

[kaos kid]

Thanks, RM, I have already been to that page. I know that Dell plays tricks on their builds (at least they were back then when this was new) so I wanted to see if this far after the fact that anyone had first hand knowledge that the other memory specs would be compatible as well. I'm just going to keep trying to find some on the cheap, and if it ends up costing more than $25 I'll try to build her something out of my spare parts, at least I could put together something with DDR memory and faster fsb.