PC RAM

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Re: PC RAM

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I would go the route of two memory cards totalling 8GB rather than one 8GB card. Memory interleaving (if it cannot be implemented on a single card) really comes into its' own if an even number of banks are populated with identical RAM. The increase in performance is not just because more can be held in memory (so reducing the amount of HDD access). RAM, because of its' limitations, has to continually run a refresh cycle, so half of the time its is in the opposite state from that you need (depending on what you are doing). Memory interleaving gets around this very efficiently, so the performance of the computer (where RAM is concerned) can, at the very least, double.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Paul-R »

Have to say I disagree and I would recommend a single stick of memory. That way if you decide to upgrade to even more memory you'll have an empty slot ready and you won't have to discard the two sticks if you go the other route.

In addition, memory interleaving is uncommon nowadays except in servers. It's highly unlikely your device will support it.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by mickthemaverick »

Taking into account Paul's comment here is another ebay lot:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAMAXEL-16GB ... SwpcFf59B8
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

One thing to do is to see how much RAM your laptop can support. Just because a memory card can physically fit does not mean the computer can logically address it. I bought a 4GB card for my netbook, only to find (after checking the technical information) it could only address 2GB RAM! With the 4GB card in the netbook wouldn't even boot up.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by myglaren »

Paul-R wrote: 27 Feb 2021, 18:52 Have to say I disagree and I would recommend a single stick of memory. That way if you decide to upgrade to even more memory you'll have an empty slot ready and you won't have to discard the two sticks if you go the other route.

In addition, memory interleaving is uncommon nowadays except in servers. It's highly unlikely your device will support it.
I recently did just that, huge performance increase and the option to stick another card in if and when..
The Crucial tool was great, used it a lot when I still had Windaz. Doesn't work with Penguin based operating systems.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by GiveMeABreak »

wheeler wrote: 27 Feb 2021, 18:13 Thanks, Depending on prices & availability i may just try to get a single 8gb one.
Be wary - most systems require memory to be matched in pairs - so you may not be able yo put one bank of 8 Gb in - it will likely need 2 x 4 Gb, or if the system supports it, 2 x 8 Gb for 16 Gb. What does your system currently have - 2 x 2 Gb chips or 1 x 4Gb? That should give you a clue as to whether it needs to be installed in pairs or not.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by wheeler »

It currently just has 1 x 4gb & the other slot is empty so i guess that means a single 8gb should be OK?
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Re: PC RAM

Post by xantia_v6 »

Lenovo seem to regularly ship PCs with uneven memory sticks, so a single stick whould be OK. It should also work if you put the existing stick into the second socket to give you 12Gb, but it seem safer to put the bigger stick into the first socket.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Yes, should be fine then.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Paul-R »

xantia_v6 wrote: 28 Feb 2021, 07:57...put the existing stick into the second socket to give you 12Gb.
Highly unlikely you will be able to put different sizes in the two slots. I wouldn't take the chance and would either go for a second 4GB stick or a single replacement 8GB stick.

In essence this is what I did a few years ago with the two laptops my wife and I use. They are (or were!) identical units and I ordered a single 8GB stick for my laptop and then put my old 4GB stick into her laptop. We both now have 8GB of memory installed but mine has a simpler, and cheaper, upgrade path to 16GB.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Gibbo2286 »

You lot had me going :-D I did the Crucial upgrade test and it tells me I can have 32Gb on my desktop, 4 x 8Gb instead of the 8Gb already fitted, nearly went ahead but then thought do I really need it?
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Armidillo »

Gibbo2286 wrote: 28 Feb 2021, 11:58 You lot had me going :-D I did the Crucial upgrade test and it tells me I can have 32Gb on my desktop, 4 x 8Gb instead of the 8Gb already fitted, nearly went ahead but then thought do I really need it?
Now you've triggered my memory - in 1992 I was working for IBM Portsmouth (Cosham). We contractors worked on dumb terminals connected to the mainframe, but the permanent staff were given IBM PS2s with 32 MB of RAM!!! This allowed them to run multiple mainframe terminal sessions - can't remember them doing much else with them :).

At the same time, for personal use I had a 286 laptop (purchased in Singapore on the way across) with 1 or 2 MB of RAM - perfectly adequate for DOS and the early version of Windows I was running!

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Re: PC RAM

Post by Gibbo2286 »

I've got a sizeable extended family just up the road from you Alec (in oz terms :) ) in and around Brisbane.
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Re: PC RAM

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

The more RAM you can fit into a computer the faster it should perform. RAM is much faster than HDDs (or SSDs), and if you have a lot of RAM applications can load more into memory rather than swapping information between a Swap File (which is an area of HDD set aside as pretend 'memory') and RAM. I have 64GB RAM, and my gaming PC really shifts!
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Re: PC RAM

Post by xantia_v6 »

Paul-R wrote: 28 Feb 2021, 11:28
xantia_v6 wrote: 28 Feb 2021, 07:57...put the existing stick into the second socket to give you 12Gb.
Highly unlikely you will be able to put different sizes in the two slots. I wouldn't take the chance and would either go for a second 4GB stick or a single replacement 8GB stick.

In essence this is what I did a few years ago with the two laptops my wife and I use. They are (or were!) identical units and I ordered a single 8GB stick for my laptop and then put my old 4GB stick into her laptop. We both now have 8GB of memory installed but mine has a simpler, and cheaper, upgrade path to 16GB.
The memory management hardware that Lenovo use on their laptops will handle mismatched memory, and I have had brand new laptops from Lenovo fitted with 4+2 and 8+4 GB. You lose nothing by trying anyway.
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