Memory in Dell XPS Tower

[sdruley]

I bought a new Dell XPS 8900 tower that came with 32 GB of RAM. I installed another 16GB stick in slot 3 of 4 and the computer will not recognize more than 32 GB. Should I remover the extra stick before it overheats? I went to F2 on power up and it told me that the extra stick is not being used.

 

[Macropod]

You should first have checked how much RAM you computer can address. 32Gb may or may not be the limit. You should then have checked whether it requires RAM slots to be used in pairs (a typical requirement), whether it requires you to have the same amount of RAM in each pair (another typical requirement) and whether, if all slots are used, it requires you to have the same amount of RAM in all slots.

What makes you think your computer will overheat with your current configuration? More to the point, you should consider whether you really need so much RAM. Most users get by quite happily with 4Gb.

 

[mole999]

The tower should operate with the greater memory if your are using an operating system that can address the bigger range, i.e 64bit, you do need to check how the system allows memory to be added

 

[Smitty]

The Dell website used to have a memory configuration tool, but I'm not sure any more. At the very least, you should be able to look up your system specs there.

 

[sdruley]

thanks to all for your input. I am honored to have received input from 3 moderators. It just doesn't get any better than this.