Upgrading ram

shellz090

shellz090

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Hello to all, I'm wanting to upgrade the ram in my laptop, it's currently running 4gb. I looked online and it can take a maximum of 8gb, online it says that I have no slots free so was looking at 2x4gb obviously. I've just had a look inside and it's actually got one stick of 4gb in and one free slot, my question is do I have to have matching sticks or can I buy another stick of 4gb and put that in? It's a Samsung laptop if it makes any difference :) and also where's the best place to get it from?

Cheers!
 
shellz090 said:
Hello to all, I'm wanting to upgrade the ram in my laptop, it's currently running 4gb. I looked online and it can take a maximum of 8gb, online it says that I have no slots free so was looking at 2x4gb obviously. I've just had a look inside and it's actually got one stick of 4gb in and one free slot, my question is do I have to have matching sticks or can I buy another stick of 4gb and put that in? It's a Samsung laptop if it makes any difference :) and also where's the best place to get it from?

Cheers!
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Sell what you have and buy matching sticks. Guaranteed not to have issues then.

Also more technical peops hang out in the computers section :)
 
Get matching if you can.
Crucial.com springs to mind.

You should be able to get one to match what you have if you use their system checker (LHS under 'upgrades' on the 'memory' page.
 
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Is your operating system 32 or 64 bit? If it is 32 bit, then any extra memory isn't going to get used.

A 32 bit system can address/use/talk to a total of 4Gig memory space (including any on a graphics card) and your laptop already has 4Gig of RAM.


Dave
 
Tringa said:
Is your operating system 32 or 64 bit? If it is 32 bit, then any extra memory isn't going to get used.

A 32 bit system can address/use/talk to a total of 4Gig memory space (including any on a graphics card) and your laptop already has 4Gig of RAM.

Dave
Click to expand...

I'm running a 64 bit version, so no problems there. I'm a little confused as to whether the sticks have to be identical as in manufacturer etc, or just the same specs, for example I looked last night and its obviously samsung stamped ram do I need to get another one of those or just one with this info ddr3 1333mhz sodimm pc3 10600?
 
shellz090 said:
I'm running a 64 bit version, so no problems there. I'm a little confused as to whether the sticks have to be identical as in manufacturer etc, or just the same specs, for example I looked last night and its obviously samsung stamped ram do I need to get another one of those or just one with this info ddr3 1333mhz sodimm pc3 10600?
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like i say its best to ditch what you have and get a set of matched sticks.

despite the frequency they run at each make/model has a specific set of timings, running mixed sticks can mean you end up on the wrong timings for one/all stick and can cause instability/crashing etc.
 
I'll go against the grain here :D I've mixed RAM with no problems on newer systems (from 3 or so years ago) OK. They should auto-negotiate to the lowest common denominator.

The worst that could happen is that you find you have to buy another 4G stick from the same manufacturer and sell the first. Given postage is free, it's a reasonably hassle free operation....
 
arad85 said:
I'll go against the grain here :D I've mixed RAM with no problems on newer systems (from 3 or so years ago) OK. They should auto-negotiate to the lowest common denominator.

The worst that could happen is that you find you have to buy another 4G stick from the same manufacturer and sell the first. Given postage is free, it's a reasonably hassle free operation....
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yeah im sure most of the time its fine, but sods law says... :D
 
As mentioned, you should remove old and replace with all new OR remove the old and get new RAM to the exact same specifications (apart from capacity).

Mixing manufacturers won't normally cause an issue (maybe the odd crash), but mixing speeds make the faster RAM run at the slower speed, that's either going to make it a waste of money (if you buy faster RAM) or it's going to make the existing RAM slower. Running RAM at the wrong speeds can also cause stability issues.

My old laptop uses PC2700 (DDR333), i've got a stick of Samsung 512mb and a stick of Corsair 1024mb. I only use it for Skype/MSN and browsing the web when i'm running full screen stuff on my main PC, but 512 just wasn't enough. Oddly enough for a machine built in 2004, with a clean Windows install (no bloatware) it's pretty quick on it's 1.5GB of RAM.
 
arad85 said:
I'll go against the grain here :D I've mixed RAM with no problems on newer systems (from 3 or so years ago) OK. They should auto-negotiate to the lowest common denominator.

The worst that could happen is that you find you have to buy another 4G stick from the same manufacturer and sell the first. Given postage is free, it's a reasonably hassle free operation....
Click to expand...

I agree, in fact had 3 different manufacture sticks in one machine a few years ago.

But if you don't want any hassle, Neil's way is the best ie. matched pairs.
 
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