Upgrading RAM on Dell 530

[greenmystik]

Hello all,

I'm looking to upgrade the RAM on my Dell Inspiron 530. I currently have 3gb and would like to go to 6gb. My only concern is that the motherboard won't support the additional RAM. How can I find this out?

I'm running 64-bit Vista.

[TDIdriver]

Maximum memory 4 GB (Inspiron 530 only ) 8 GB(Inspiron 530a/530c)

[bthylafh]

Generally I visit http://www.crucial.com/ and tell it what kind of system I've got.

[Scrotos]

TDI on point with that. You'll want to update your BIOS, too, to the latest. I think on earlier revisions the BIOS limited you to 4 GB regardless of the motherboard's abilities.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... pendix.htm

2/3rd of the way down are some diagrams of different motherboards. If you have 4 DIMM slots, you have either the 530, 503a, or 530c.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-fo ... 51566.aspx

Some more pics at the end of that thread, too. I've got a 530 and will do a 3 GB to 8 GB sometime. I forget what revision my mobo is but I am running a Q6600 and I looked into this before and I'm good to go. Perhaps it's silkscreened on the motherboard as the FoxConn part number?

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2008/04/do ... -you-read/ (to reinforce that a BIOS update is needed in this case)

[greenmystik]

Thanx for the replies guys. The links that Scrotos posted were helpful. It looks like you can put more that 4gb on these motherboards regardless of what dell says. I hope this is the case and dell didn't somehow cripple the MB's somehow.

[Scrotos]

Well, just to clarify, the motherboards ARE limited by the BIOS if you haven't upgraded them. And I know certain ones physically don't support quad-core CPUs (or, I suppose, CPUs of a certain TDP) so there are differences.

I assume mobos with only 2 DIMM slots could only do 2 x 2GB for 4 GB max so you'd be limited by that, too. I don't know why the 530 would have different memory support than the 530a/530c and I'm hopin' you'll be fine regardless.

Looking again more carefully, the 530 (non a/c) is the only one with a floppy connector next to the power connectors. So if you have a floppy connector, you might be hosed. Only one way to find out, though.

[greenmystik]

I think I'll take a shot at the upgrade. If it doesn't work at least I'll get an extra gig outta of it. Just need to stop buying Dell and start my own system soon.

[Scrotos]

In a spot of irony, I stopped building my own and started getting Dells because I was lazy and they worked well enough! Ah, good times!

[greenmystik]

Ha! Im pretty lazy too, but I'm getting tired of having to worry if my upgrade will work on the dell, too much hassle.

Do you know if any specific brand of memory works better with Dell's than others. I bought RAM a couple years ago for an older Dell I had and it wouldn't work.

[TDIdriver]

I'd recommend either using the "wizard" on Crucial's website or the memory finder on newegg. Usually Samsung or Kingston "value" type ram will always work.

[Scrotos]

What he said. I don't think the Inspiron has any esoteric RAM requirements. It's a pretty plain mobo, more or less. The only thing is the tools might think it's a 4 GB max. As long as you get the same timings and speeds listed, you can just find a 2 GB chip with the same specs and you should be good to go.

[dank422]

I have a Dell inspiron 530 and i upgraded to Vista 64 bit. Then went to dell website and got the free upgrade for BIOS and now i've installed 8GB RAM AND THE COMPUTER DOES RECOGNIZE IT. Was a fairly slow computer now this thing is really fast was worth every penny in my opinion

[just brew it!]

I'd recommend either using the "wizard" on Crucial's website or the memory finder on newegg. Usually Samsung or Kingston "value" type ram will always work.

I'll second the vote for Kingston's "ValueRAM" series. I've used it extensively at home and work, and the compatibility has been excellent.