Im thinking about upgrading my computer with 1gig of ram and I already have 512 so will 1gig and a 512 make a difference in performance in games and map making? I play Hl2 right now and I use the Hammer Editer to make maps but it laggs out somtimes after like 3 hours of use on hammer. I have a Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop and it can hold 4 gigs of ram.

Thanks for any help.

Offhand I would say yes it will help with your system performance. This is assuming that your using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, if your using Windows 98/ME then it will not help.

an increase to 1gb would defintaely help HL2,... doesn't really matter which operating system....

Ok now what kind will run in my Dell, i looked on 4allmemory.com but it says ddr-2 400 but then i went to newegg.com and i couldnt find that so can someone please tell me what kind i need?

Personaly I would open your machine and take a look at the current ram in it, sometimes they leave the stickered speed value on the stick. I should be DDR2, but there are diffrent speeds of DDR2 depending on the processer and motherboard(to be exact it depends on the frequency the motherboard is set to but that is determined by the processer).


If they were using a 9x version of windows, by default the operating system will only use 512m of ram. There are work arrounds though. If the operating system doesn't address it, the extra ram will do no good and in some cases willl cause issues.

Thanks for all the help guys, I didnt open up my system yet but the processor is 3.0ghz if that helps.

Ok ive decided to just get another 512 and make it 1gig, now i opened my comp and here is what it says 256mb 1Rx8 Pc2d - 3200u-333-10-a1 Im sorry that iI dont know much about ram.
I have 2 256's so it makes 512.

If you really want to see a performance boost, replace both of those 256 sticks with 2 512 sticks of the same exact type (DDR2 if your motherboard can handle it). You will see a big speed increase when gaming, and a noticable difference just doing other stuff.

Samsung DDR2 code chart
According to the chart, you have unbuffered DDR2 3200 3/3/3. You should be able to get most brand's ram that speed. Remember with ram, it doen't pay to go extra cheap.

So any ram that says DDR-2 3200 will fit in my comp?

from what i know it depends on what game, i was once told this upgrade wouldn't do much for a game like counterstrike. but if it doesnt improve gameplay you will get extra speed in running your windows tasks

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Well Im pretty sure it will help me a little because every once and a while I get the "memory cannot be read" poblem in hl2 and im pretty sure its bc lack of ram.

More memory the better. Hell, I just upgraded to 2GB of memory.

It's not necessary, but everything loads so much faster!!! Mult-tasking is great.

I hope this dosnt sound newbish but will this ram work with my comp?
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...4298&pfp=BROWSE

If you havnt read the obove post's I have a Dell Dimension 8400

It should, since it's the right speed and type.
Remeber after installing new ram, run a mem test like Memtest86, memtest86+ or the windows memorty test tool(http ://oca.mic rosoft.com/en/windiag.asp) to make shur everything is working well. (not required but it can save a ton of time later)

I don't believe that RAM will work. I believe the Dimension 8400 uses DDR2 240pin RAM. The RAM on your link is DDR 184pin.

Here is a list of all the DDR2 memory, if you want to pull the 2x256mb chips you have and put in 2x512mb, at newegg.

Newegg RAM

You can get 1gb of Corsair Value memory for $90 shipped.

My bad, I'm sorry

Ok kool thanks, so any of the ram in that link that you posted should fit in my Pc?

Also I dont have to pull my 2 256's right? Since I have 4 ram ports and each can hold 1gig of memory.

From the looks of it you should be all right to leave in the memory you already have. Grab the manual from Dell's website, it should tell you exactly if thats possible. As for the memory on that page, yes it should all work. As long as its the 240pin DDR2 RAM you should be good to go!!

Thanks for all the help guys i got 2 512mb sticks of ram ddr-s 240-pin sdram pc 3200 and they work great! Everything is much faster.