X230 DDR3 upgrades

[RVC]

Mine currently has 8 GB DDR3. It appears to be made by SKhynix and is of 11-12 latency. Note this is a Core i5 3380U cpu. I am hoping I can make this become a computational powerhouse, relatively speaking. IVprep/IVrain should also help with this need but I am primarily asking about memory upgrades. Yes, I suppose if I could find a dead X230 with an i7 I would replace my main board but one can only wish. The main reason I posted this is that I looked on www.pcpartpicker.com and saw a couple of very costly options and this surprised me. These were from: G. Skill FA (~$150), Wintec Value ($138), ADATA Premier ($162), and PNY NHS ($160).

[RealBlackStuff]

You didn't search very well, did you?
8GB Crucial, $28 per stick

[RVC]

Not that you might have misinterpreted my post...

[atagunov]

Yes, I suppose if I could find a dead X230 with an i7 I would replace my main board but one can only wish

Do you by any chance mean a 4 core i7? AFAIK the only 4-core motherboards for X230 are re-BGA-ed by famous nb51 group in China from regular 2-core X230 motherboards. I believe here it is on TaoBao - note that depending on your location it may be more simple or more difficult to have it shipped to you; I'm currently trying to get TaoBao items to UK via superbuy.com but not a single parcel has yet arrived. Think TaoBao is delivering to some countries directly, possibly including US. All the talk is via Google translate and it is advisable to talk before ordering.

Probably a better option to get that motherboard is via user xytech aka xueyao.

No idea if you need to do any cooling upgrades at the same time, Xue Yao can probably advise..

Mine currently has 8 GB DDR3. It appears to be made by SKhynix and is of 11-12 latency

CL 11 seems to be pretty good. Only CL 10 is better but then lots more expensive. I read that the measured impact on CPU scores and other performance metrics from using "faster" RAM is really negligible. I certainly don't think it's worth the $$ to go beyond CL 11. That memory RealBlackStuff suggested is CL11. Crucial is a very reputable brand. I have myself gone for HyperX 1866 CL11, but that was mostly due to my vanity It seems somebody is selling off his stock of genuine Hyper X on UK ebay gradually at £30-35 a stick, 1-2 sticks a week.

BTW there is (are multiple?) rogue sellers on ebay who are wrongly using HyperX photos to advertise their CL11 memory sticks from Asia. However what they are selling actually are "for HyperX" e.g. no-name. I had to coerce one such seller to return me my payment immediately after buying once I realized I had mistakenly paid for no-name sticks. Interestingly it was a threat of negative feedback that helped me convince him to cancel my order. "Normal" more polite emails didn't work.