Thinkpads Forum

My question is would my system perform better with, and are they even compatible with the T420:

16GB@1333MHz(8GBx2)
Or
8GB@1866MHz(4GBx2)

I do plan on buying an intel 510(elmcrest), intel 520(cherryville) or crucial M4 later on, but I would really like to improve ram first.

No, it won't perform better- you won't see better framerates.

The NVS4200M isn't exactly a gaming chip.
Games with better graphics require more horsepower, which the T420 just doesn't have.

If you want to game, consider making a ViDock with an nVidia desktop graphics card. That will allow you to game on the Thinkpad's screen with performance that's quite a bit better than the NVS4200M can give you.

Generally more RAM makes a far more noticeable differences than faster RAM (which makes almost no difference).

In your case, however, I have to agree with Q-Ball - the 8GB is likely to be more than you will ever use (unless you start running virtual machines, or heavy mathematical simulations or such things). The bottleneck is the graphics adapter.

Q-Ball wrote:No, it won't perform better- you won't see better framerates.

The NVS4200M isn't exactly a gaming chip.
Games with better graphics require more horsepower, which the T420 just doesn't have.

If you want to game, consider making a ViDock with an nVidia desktop graphics card. That will allow you to game on the Thinkpad's screen with performance that's quite a bit better than the NVS4200M can give you.

That whole "ViDock" idea blew my mind!! In your opinion, what is the best ViDock/graphics card available for my T420? And would optimus technology improve my experience if I use an optimus desktop card with my 4200M? Thanks for the information, it appears ram would have been a waste of money!

In this case, the faster RAM will make a small difference of a few frames per second, according to reports and benchmarks from users who have gotten the 1866 MHz RAM. It's nothing major, but a smidge. It is however true what others have said about more RAM past a certain point as being worthless overkill for integrated graphics performance.

jvarszegi wrote:In this case, the faster RAM will make a small difference of a few frames per second, according to reports and benchmarks from users who have gotten the 1866 MHz RAM.

that scenario only applies to intel integrated graphics.   this particular T420 uses an NVS4200M and has its own dedicated memory.

Well, you can buy a full enclosure for around 220 bucks from Village Instruments themselves, or you can make one yourself and save about a hundred bucks (i.e. the price of one graphics card- just search up DIY ViDock).

Only nVidia cards that are of the 400 or 500 series (and if you don't do this until next year, the 600 series) can use Optimus to render directly on the notebook's LCD. But performance will be a bit lower than hooking up an external monitor for that purpose.

You do have to keep in mind the limitations, though- because you won't get as much performance as you would with the card in a desktop machine with a proper PCI-E connection. But it's still an improvement.

Do you run benchmarks all day or does your work involve writing code that is dramatically affected by memory latency and throughput?

No?

Then forget the faster RAM, as it will be of no additional value to you.

Also, do you have an SSD? If not, forget upgrading your RAM for the moment, and put the money towards an SSD. You will get a much, much more noticeable performance improvement.