Populating all 3 RAM slots - good or bad idea?

[AndyKH]

Hi

I know that when overclocking (desktops), it is important to use 2 DIMMs instead of 4 because of the capacitive load being much greater with 4 than 2 DIMMs.
But what about laptops? I'm obviously not going to overclock, but when the capacitive load is higher, the switching current will be higher, and more switching current is of course not good. Also, the "external" RAM slot on the R50 (the one accesible without removing the keyboard) looks like it is further away from the north bridge, potentially yeilding a greater capacitive load than the 2 internal. The question is then:

Will it make a difference power saving wise to only utilize the 2 internal? I have 2x256 MB installed internally and I've just bought a 1GB module (curse you, Kingston, for making incompatible RAM - I will never buy your products again), so what would you recommend? Just plugging the 1GB in the "external" slot or removing one of the 256MB modules and installing the 1GB in an internal slot?

Thanks

[Robbyrobot]

What Thinkpad are you talking about that has three RAM slots?

[AndyKH]

What Thinkpad are you talking about that has three RAM slots?

Well, it might be a misunderstanding, but when I ordered my thinkpad, I ordered it with 2x256MB instead of 1x512 as it was cheaper back then. I have never removed the keyboard myself to have a look at the installed memory, but as the slot accessible from the back is empty, I just assumed that there are two slots under the keyboard. However, by your question I understand that there is only one slot under the keyboard.

[90base]

Nope there is only one slot under the keyboard. In the top left-center and one under the little access panel on the bottom.