16GB in my T520?

[KeatonR]

I have the T520, model 4239-CTO with 4G of RAM installed. A Crucial scan reveals that I can add another 4GB for a max of 8, but I’ve read that some T520 owners have successfully installed two sticks of 8. Can I do this in mine? And if so which sticks am I looking for?

Thanks in advance!

[thinkpadcollection]

Yes, I have done that with T420 (sister to T520). Either DDR3-1333 or DDR3-1600 (will run as 1333 installed due to SPD programming is set for 1066, 1333 and 1600 for DDR3 1600) They have to be 2Rx8 with official brand logo label sticker, one of these brand: Micron or Crucial (both are same maker), Hynix, Samsung. I get them from ebay, or if Crucial still have some DDR3 left. Always installed identical pairs of like.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[MikalE]

These run really well with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD.

[KeatonR]

Thanks, everyone. This is exactly the info I’m after. And I do plan to add an mSATA SSD sometime soon, and migrate the OS and program files to it, so with that and the RAM I should be running quite a bit faster.

[MikalE]

Then you can whitelist your BIOS and install a better Wi-Fi card, upgrade it to Bluetooth 4.0 or higher, swap in a Quad-Core processor, add an internal Smartcard reader for triple security protection, etc, etc.

I think I probably have a one of a kind T520 that no one has configured like this one. I'll never sell this one.

https://i.imgur.com/E3hLLzS.jpg

[KeatonR]

Wow, much of that is likely above my pay grade, but I must admit it all sounds intriguing. I'll start with my small upgrades (screen, then RAM) and see how confident I'm feeling when it comes time to do the SSD upgrade. Overall, though, I'm really excited to be dusting this machine off and getting it up to speed. And this forum has been a great resource so far, so I really do appreciate all the help!