W520 Lenovo Core DRAM Controller

[eme2k]

Sandra SiSoftware is showing the Chipset for Intel Core DRAM Controller to be
A10 revision, 100MHZ front side bus speed, a width of 20-bit, and a maximum bus bandwidth of 400MB/s. Even though the memory banks show a maximum bandwidth of 20.84GB/s, that speed would never be realized as the bottleneck is the controller. Can someone confirm that the FSB speed is 100MHZ and the maximum bandwidth is 400MB/s? If it is, this has to be some type of scam.

[davidhbrown]

Sounds like some lack of knowledge of this chipset in SiSoft or an error in our interpretation of what it really means.

I ran their memory bandwidth benchmark on a W520 and is reporting 15.97GB/s for the combined results. While this is less than the theoretical maximum bandwidth it's reporting (the same 20.84GB/s), they say it ranks above 97% of other systems

I believe the RAM I have is running at 1.33GHz (667MHz x2) while the memory bus would support 1.6 GHz (800MHz x2). Patriot and Kingston seem to have some "PC3 12800" parts for about US$100/2x4GB, but I'm not sure what effect on overall system performance that would really have.

[Volker]

If the DRAM would be throttled to 400MB/s, you would notice the speed impact immediately. No need for a benchmark program, it works as it should.

[Q-Ball]

All Sandy Bridge PC's have a DMI speed (aka FSB) of 100 MHz. It's a limitation designed to screw over budget users on the desktop, but I won't get into that.

But you would see a minor benefit by going to DDR3-1600.
The Intel datasheet confirms that it can go to that speed.

An important thing to note, though, is that the only SB mobile processors that can use DDR3-1600 at 1600 MHz are the i7-27XX line of processors and beyond: the 2720QM, the 2710QS, the 2715QS, the 2820QM, and the 2920XM.

If you get the 2630QM, you WON'T see a benefit of going to 1600 because the i7-26XX processors can't run that fast and neither can any other processor with a lower model number than the 2720QM. The fastest those can go is DDR3-1333.

[MikeM]

So my new W520 2820QM machine should play nicely with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136835.?????????

I'm thinking YEAH, but I'm old and tired and am getting so it's easier to just chew my moustache shorter rather than to trim it anymore. Gotta figure out how to deal with the beard though...

[Volker]

So my new W520 2820QM machine should play nicely with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136835

The linked item is a Sata II notebook HDD. Its off-topic but will work just fine

[MikeM]

The linked item is a Sata II notebook HDD. Its off-topic but will work just fine

MY BAD. (need to sleep)

I either wanted to check to see who was paying attention or I just went pro crackhead. You choose. The correct link was this one for the memory....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104230

Will this be spiffy ram for my W520 laptop?

[MikeM]

Since I'm overly impatient and that Kingston ram is out of stock at most places, I went ahead and ordered some Patroit memory for the new W520..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220577

[MikeM]

Since I'm overly impatient and that Kingston ram is out of stock at most places, I went ahead and ordered some Patroit memory for the new W520..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220577

Newegg had stated that the Kingston ram that I wanted was backordered and it would not be until like 4-6 weeks until they would have it. I even had signed up to be advised if it did become available again, and I had received no report that it was indeed available again...but it now is. So, my Patriot ram with lesser specs had already shipped and the Kingston HyperX ram became available and now I have 32 gigs 'o ram on the way to my place.

While I was there I also snagged the displayport to HDMI adapter that I needed and I found a couple of nice 16GB USB 3.0 flash drives that I can use for work.

My gal thinks I'm a loon for ordering 16GB more ram just to have a CAS latency of 9 vs. 11. Maybe I am, but I'm getting it anyway. It seems that MBP owners are hep to this Kingston HyperX ram and buy it by the case or something.

[MikeM]

With my luck the Kingston HyperX sticks won't POST and I'll be using the Patriot anyway. LOL

I'll let you all know how this all turns out. Stay tuned for more!

[eme2k]

I ran the Custom PC Benchmark 2007 on w520 (160GB SSD, i7-2820QM, Quadro 2000M) and the results were:

Image editing: 430 points (I have the integrated graphics disabled, so I am not sure why the low score).
Video encoding: 2568 points
Multitasking testing: 1335 points
Overall score: 1444 points.

These scores are average for a modern system (except for the dismal Image editing score).

[MikeM]

My 4 sticks of this showed up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104230

Yow! It's a screamer.

My WD Scorpio Black 750GB drive arrived DEAD (no spin) and I need to RMA it. Oh goodie.

[jdrou]

My 4 sticks of this showed up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104230

Yow! It's a screamer.

Does it show in CPU-Z or other utilities that it is actually running at 800 MHz and CAS 9?

[MikeM]

Does it show in CPU-Z or other utilities that it is actually running at 800 MHz and CAS 9?

I'm not really familiar with CPU-Z so I grabbed it and installed it and I'm seeing 667 Mhz on the memory page with CAS of 9. I ~think~ I made a BOO-BOO though when I was flailing about purchasing the Kingston HyperX memory in that what I purchased is XMP ram. It will only get to the "rated" speed if your BIOS supports XMP "overclocking". Kingston has another product with nearly identical specs that looks to get 800Mhz w/o the need for XMP and I have an inquiry in to Kingston technical support about it now. If it turns out that I need that XMP flag in the BIOS and the W520 doesn't have it (I looked, but I'm 3/4 lingering dead at my age), I may RMA all of this fancy blue HyperX ram and see about getting 16GB of the ram that doesn't need XMP to see DDR3 1600 speeds.

We shall see. I may just call it a day and live with this as I have an actual use for the laptop and I'm not getting that done. Hmmmm...

So the answer is NO, but it may turn out to be YES if I get my hands on the correct memory.

[jdrou]

I'm not really familiar with CPU-Z so I grabbed it and installed it and I'm seeing 667 Mhz on the memory page with CAS of 9. I ~think~ I made a BOO-BOO though when I was flailing about purchasing the Kingston HyperX memory in that what I purchased is XMP ram. It will only get to the "rated" speed if your BIOS supports XMP "overclocking". Kingston has another product with nearly identical specs that looks to get 800Mhz w/o the need for XMP and I have an inquiry in to Kingston technical support about it now. If it turns out that I need that XMP flag in the BIOS and the W520 doesn't have it (I looked, but I'm 3/4 lingering dead at my age), I may RMA all of this fancy blue HyperX ram and see about getting 16GB of the ram that doesn't need XMP to see DDR3 1600 speeds.

We shall see. I may just call it a day and live with this as I have an actual use for the laptop and I'm not getting that done. Hmmmm...

So the answer is NO, but it may turn out to be YES if I get my hands on the correct memory.

That's what I was afraid of. NewEgg does sell almost identical HyperX at the same price that is NOT XMP (same model number without the 'X' at the end) but it's out of stock. I think XMP might work with the W520 but ONLY if you buy the 'Extreme' CPU.

EDIT: It's back in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104253
(Although I see from another thread you are returning your W520.)

[MikeM]

That's what I was afraid of. NewEgg does sell almost identical HyperX at the same price that is NOT XMP (same model number without the 'X' at the end) but it's out of stock. I think XMP might work with the W520 but ONLY if you buy the 'Extreme' CPU.

EDIT: It's back in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104253
(Although I see from another thread you are returning your W520.)

Yeah, I went ahead and got the RMA for the W520 and bought a 17" MacBook Pro that should be here in a few days. I got it with the SSD and the anti-glare screen and a 2820QM processor. It will be fun since I'm a Linux/BSD fan. I bought the MBP with 4GB of ram which I'll pull and will stuff some of this fancy blue ram into that and see if I can RMA the rest of the ram. The MBP only has 2 memory slots and I'm not game to buy 8GB sticks.

Looking to see about pulling the DVD burner from the MBP and installing a second HDD in it's place and I'll see about a tethered DVD burner or an enclosure for the one that comes with the machine.

[eme2k]

Has anyone fully tested and is running stable with 1600Mhz memory on W520? From previous posts, it appears that many people are still having issues. I am not sure if I should go ahead and purchase the 1600Mhz memory at this time.

[jdrou]

Has anyone fully tested and is running stable with 1600Mhz memory on W520? From previous posts, it appears that many people are still having issues. I am not sure if I should go ahead and purchase the 1600Mhz memory at this time.

I think the key is that you don't want 'XMP' memory unless you have the 'Extreme' CPU.
I am 90+% certain that if you buy PC3-12800/DDR3-1600 memory it will run at that speed in the W520. (And the HyperX is out of stock at NewEgg again.) CPU-Z and other utilities will probably show it running at 800MHz. My X201 with PC3-8500/DDR3-1066 memory shows 533MHz, i.e. the actual clock rate instead of the doubled data rate.