Thinkpads Forum

Among all the offerings in x60 tablets, some come in pair of module when others in single for the same capacity for the 1GB models. Do those with 2x 512MB actually perform better than those with a single 1GB piece because of DDR2? If I have a single 1GB, should I change to 2x 512MB or get another 1GB and make 2GB?

2x512MB (dual channel mode) is only very slightly faster than 1x1GB. I strongly recommend you to get 1x1GB so you have an empty slot for future upgrade.

I have a single 1GB now. There are 2 ways I can go.

1. Swapping with someone for 2x 512MB and thus no additional cost.
2. Get another 1GB piece for the dual channel mode and cutting the page file down to minimum, but it will cost me money.

My memory usage sometimes goes above 1GB peak. Will #2 get me the most performance?

aau007 wrote:I have a single 1GB now. There are 2 ways I can go.

1. Swapping with someone for 2x 512MB and thus no additional cost.
2. Get another 1GB piece for the dual channel mode and cutting the page file down to minimum, but it will cost me money.

My memory usage sometimes goes above 1GB peak. Will #2 get me the most performance?

I have read in this forum that running XP with no pagefile is a bad idea. I can tell you that I have tried that (no pagefile) on two thinkpads with 2gb of ram and at least with ordinary applications there was no perceived difference in speed. Apparently, running with no pagefile will expose you to occasional BSODs with certain apps, something I would prefer to avoid, so in the absence of discernible benefit, I'd use a system managed pagefile size.

If you go beyond 1gb in RAM usage on a system that has only 1gb of RAM, that means you are "swapping to disk." Since disk drives, even fast ones, transfer information much slower than RAM does, this is going to slow you down and eliminating this bottleneck by having more RAM is going to speed you up.

I think your proposed trade of a one gb stick for 2x 512s is very shortsighted and a trade you will live to regret, assuming you keep the laptop for any period of time.

aau007 wrote:Among all the offerings in x60 tablets, some come in pair of module when others in single for the same capacity for the 1GB models. Do those with 2x 512MB actually perform better than those with a single 1GB piece because of DDR2? If I have a single 1GB, should I change to 2x 512MB or get another 1GB and make 2GB?

I strongly recommend １GBｘ２(or 512MB x 2),
because dual mode operation improves Windows Vista performance as follows,

X60 Tablet(Dual Core 1.83GHz/2GRAM/160GB5400RPM) Vista RTM performance Score
*1GB/single CH
Processor 4.7
RAM : 4.5
Graphics : 2.3
Gaming : 3.0
Disk : 4.8

*2GB/Dual CH
Processor 4.7
RAM : 4.7
Graphics : 3.4
Gaming : 3.0
Disk : 4.8

NJ_IT wrote:*1GB/single CH
Processor 4.7
RAM : 4.5
Graphics : 2.3
Gaming : 3.0
Disk : 4.8

*2GB/Dual CH
Processor 4.7
RAM : 4.7
Graphics : 3.4
Gaming : 3.0
Disk : 4.8

Hey, you have two variables there. To measure how big a difference dual channel makes, you should compare 1x1GB with 2x512MB instead so that you have the same total amount of memory in both cases.

pianowizard wrote: Hey, you have two variables there. To measure how big a difference dual channel makes, you should compare 1x1GB with 2x512MB instead so that you have the same total amount of memory in both cases.

I know that,but I do not have 512MB x 2 any more(already sold X60),My machine 63668KU.
Does anyone try it(512MB x2)?

FYI: By EVEREST v2.20.405
[1GBx1]
Read Speed: 3736 MB/s
Write Speed: 1222 MB/s

[1GBx2]
Read Speed: 4137 MB/s
Write Speed: 1404 MB/s

It is a access time from CPU(not from GPU),but anyway improved.

Why does the graphics performance go up?

aau007 wrote:Why does the graphics performance go up?

The integrated graphics card uses system memory (which runs faster in dual channel mode).