Dell D620 RAM Upgrade

OK, I have a stupid question. I'm giving my D620 some more RAM, and I was simply wondering whether having only one RAM stick in the laptop will work, or if both slots need to be filled? I'm considering getting one 2GB stick, keeping the option of upgrading more later.

 

I have a d620 and, yep, it will operate just fine with one slot filled. Take care when removing/replacing the RAM modules as the clips are somewhat fragile...use light pressure to spread the clips. Memory is fairly cheap now. I was going to upgrade to a 2GB chip, but got two 2GB's instead. D620's love 4 GB (although 3.5 is what it will recognize). Google D620 RAM upgrade, lots of very good 'how to' articles out there.

 

The specs show that the D620 can handle 4GB. However, if you only have one module installed then it won't run as dual channel which will result in some reduction in memory access performance. There may be something in this thread that shows how much reduction.

John

 

Thank you both. I will probably end up with 4GB, sounds like there's not too much to be gained from upgrading 1GB to 2GB!

 

However, you can retain one of your existing modules and have 2.5GB, which is 25% more than 2GB. This will also let the memory access run in pseudo-dual channel mode.

John

 

Well I have a D820 (same chipset) and the "supports 4GB" thing is kinda false. Even if you have a 64 bit CPU and OS, the chipset is still 32 bit so it will only recognize 3.25 GB. If I were you, I would save the $ and get a 1 GB stick, so you only have 3GB. I learned this the hard way. Google it if you don't believe me.

 

If you're running XP, there isn't much to be gained beyond 2GB. and it is cheaper to get two 1GB sticks (lots of folk selling those cheap) and you'll get very very slight performance gain by running dual channel.