Thinkpads Forum

Suject said all, anyone actually got this working? Plan to get 2 x 4GB DDR2 667 modules for X61T. Please advice, thanks
LD

Someone apparently got the x61s working with 8gb (see last entry):

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/mess ... ad.id=1381

yes, 8GB works in the X61, X61s, and X61T without issue.

So, how does it work ? Do you just buy two 4gb units and stick in the slots ?
And how do you actually benefit from the extra RAM, can you use them with XP or is it Vista-only ?

64-bit version of the OS is what's needed to use it, regardless of vista or xp.

visitor wrote:Do you just buy two 4gb units and stick in the slots?

Yes But you need to have unplugged the laptop from AC and removed the battery before "opening" the laptop at all.

visitor wrote:And how do you actually benefit from the extra RAM, can you use them with XP or is it Vista-only ?

Regarding windows OSes, to utilize 4 and more GBs of system memory you need to have XP 64bit or Vista 64bit installed, the "regular" 32bit editions are unfortunately limited to ~3 GB (no matter what M$ might have been advertising). If one needs the OS to be 32bit though, one can alternatively use Windows Server OS 32bit (both Server 2003 and Server 2008 are available in 32bit editions).

Would 8gb work in an X60s as well ?

No. The X60s chipset will only support 3gb, regardless of OS. I've had 4gb in both of mine and 3gb is all it will use.

Hey ds_strauus, isn't there a trick to use as ram-disk the amount of RAM that XP 32 doesn't see ?

Incidentally, how do you compare the X60s with the X61s in performance Vs heat/noise. I've read that the newer one isn't perceptively faster and gets hotter and has 2 fans. Is the X60s really more bearable to hold one one's lap ? Thanks for helping.

visitor wrote:isn't there a trick to use as ram-disk the amount of RAM that XP 32 doesn't see ?

Unfortunately not, even RAMdisk cannot change anything since the limitation is of hardware nature (this RAM is not "addressable" since the addresses in the upper range are reserved for other tasks/devices).

Another question: the X61s is sais to be hotter than the X60s and noisier because of a second fan. Couldn't 8gb of RAM increase the heat factor ?

notebook memory runs fairly cool.   increasing from 4GB to 8GB won't make an appreciable difference in temperature.

Yup. Boy does it make a difference. I did a pair of 4G sticks and Windows XP (x64) on one drive, 64-bit Centos on the other.

I posted what you need to do to get XP (x64) up and running. Not a Vista fan.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=70057

visitor wrote:Hey ds_strauus, isn't there a trick to use as ram-disk the amount of RAM that XP 32 doesn't see ?

Incidentally, how do you compare the X60s with the X61s in performance Vs heat/noise. I've read that the newer one isn't perceptively faster and gets hotter and has 2 fans. Is the X60s really more bearable to hold one one's lap ? Thanks for helping.

Yes, that's what I have on my X61. 3Gb for XP and 1 Gb for the Ramdisk. When 4Gb SODIMMs come down in price enough, I'm planning of putting one it so the Ramdisk can be 3Gb (hopefully).

visitor wrote: If one needs the OS to be 32bit though, one can alternatively use Windows Server OS 32bit (both Server 2003 and Server 2008 are available in 32bit editions).

There is a 64-bit version of Server 2003, as well as Linux too...

On a side note, looks like I cannot get VMWare ESXi to install. Ah well.

Hello all,
Yes, I finally got a 4GB module DDR2 for my X61. It is working fine, my x61 (my cousin's X61 ) currently have totally 6GB (4GB + 2GB modules) and Vista Ultimate 64-bit (Dell Vista) detected the two modules OK.
Thanks all
-LD

This is definitely something for me to look into since I also run VMware on my x61t. As long as I can install Vista 64bit with my VIsta 32bit key.