Upgrade Dell 2350 Memory with Newer DDR?

This is just the opposite of an older question.

If possible would like to upgrade memory of this 2350 with Bluford e139765 mainboard and socket 478 P4 CPU.

Dell lists the DDR-SDRAM as type PC2100 (266MHz) non-ECC

Is newer DDR Memory backward compatible?

I can get newer Memory in larger sizes and less price than the old PC2100.

Did some checking but am still unclear which is why ask.

Thanks

Ken

You should be able to use PC2700 and PC3200 fine, just as long as the RAM is DDR and not DDR2 which is much cheaper per GB at the moment..

But yeah, new PC2100 is probably pretty expensive because it hasn't been made for many years now

Snod Blatter,

Thanks. Since posting have been doing some checking. Wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM was esp interesting!

Was esp interested in "Again in the context of the 1 GB non-ECC PC3200 SDRAM stick there is very little visually to differentiate Low Density from High Density RAM....Most High Density PC3200 modules are assembled using Samsung chips." So am trying to find out what 1GB Sticks have Samsung High Density chips but No list so far. Also did not find any stores giving this info.

Any suggestions.

Thanks again for the help!

Ken

You're best off just looking for somewhere that sells RAM as low density.. High density can cause problems.

The difference that you can usually see if that low density has 16 chips (8 on each side) and High density only has 8. However, it's not a guarantee that the stick will be low density as all 16 chips could be in the same bank.. Sticks can be split into 2 banks, see, and the most your board can see per bank is 512MB. If you get a high density stick, all 1GB is in one bank, and then your board will either only see 512MB or refuse to work with it at all.

Crucial have a good memory selector tool if you want to buy their overpriced stuff, but some other places sell specifically low density RAM. I personally just go straight to eBay where people do usually say whether it's high or low density

SB,

Thanks for the tips! Did some checking and this Mainboard was found to take 2GB DDR.

Do you know of any sites that track DDR Prices and Sales?

Am guessing with newer DDR2.... the old DDR1 will be reduced in price.

This is not an emergency just trying to do my homework.

Thanks again for the help!

Ken

I don't know of any such sites, I'm afraid.. But it also depends what country you're in for availability..

With regards to prices, you would think that, wouldn't you? But in fact DDR2 is a whole lot cheaper at the moment, probably under half the price per GB that DDR is! And the memory companies are complaining about no profits.. They should go back to making DDR for a while

I would suggest using Newegg...they have a pair of OCZ 1gig sticks of PC3200 for 68 bucks after a 20 dollar rebate...if you don't mind rebates, this is prolly your best bet...it is the lowest CAS rating of 2.0 and as long as the motherboard will accept it, it will be the best thing you can get. Also newegg is a great site to see reviews...the only issue I have right now with buying these is that none of the reviewers say if they have a 2350....I guess its quite old so I am not surprised...but for 70 bucks....this is great RAM, a great company...and you really can't get much better in my opinion. I hope this helped if you haven't bought your RAM yet....gl.
~Jayce