Thinkpads Forum

I hope this is the correct place to post this -

My wife is seeking 2 x 512mb Ram for her T30. She currently has only 512mb of Ram.

She has been advised that rather than get an additional 512mb it would be better to start again with 2 x stick of the same brand?

I imagine that this would make sense?

Another problem is that it appears that Ram for a T30 is very difficult to acquire these days, could someone suggest the best way to go about getting 2 x 512mb of Ram for her T30.

As is fairly obvious, neither of us is tech savvy We are located in Sydney Australia, if that is any help.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Hugh

The T30 was designed to use 200 pin PC2100 (266Mhz) DDR memory. This type of memory module has been superseded by PC2700 (333Mhz) and PC3200 (400Mhz) versions which can be used in place of the PC2100 modules. Your system will not run any faster because you are using PC2700 or PC3200 memory. Those newer modules simply have the capability to run faster than the older designs. Also, since PC2100 is "rarer", you might find that those modules cost more than the equivalent size PC2700 or PC3200 module. In other words, don't pay a premium for the PC2100 memory when a PC2700 works just as well.

The only other memory parameter you need to be aware of is the "CL", or CAS Latency specification. As long as it is CL 2.5 you will be okay.

Generally, you do not have to "match" the modules by the exact type. There have been some rare times where one module does not play well with another but that's the exception rather than the rule.

T30 systems have a known issue with one of the memory slots becoming detached from the motherboard. If your wife's system is currently 1 x 512MB, then I would first make sure that the open memory slot does not have any problems. With the system off, move the module to the opposite slot and boot the T30. If all appears well, then you probably don't have this memory slot problem.

You would do well to obtain a good memory diagnostic program so that you can verify that your modules are working properly. You can download a free copy of memtest86+ from here:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

You will need either a floppy drive or CD burner to create the bootable disk containing memtest86+. I recently posted some information about this program here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 070#438070

Thank you for your lengthy and highly detailed response - very much appreciated!

We think, after reading your response, that there is not much point in trying to upgrade this model.

My wife feels that she would be better off by starting to save some pennies towards something more up to date.

Again, thanks for your prompt reply!

Cheers,
Hugh

RAM is an inexpensive way to get a potentially huge performance boost to any machine.

To see if your machine could use more RAM, start Task Manager (press ctrl-alt-del and it will start, or show a menu to select it). On the Performance tab, look at Commit Charge and Physical Memory.

If Commit Charge Total is more than Physical Memory Total, your system is over-committed right now, and will swap to disk when you change tasks. More memory will help a lot, and you only need to buy one stick, whether 512MB or 1GB. It doesn't need to match the current stick's brand, or speed as long as you get PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 that fits, as Ray wrote.

If Commit Charge Peak is more than Physical Memory Total, your system has swapped at some time since startup, and more memory would help during that time.

A larger faster hard drive could do wonders to speed up a machine, as could a fresh install of the operating system, if it has been in use for a long time. (It clears away some of the things you've forgotten you installed, but still take memory and disk space.)

Thanks for taking the time to respond - much appreciated!