Author Topic: Thinking on expanding RAM to 8gb (Read 1036 times)

Em5 Pete · « **on:** August 01, 2011, 10:33:54 AM »

My Laptop take PC3 8500 DDR3 1066mhz 204 pin ram...

Does it matter on name brands... as long as it has the same specks?

I am looking at this: Crucial 8GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Notebook Memory Kit/2 x 4GB
2x4gb PC3 DDR3 204 pin notebook Ram

Dells specks for OEM RAM:

General
Storage Capacity

4 GB
Upgrade Type

System specific
OEM Manufacturer Equivalent Part Number

DELL A2038272
Memory
Type

DRAM
Technology

DDR3 SDRAM
Form Factor

SO DIMM 204-pin
Memory Speed

1066 MHz ( PC3-8500 )
Data Integrity Check

Non-ECC
RAM Features

Unbuffered
Expansion / Connectivity
Compatible Slots

1 x memory - SO DIMM 204-pin

popo · « **Reply #1 on:** August 01, 2011, 11:12:42 AM »

Branded *might* have better long term reliability but generally if it works, it keeps working. At risk of stating obvious are you using a 64-bit OS in order to make use of the extra ram?

lisandra · « **Reply #2 on:** August 01, 2011, 11:50:35 AM »

If your laptop permits it then by all means!

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #3 on:** August 01, 2011, 12:19:23 PM »

Yes, it is specked for a max of 8gb (2x 4gb sticks).
Yes, I have a 64bit board with Win 7/64
That would double my RAM

count_zero · « **Reply #4 on:** August 01, 2011, 03:19:36 PM »

Get a hybrid drive. The Seagate Momentus XT has 5GB of Flash built in, plus 495GB of 7.2K SATA. It will automatically determine the most heavily accessed files and move them to the faster Flash storage. My computer's performance improved quite a bit without adding more memory.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2011, 04:33:16 PM »

I don't need a 4th external drive

If fact, the 1tb one is about to get a boot! It goes to sleep a lot, and I have to turn it on and off to remount it. I have 2x 2tb WD (My Book Essentials) that are USB3 compatible... my laptop is not though... and the access time is much better than the Iomaga 1tb.

count_zero · « **Reply #6 on:** August 01, 2011, 07:37:14 PM »

What kind of internal drive do you have now? Are you loading from external drive often?

I would look at getting an internal SSD or hybrid drive before looking to upgrade RAM. It's much cheaper and the benefit is much greater.

Every time your computer goes to swap space, which is your hard drive, that is the biggest performance hit. If your internal drive is SSD, then that swap hit will be at least 50x faster. You can tell if your computer is going to swap when it makes that clicking sound.

If your editing pictures or video that is sitting out on external storage, then copy it to internal drive first. Unless your external storage is connected via SATA direct to the computer, you are bottle necking at the USB port. The only time you should hear the external storage making noise or flickering is when you first load up the file.

adash · « **Reply #7 on:** August 01, 2011, 11:38:56 PM »

Most real OS (including Window$ prank) will cache your most used files in memory.
For example 35% of my 2GB of memory now at the work PC is used for FS cache. If I free up memory by closing programs, it will use the extra available memory for caching more data.
Bad thing is that this cache is lost after restart. Not a problem really if you don't restart (I've been enjoying uptimes of more than a year here as everything in the building is UPS-supplied).

On the 8GB upgrade - check your task manager when using the most memory-intensive programs. If the used memory is more than for example 80% of the installed memory, then there is some reason to upgrade. The extra memory will not make your programs work faster, but it will be utilized for caching most frequently used files, significantly lowering load times etc.
If you are using less than 60% for example, then there is a good chance that the rest is already used for caching data, and you will not notice much improvement form adding more memory.
If you are using more than 100% of the installed memory, then swapping occurs, greatly reducing performance of running programs and bloating the disk I/O, also greatly increasing opening times for new files, etc. If this is your case, then it is high time that you add more memory.

Be aware that even if the chipset and BIOS allow more memory, 32-bit OSes will not utilize more than 3.2 or 3.5 GB.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** August 02, 2011, 05:00:46 AM »

I keep my photo/video files on one of my WD drives, and I develop them there also. the process time is pretty quick, Virtually real-time as far as instant preview as adjust things.

My machine shows 3gb used out of 4gb when I am working with a file.
And shows 2gb out of 4gb when I am using my browser and email program.

When I have a image loaded in Capture One, for example, it is a seamless process as far as delays in fetching an image, after I have fetched a folder through the <open liberty> dialog. When I fetch a folder for the 1st time, it may take around a minute or so load around 200 new images (I only shoot RAW at full resolution).

The loading times is what I am after to lessen it a bit. When I scan, my "uncompressed Tiffs , they are around 45mb-110mb, so these can take a little longer to thumbnail a fetched folder with 50+ files

IE:SSD /Hyrbid: the 2x 4gb chips are $60.00 total for both. That's pretty cheap now for DDR3 PC3-8500 1066mhz SODIMM 204 pin memory. What are these drives? Do they replace my Internal HD? Don't think I want to do that on a laptop that can only take 1 internal drive.

popo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 02, 2011, 11:17:43 AM »

I'd go from 4GB to 8GB of ram over a hybrid drive, especially if you're using over 3GB of it already. The amount of flash they put into hybrids doesn't really substitute a SSD and in the real world the benefit over a conventional HD is small.

The hybrid drives tries to bridge the gap between conventional hard disks and SSDs. They are conventional drives with extra flash as a cache.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #10 on:** August 02, 2011, 12:38:41 PM »

That's what I was thinking... that would hopefully give me 5gb of RAM instead of 1gb of RAM for processing images.

gazn357 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 02, 2011, 05:19:21 PM »

Quote from: M5-User on August 01, 2011, 10:33:54 AM

I am looking at this: Crucial 8GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Notebook Memory Kit/2 x 4GB

I've always bought Crucial (Micron Technology, Inc.) memory over the last 10 yrs and have never had an issue. You can never have enough RAM.

Danny

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #12 on:** August 02, 2011, 06:44:47 PM »

Quote from: gazn357 on August 02, 2011, 05:19:21 PM

Quote from: M5-User on August 01, 2011, 10:33:54 AM

I am looking at this: Crucial 8GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Notebook Memory Kit/2 x 4GB

I've always bought Crucial (Micron Technology, Inc.) memory over the last 10 yrs and have never had an issue. You can never have enough RAM.

Danny

Just bought it a few seconds ago... I will have it by the weekend..

Thanks all for the info...
now my editing software, Sony Vegas, Capture One, ACDSee Pro 3 and SliverFast Plus SE will have some breathing room

Thinking on expanding RAM to 8gb