About upgrading RAM on Alienware M17x R3

Hi guys,

So i'm pretty new to the forum. Recently i've been visiting this forum alot to know abit better about my dear laptop.
I have just done a throughout dust cleaning of fans (only).
Now i kind of want to upgrade my RAM, because my laptop is running abit slowly lately.
I also brought in the pictures, since i'm not a tech geek, if some one could, please guide me through the pictures, i'd be really appreciated

Origional pictures here:
http://imgur.com/a/zec7y#0
So i would like to know,
- if my laptop has any problem with heating (cause i saw the brownish color of copper in the slide)
- where is the RAM, and how can i upgrade it? I have read that there are 4 slots for RAM, currently, if i'm not wrong, i had 2 slots filled with 2Gb RAM. How can i upgrade those, and which RAM should i buy? I'm living in EU.
- Do i need to change the thermal pads anyway?
Thank you very much guys

 

So to answer your questions:

1: The weird coppery color on the back of the piece you slide off is normal, its just a bad paint job, mine has it too.

2: RAM is located in 2 places. The first is under the back as you've located. The second is under the keyboard (follow the maintenance manual for information on how to remove the keyboard. There are a total of 4 SODIMM slots. Here is a video of replacing both sets of RAM in the M17xR3

Alienware M17X R3 Swapping RAM - Easy guide on changing RAM on the M17X R3 - YouTube


3: The only time I changed thermal pads was when I upgraded my GPU from the included 6870M to a GTX675M, I dont see a need to do it otherwise. Some may argue with me on that point, and many may suggest doing a re-paste for at least the CPU. Up to you.

A Final note: If you think your machine is running slowly and you've done all the normal (software) things like ensuring you dont have viruses or spyware and doing a general cleanup job. Consider getting a Solid State drive and moving your windows install (I'd recommend a clean install) on to it. SSDs are the single biggest speed upgrade you can give to any PC. An SSD will give you increased performance in all areas where hard drive access would be needed. For a laptop, especially a gaming laptop, I'd recommend nothing less than a 120GB SSD, more would be better so you can put more games on it, especially since the Windows install itself is fairly large of course. Be sure to put it in HDD bay 1 (middle) and be sure you're using the unlocked A12 bios.

 

Thank you for your help
I personally have no clue what this sentence is and how to do it " Be sure to put it in HDD bay 1 (middle) and be sure you're using the unlocked A12 bios.". But anyway, i would first try to upgrade my RAM.
So do you have any RAM suggestion?
My spec:
Alienware M17x R3 | i7-2630QM | AMD Radeon HD 6870M | 4096MB RAM
When i first purchase it, i could play Assasin Creed I and II at maximum performance at 60 FPS, also Heroes Of Newerth at maximum performance with FPS >70 all the time. Now i have around 30 FPS for both, even at medium performance. I wonder what i have missed.
I do cleaning my comp generally with registry cleaner / antivirus software etc but nothing more than that
Again i appreciated your help!

 

What he means is you should move the hard drive from the right side to the centre (currently empty). This is a faster and more stable place for your hard drive.

As for RAM, you have two options: get 2 x 2GB sticks and put them in the empty RAM slots under your keyboard... But this isn't so easy.

The better option in my opinion is remove your old ram and replace with this: Amazon.com: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9): Computers & Accessories

 

If your issues are more along the lines of framerates rather than load times, be sure your drivers are up to date, particularly sound and graphics drivers. Also, it may be time to consider doing a reinstall of Windows, you may have stuff running in the background that you've accumulated over time.

The RAM that was suggested is good, its also a decent price too for 8 gig of 1600MHz memory. It should just drop in and be immediately recognized. As mentioned, its really up to you if you want to add it under the keyboard, keeping what you already have, or replace what you have.

 

So if i get those RAM mentioned above and put it in the empty spots instead of the old RAM, will my laptop run faster? (the more RAM the merrier i'm silly)

 

Actually, I have a feeling that your old ram is 1333 Mhz speed. You can check in the BIOS or on the ram itself. If you mix 1600Mhz with 1333Mhz then everything will be set to the slower speed.

Sooo better take out the old ram! If the old ram is 1600Mhz then you can add 4 more gigs (or more) to the empty slot under the keyboard.

 

+1 to this, it would be better to take out all the RAM and match them at 1600Mhz if it's 1333Mhz now.

 

Are you sure its the lack of ram slowing things down?

 

I wouldn't say it is
But i have no other way of figure out why.
Yesterday, after watching youtube for a while, i played a game which i normally have 90-120FPS. The FPS just become 20-30 instead. I tried to close all applications beforehand, my temperature is okay, but it doesn't fix. Only by logging off or restarting.

 

You can check in task manager (ctrl-alt-del) to see what is eating up all the resources.

You may have a program with a memory leak which extra memory would just delay causing issues each boot.

 

Would 2133mhz memory work in the R3 with a 2630qm? Thanks