Thinkpads Forum

It has been noted in several places that the 1.36 BIOS and newer limits the speed of the RAM in the W520. I just flashed to 1.35 and noticed the WEI score for RAM went from 7.6 to 7.8, so it apparently does make a slight difference in memory performance. Not sure if I will be able to tell the difference using the machine or not, but I found this interesting.

It's actually 1.37 that limits the RAM speed. I'm staying at 1.36 until I need more than the 16GB I have now because, like you, I saw the WEI memory speed go from 7.6 to 7.8 when I replaced my original 8GB 1333MHz with the 1600MHz I have now.

Thanks for the clarification.

It’s interesting nothing about this is listed in any of their change logs. I may upgrade to 1.36 since there are probably bug fixes between the two, although the system is running good now.

Do you have the 1000 or 2000 GPU? I have the 2000 and am getting 6.9 on GPU performance, which is the slowest metric.

I have 32GB of RAM and am still getting the 7.8 for some reason.

edit: I just noticed in your sig that you have the 2000.

I may have muddled things when I said I might upgrade the BIOS if I upgrade RAM. My thinking was that because Lenovo has not qualified the faster RAM, if I buy new RAM, I would probably stick with the 1333MHz parts that Lenovo has qualified, at which point there would be no drawback for me to load the latest BIOS. That you are getting 7.8 with 32GB of 1600MHz RAM on 1.35 BIOS makes perfect sense. Perhaps once I do need more RAM, the price differential in the different speeds will have disappeared and I'll give it at try at full speed.

My WEI values are Processor 7.4, Memory 7.8, Graphics 6.9, Gaming 6.9, Primary hard [sic] disk, 7.8 -- this is actually a Crucial M4 256GB mSATA. Yes, the GPU is the 2000. Looks like the Quadro K2000m in the W530 gets you only a 7.0 and the not-in-Thinkpads Quadro 4000m -- such as this Dell -- adds just another couple of notches at 7.2. So we're not too far behind.

Does this also apply to a W500 with 1066MHz memory?

Cola wrote:Does this also apply to a W500 with 1066MHz memory?

Lenovo's tabook for withdrawn models (PDF) lists the RAM in W500 models as PC3-8500 1066MHz DDR3, so your that speed RAM should be fully supported no matter which BIOS rev.

The thing with the W520 and the 1600MHz RAM is that Lenovo never shipped the systems with that speed of RAM, so they presumably just don't want to deal with the possible support hassles of letting the RAM run that fast. Even though the CPU/chipset are spec'd for it, the signals still have to travel on Lenovo's logic board which apparently wasn't designed/qualified for that speed. It's working for me, but it might not work for someone else.