Thinkpads Forum

so I wanted to increase the ram in my new to me X60t.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-67418 tells me that it supports up to 4 gig.

Two slots, 2 2gig ram sticks (ddr2 pc2-5300).

Bios tells me 4 gig installed. (L2400 if that makes any difference)

Memory test on boot only appears to show 3 gig. Linux system monitor tells me 3 gig installed.

What gives? 32bit os should allow for 4 gig of ram... or am I missing something?

The chipset and BIOS combination on X60/T60/R60/Z61 series prevents from you being able to utilize more than 3GB of RAM, regardless of OS.

Guess that means the netbook goes up to 2gb.

tinkerer wrote:Guess that means the netbook goes up to 2gb.

X60T is not a Netbook!!

Depending on the OS you use it will make sense to upgrade to 3GB or not. If you use Win7 I would do it, but not necessarily for XP. Also most of the Linux Distros will be happy with 2GB. 4GB will be a waste, unless you get a pretty good offer (As anecdote, some years ago I came across an offer of 4GB RAM for my desktop, which was actually cheaper then buying 1x 2GB stick and 1x 1GB Stick, so I went for 4 even if I was sticking to a 32bits OS)

My 2 cents...

no, not the X60, my Asus EEEPC 900.

Let's say it's mainly a OS limitation, as *any* 32 bit system can't address more than 4 gigs.
But, because there are some further limitations due to video and/or reserved space the maximum usable amout is lowered to 3 gigs ram.
Anyway, due to the fact X60/61 are dual core machines, there are some noticeable differences between machines equipped with 2 gis (2x1) vs the ones sporting 4 gigs (2x2), even if, theoretically, the latters have 1 gig "wasted" ram.
It's worth to have a look here:
http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/articles/santarosa-test-6.html
having some familiarity with chinese language maybe of help
Perphaps the most intriguing thing is the fact that the combination 2+1 gig (for having the max "possible" amount of ram) performs worst than 1+1.
So IMHO I'ld stick with 4 gigs, and not only for the small difference in price...
cheers

p.s. still haven't tried installing win7 64bit to see what happens. Anyone ?

I have to say it again. It is not an OS problem on T60/X60!!! On usual 32bit system you will see something like 3.25 or something GB because VGA card etc also take memory addresses, but on X60/T60 systems it is a chipset limitation and no matter what you do, you are not able to see more than precisely 3GB in the OS as usable memory. Not 3,4, not 3,2, but 3 GB.

Raceboy wrote:I have to say it again. It is not an OS problem on T60/X60!!! On usual 32bit system you will see something like 3.25 or something GB because VGA card etc also take memory addresses, but on X60/T60 systems it is a chipset limitation and no matter what you do, you are not able to see more than precisely 3GB in the OS as usable memory. Not 3,4, not 3,2, but 3 GB.

Actually, 3GB is more a BIOS limitation. Because of the chipset's 4GB limit, and because the amount that needs to be reserved to peripherals varies, Lenovo decided to play it safe and fix the upper usable memory limit at 3GB exactly. There have been some successful attempts to modify this limit in contemporary BIOSes, but I remember some stability issues being reported, and in any case the small gains were not worth the hassle.

The more RAM you get the more impact on battery life, with 2GB the X60T still flies. Also the tablet will generate more heat.

Just to point out that battery drain due to ram quantity is virtually unnoticeable.
The great power-hungry devices are display (brightness), hard disk drive (if not ssd), speed and workload of cpu(s), followed by wi-fi, 3G card, bluetooth and other gadgets of today's notebook (at least X family do not have optical drives)...
For me the intriguing fact is that 2+1 Gb ram configuration (max theoretical value) performs worst than 1+1.
Maybe for symmetry reasons of the dual core architecture ?
And what about 2+2 Gb giving the best results of all ?
Clearly it is not a waste of resources "tout court".
What lies beneath ?