Want to upgrade RAM on Dell Dimension 4500

First off, please consider me as a "civilian" in the field of computing. I know what a motherboard is, for example, but if you refer to it as a "mobo" I might not get it. That kind of thing.
Alright, that disclaimer aside, I have a Dell Dimension 4500 that my parents purchased for me back in 2002 (I am a college student). It came with 128 RAM, which I knew even then was low, but it was in the price range. I have been noticing lately that there have been a higher frequency of crashes, and my computer has a hard time running certain programs quickly, or at the same time another program is running (like SIMcity by itself, or three browser windows, etc.)
So I should upgrade my RAM, right? And how do I go about doing this myself, and how much should I get? I am a student, remember! =) If anyone wants to help, I'd appreciate it!! Also, if I have a problem with my cd-r drive not recognizing a blank recordable disc, do I need to post that problem on another thread?
Thanks!

 

Hey!
Welcome to the forums.......
Well, 128Mb these days is pretty low. In fact, its the bare, bare minimun you should have. Replacing the RAM is pretty simple. You just have to open up your case, and find the "stick" of RAM. You will almost immediately notice it, because its thin and kind of long.

I would suggest you get a 512MB module in addition to your 128Mb one. It will total 640Mb of RAM which is pretty good. I would recommend a Dual Channel setup, but since you aren't very familiar with computers, that would just confuse you, and we don't want that.

I recommend this RAM for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227037

It is very cheap (it has a mail in rebate at the moment) so the final cost is about $32. Keep in mind that OCZ is a very well known and reputable company (which is why I recommended it to you) and they have a lifetime warranty so that you sleep soundly knowing that nothing will happen. Good Luck, and post with any other questions that you might want answered.

CD-R drives are so inexpensive these days that its not even worth it to try and repair it. Just get a new one and install it. The installation is a bit more involved, so get back to us if you need any help/advice.

 

Hey, thanks! Umm, so should I maybe instead uninstall my 128 and just get two 512's, or will my computer not support that much RAM?
Also, this cd-r drive is about 2 years old, being a replacement from the original. It was working alright, but then it had this problem a few months ago. I fixed it, and now it is doing it again, I may have changed something in the registry? I tried to go to Microsoft's site about this problem, they had me do something else in msconfig to make sure that the drive had a tab that read "recordable" (or something along those lines), but even after I got that to re-apper, the problem still exists...it will read the discs if there is something on them, but will not recognize a blank disc as being blank, or it will say that the drive is busy. Silly thing, but I'm afraid if I go out and get a new drive, I will have a similar problem, as it seems to be something with a registry or something like that? Anyway, thanks!

 

Batteries........doesn't the 2400 use DDR333 (PC2700)? As that one you pointed at is a PC3200. will that make a diff? thanks

Jack

 

You're welcome!

Even if the 2400 uses PC2700 and you put PC3200 in it, the RAM will automatically cut back to DDR333 settings. It won't make a difference because if your motherboard doesn't support DDR400, the DDR400 will automatically be recognized as DDR333. The only advantage to buying RAM that is higher than your motherboard will accept is that you then get much more overclocking headroom. So, you should be fine with the DDR400, although DDR333 is usually somewhat cheaper than DDR400, so if you don't really care about the overclocking potential, you might as well go with some cheaper DDR333.

Oh, and snowfall, you have a great plan there to replace the 128 with two 512s. It should be able to support that much without a problem. I'm not really sure which motherboard/CPU combo you have, so it's hard for me to tell exactly what will be and what won't be supported, but I'm 98% sure that your motherboard will support two 512 sticks. In fact, it might even run them in Dual Channel, which is an even better deal.

You should be set for a while if you get the 2x512 sticks, as 1GB is alot of RAM, even today. Multitasking will greatly improve.

I'm not really sure what the problem is with the CD-R drive. If its just with blank CDs, I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. If it really bothers you, you could eventually try re-installing windows/reformatting your computer to see if that changes anything, but in my opinion thats way too much hassle for such a small issue.

Like I said, if its just with blank CDs, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

The problem is, it won't let me burn cd's, so as a student, when I need to transfer information, it's lame, because I can't put it on disc. I don't want to go have to buy a jump drive or anything. Thanks for all the help. Who should I talk to to find out for sure if my specific computer can handle that much RAM? And what is a Dual Channel? Any specific things or companies I should look for in a dual channel? (I hope that wasn't a dumb question!)
Thanks!