Revolver Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Now then,I've got a laptop, its done me well for the last year.It's dual core, 2x1.6ghz, and its got 1gb of ram. It came with vista home edition, as well, so ever since I got it, it has shown at least 60% ram usage. Nowadays I find the computer to become sluggish when running things like itunes, limewire, firefox, and msn at once. That, and my recent purchase of the Orange Box, I'd at least like to try and run it on this comuter, lol.Basically, I was wondering if anyone knew about how to go about upgrading the ram in a laptop.I don't know what type of ram to buy, whether it must be a smaller stick, which I'd imagine the case, let alone DDR or DDR2 etc.I was also wondering if anyone could give me any pointers as to installing it as well, if anyone's done similar things.Thanks for reading, I appreciate your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Crucial is the place to buy the ram from. Cheapest place about I think.Should be fairly simple to swap the ram around, unless they've done it so it's impossible to do it without ripping the laptop apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Well, it looks easy enoughon the sticks it says, 512mb 2x16r PC2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun H Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 7dayshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 My computer won;t tell me if I've got DDR2 or DDR ram.=/http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119283Its DDR2, 4200, I think this one would do the trick.Crucial as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggy Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 (edited) You should check system compatibility first and ensure that the motherboard can support two 1gb modules. Also note the DRAM voltage if any in BIOS. As with pretty much any memory you install yourself, don't expect it to run at the speeds advertised unless you're comfortable with changing the DRAM voltage, frequency and timings in BIOS.I'm pretty sure opening up any laptop will void the warranty (I think they have tamper proof sticky labels on the inside?)Also to check what RAM you have when your system posts enter BIOS and there should be an option to change the RAM frequency, whatever it says (533,667,800 etc) then you have PC4200, PC5300, PC6400 respectively. Which is pretty much guaranteed to be DDR2.Antother option would be to install CPU-Z and click on the memory tab, the DRAM frequency doubled is the frequency of the ram in your system (Readings in BIOS are more accurate)What make and model is your laptop? Edited July 17, 2008 by froggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 (edited) Its pack-hard bell.The current ram is a 4200, I looked at it. I can't get device manager to tell me anything AT ALL about the ram or the motherboard.There was no tamper-proofing in my computer. Edited July 17, 2008 by Revolver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extreme_biker0 Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Don't forget that unless the Bios (del when it starts up) infor shows more than 3 cpu cycles per Front Side Bus then the L2 cache wont be able to fill up to it's full capacity when thread-switching. Don't believe me ask my mum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggy Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Its pack-hard bell.The current ram is a 4200, I looked at it. I can't get device manager to tell me anything AT ALL about the ram or the motherboard.There was no tamper-proofing in my computer.Do you know the exact model so we could find it on the internet and get the exact spec? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Packard Bell EasyNoteis what it says on it. You'd expect the model to include a number or something, but no.Thanks dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Packard Bell EasyNoteis what it says on it. You'd expect the model to include a number or something, but no.Thanks dude.check the labels underneath, there will definately be more info on there somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom aky Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 (edited) Itll be DDR2 you probably want and extra gig to put your total to 2gig. What id do is take to your local PC guy and ask for an extra gig Edited July 18, 2008 by tom aky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Don't forget that unless the Bios (del when it starts up) infor shows more than 3 cpu cycles per Front Side Bus then the L2 cache wont be able to fill up to it's full capacity when thread-switching. Don't believe me ask my mum.I don't have the faintest idea whether you just made that up or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Itll be DDR2 you probably want and extra gig to put your total to 2gig. What id do is take to your local PC guy and ask for an extra gigIts two 512s though, and I can't see a third slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Use the memory advisor on the crucial site. It will tell you exactly what you need and what it can support. Its even guaranteed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Use the memory advisor on the crucial site. It will tell you exactly what you need and what it can support. Its even guaranteed.heh, I tried that and I can't find the manufacturer, so I can't use it. Also, I then used the scanner, and it still doesn't come up with anything. Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 I found Packard Bell EasyNote on the list fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 (edited) I'll look again lol.In the manufacturer list, it doesn't have Packard Bell.Lol. Or not. Found it.Thing is, I haven't got a clue about the model. there's no model number on it on the lid, inside, or on the bottom. Edited July 19, 2008 by Revolver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 I'll look again lol.In the manufacturer list, it doesn't have Packard Bell.Lol. Or not. Found it.Thing is, I haven't got a clue about the model. there's no model number on it on the lid, inside, or on the bottom.look again, if you missed packard bell on that list then you probably have a habit of looking with your eyes closed. The model number will be on there somewhere, definately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 looking with your eyes closedlolbut seriously, there's no model number written on my computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 On the bottom of the device That's where all the information is on my mums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted July 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 I looked, there's nothing on my laptop that also appears on the crucial menus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-LikeMatchesDerFun Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Sorry to be hijacking this topic! :$ I just ordered 2GB of RAM from crucial. I plan on taking out my 521MB and putting in the two 1GB's. Is it as simple as plugging them in or do I have to run BIOS or something??? Any advice would be welcome! Thanks,Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Should just be plug and play. Your bios mite say something like "ram changed press f2 to continue" when you switch it on that's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-LikeMatchesDerFun Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Cheers Danny! Much appreciated! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.