My Dell XPS 8930, new in July 2020, came with 8 GB of DDR4 2666 MHz RAM (non-ECC, I assumed) in one of its four UDIMM slots. Windows 11 specifies 4 GB as the minimum memory requirement, but, recently, the system had been behaving as if it had run out of memory. I decided to double the memory to 16GB. As it turned out, this timing was both lucky and unlucky.
RAM
Few vendors seemed to sell what I needed. Mr Memory offered 8 GB of RAM for £ 70.80 plus £ 6 for next day delivery, which seemed competitive but high, compared to historical prices. If I had taken the decision in early 2025, the cost might have been halved.
The explanation appears to be that the ‘artificial intelligence’ industry favours more advanced memory than DDR4 RAM. This has caused manufacturers to cease to manufacture DDR4 RAM, making it scarce at this time and increasing its market price. If I delayed the decision, it was possible the cost would be even higher.
The big three manufacturers of DDR4 RAM were Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SK hynix Inc. and Micron Technology, Inc. The final specification of DDR5 RAM was released in July 2020. In April 2025, it was reported that Samsung would cease accepting orders for DDR4 RAM in early June 2025. In June 2025, it was reported that Micron had sent notices to customers that its DDR4 memory was reaching end of life. In July 2025, it was reported that SK hynix would cease accepting orders in October 2025.
In May 2025, it was reported that ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a Chinese competitor, would phase out DDR4 RAM by mid-2026. CXMT first began mass-producing DDR4 RAM in late 2024.
Installation
Installation was relatively straightforward. The DIMM2 slot, paired with the existing, filled, DIMM1 slot, was identified by matching white securing clips (those of the DIMM3 and DIMM4 slots were black). It was, however, a little awkward to reach.
Rotating the power-supply unit cage away from the chassis dislodged the graphics card from its slot. A better instruction in the XPS Service Manual would have been to disconnect the power cable from the graphics card and then to fully rotate the cage.
On first boot, the BIOS recognised a change in system memory and displayed an alert, in case that was a hardware problem.