Has your Dell Dimension 8100, 8200 or 8250 slowed to a crawl after installing the latest game or software suite?  Ready to upgrade your computer?  When it comes to purchasing an upgrade for your Dell Dimension 8100/8200/8250 there are several things you need to figure out and keep in mind.  This guide will help you figure out exactly what kind of memory you need for your Dell Dimension 8100/8200/8250.

First you need to find out the model number and then the CPU speed - which will give you the Front Side Bus speed.  Then you will be armed with the appropriate information needed to find the right upgrade for your system.

What's the model number of my Dell Dimension?
-The answer to this is usually fairly straightforward.  If you don't know which model you have (the Dimension 8100, 8200 or 8250) then please keep reading.

What is the front side bus speed (FSB) of my Dell Dimension?
-There are two different possible front side bus speeds for your Dell Dimension.  The easiest way is to look at your CPU speed.  If your CPU speed is 2.2GHz or slower then you have a 400MHz FSB.  However, if your CPU speed is 2.26GHz or faster then you have a 533MHz FSB.

I'm not sure of my model number or CPU speed.  How do I find that information out?
-There is a simple way to do that.  What you will need to do is go to http://www.dell.com and click on the “My Account” link.  If you already have a username/password for dell.com then enter it and click on “Sign In”.  If you do not have a username/password then follow the on-screen instructions to create one and then sign in.  Once signed in, on the right side of the page click on “Change My Default System”.  Then in the “Service Tag” box, type in the seven-digit service tag ID (located on the back of your computer) and then click on the “Add” link.  This should refresh the page and bring up a new link for your service tag ID.  Click on your service tag ID and that will bring up a “System Information” page.  Now look at the “System Type” line and that will have your model number.  Secondly, look for the “PROCESSOR” line and the third number should be in the format of 'X.XG' or 'X.XGHz' or simply 'X.X'.  The speeds typically range from 1.4GHz to 3.06GHz.  Once you have the CPU speed, please refer to the previous paragraph for your FSB (front side bus) speed.

Now that I have the FSB (Front Side Bus speed), what should I do next?
-The next step is to do keyword searches for the appropriate memory needed.  For example if you have a Dell Dimension 8200 with a 533MHz FSB and want an additional 512MB, do a keyword search for 'Dell Dimension 8200 512MB'.  Once the list comes up, check the auction listings to make sure that the memory kit supports the 533MHz FSB.  If it only supports the 400MHz FSB, then keep on looking.  Conversely if you have a 400MHz FSB system then look for listings which specify the 400MHz FSB.  And lastly if you are looking to add another 1GB or 1024MB then replace the '512MB' with '1GB'.

Have any other questions about RDRAM?  Drop me a line at choice_deals, and I'd be happy to answer it.  Thank you!