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Pairing RAM for X61
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:18 am
by phongdt
While waiting for the delivery of my X61, I'm thinking of getting a 2GB module to upgrade the machine (machine comes with 1GB only).
Do I have to pay any special attention in geting the RAM? Or I can just get a PC2-5300 Bus 667 2GB for notebook?
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:48 pm
by zverg
You can pair a 2GB stick with a 1GB no problem. A Dell with PC2-5300 that I use for work (yes, I have a thinkpad for personal work and a dell for business.. I'm backwards man!) had 2 1GB sticks, and I pulled one out and swapped it with a 2GB stick just to test. I have not done benchmarks to see how it affects memory bandwidth or speed, but I imagine having non-paired memory might degrade performance a bit due to the 'dual channel' memory technology.
With only two memory slots, you must match the memory capacity to continue to have dual memory channels active.
for more reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:42 pm
by ZaZ
I got a pair of Patriot 1GB sticks off Frys.com. They work fine in my R60.
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:35 am
by proaudioguy
FredGarvin wrote:I got a pair of Patriot 1GB sticks off Frys.com. They work fine in my R60.
I'm pretty sure he's asking about having 1 1GB and 1 2 GB stick in the same machine.
Does anyone make a 1.5GB stick?
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:35 am
by zverg
1.5gig... why??
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:58 am
by msaniac
i think he means he still wants 3gb of ram but paired into 2 1.5 gig sticks
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:17 am
by zverg
msaniac wrote:i think he means he still wants 3gb of ram but paired into 2 1.5 gig sticks
Of course.. that way you wouldn't be wasting any ram in a 32-bit OS. Don't know why I didn't realize that then, must not have been fully awake yet.