RDRAM is not proprietary of Dell; Intel included support for the RDRAM in their Pentium 4 motherboards. In fact, the hardware in the high end Dell computers are all standard components of suppliers (not including monitors) and the same can be found in many different brands of computers. Many of the lower end Dells (and other name brands) you can find at Wal Mart, Target, etc, can contain components that have been specifically designed for that unit or are just plain cheap. The one thing about Dell online: you want a cheapy, pick out the components. You want a high end: you can pick the best. BTW: Dell does not manufacture any component, only assembles the computer.
I did find out the main reason for the higher cost RDRAM was in the manufacturing and with few companies buying the license to make them. The cheaper to make DDR technology finally improved enough to start replacing them in mid 2000's. They are still used and made today, but few companies make a motherboard to support them. Note: I found a place that sells them @ $147/gig....still too danged high!
Hi Rex,
One of my business besides the Foothill Station MRR Supplies has been Computer, Software & Products in which I handled all types of products. Memory being one of them but due to all the poast events I personally been involved in dealing with my Mothers situation I've been out of touch with the computer stuff the way I was.
What you said before is very correct in that Dell, nor any of the other PC Mfgs produce their own memory, at least to my knowledge. The price you stated per Gig is about twice what the current retail price is. I just had to build a new system and installed a
2 Gig DDR3 memory card by Kingston Technology and paid $74.00 retail for it and thought that was high but it's also
1333 Mhz of speed or will handle that rate of throughput.
In the past as is possbly still the situation, Dell & Compac used poroprietary products to make it difficult to work on your own system as Jeffery also says and sometimes did some weird things to force individuals to purchase only through them. Compac went ass far as having a special power cord [from the wall] that pluged directly into the MB and was only available through them!
I'm inclined to think, but not certain, that other memory should be able to be utilized. I see a place called,
'MemorySuppliers.com' that advertied Rambus
memory but you need to know the spoeed your system takes or the type/ name of the Deminsion system you have so they can correctly match the memory to what you already have. The memory that is generally required is determined by the MB mfg and Dell may be pulling something funny here?
I would think though that other memory ought to be able to be used as it's hard to imagine they would have a tremendous number of special memory cards made up just for them??
A word or warning to everyone,
DO NOT DEAL WITH TIGER DIRECT, they are a Rip-Off as they won't stand behind what they sell. Any bad poroducts and you play hell trying to get them to honor their statements and take the product back!
HTH
---although it is winding down----I hope
