Adding memory to d630 does 1 dimm or 2 make a difference?

I recently picked up a used d630. It currently has two 512 dimms in it. Do I need 2gb or 4gb? I know Windows XP won't use all 4gb.

If I do upgrade to just 2gb. Should I use 2x1gb or just get 1x2b and leave the other 512 dimm in there for now??

Thanks

Derek.-

 

XP uses 3.5gb on that laptop. Highly recommend you use the highest density parts that are available at a reasonable price. You could buy a single 2gb DIMM, in conjunction with one of your existing 512mb DIMMS.

Keep in mind that if you have the Nvidia video on the D630, the life of the laptop is likely to be limited. If you have the Intel video, I suspect your D630 will last a very long time..

 

Its an intel video unit.

Does dual channel and matched pairs come into play at all ?

 

Nominally dual channel with matched pairs is going to be faster than other combinations of equivalent capacity, but in practice you aren't going to notice a difference.

 

With integrated graphics dual channel will speed up the system. The integrated graphics card has no separate memory and uses the CPU memory bandwidth.

For Windows XP 2GB are enough. If you plan to update to Windows 7 x64 you should install 4GB.

- Windows XP for the rest of the D630s life = 2x1GB
- Windows XP and Win 7 x64 in the future = 1x2GB (now) + 1x2GB (in the future)
- Win 7 x64 in the next few months = 2x2GB

 

Win7 isn't very demanding on memory. You don't really need 4GB, even running 64-bit.

 

Even though Win 7 is not really demanding, with 2GB intalled in 64 bit mode the programs and data usually stored in the ram is swapped on the hard drive very often.

I would never recommend using the 64 bit version with less than 4GB of Ram. Switching between multiple applications will become slow and the hard drive will work permanently. The consequences are:

- less battery life
- slower system
- higher probability of a hard disk failure

The memory usage does not only denpend on the operating system but primary on the applications (picture/video editing, virtual machines, development tools...) you run.