RAM for X201

[Thinkthonk]

I have an X201, 120Gb SSD, Win 7 pro x64, 4Gb RAM. Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 580 @ 2.67GHz, 2660 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

Mostly used for browsing, email, some music downloads/streaming and video streaming. Watching video really makes the fan work hard. It doesn't seem to overheat but I was wondering about maybe increasing RAM .

Would increasing the RAM make the temp increase and cause the fan to work harder or would it lighten the load on the processor so the cooling wouldn't need to work so hard ?

[axur-delmeria]

To be honest, I don't see how more RAM would affect CPU usage in your case.

The X201 is known to run hot, so you could address the issue from there.

Why is the CPU heating up? Answer: video decoding. You can reduce the CPU load by:

1. reducing the video size

2. changing the video codec-- for example, youtube defaults to VP9, which many have noticed to be more CPU-intensive compared to H.264. There are browser plugins like h264ify that forces youtube to serve H.264 by default.

3. try hardware decoding-- the Intel HD graphics on the 1st-gen Core i3/i5/i7 already has decode support for H.264. You need to monitor your CPU temps though, as this merely shifts the load from the CPU to the integrated graphics, and may end up raising the overall system temperature. Alternatively, you could try video decoding cards like the Broadcom BCM70015, but IIRC it's not supported in Windows 10.

[Thinkthonk]

Reducing the video size, lowering playback quality,using PMPlayer-an extension for Palemoon browser that plays video in a seperate smaller resizeable window, disabling MSE for MP4 video (advice gleaned from an old Palemoon forum post), has so far worked for youtube and bitchute. The fan speed is a lot lower when using PMPlayer. It just means more clicking to watch a video.
thanks