Choosing the best RAM upgrade modules for M17x R2

Hi guys.

I have been sat here after the "fallout" of R3.....contemplating various upgrades (which i was doing regardless of R3 anyhow) and wanted to ask a few questions.

My upgrade options are as follows (dont have many given my sig)but wanted to ask anyway. Obvioulsy the remaining things I CAN upgrade are memory to 8gb, cpu to an xm, HDD to SSD and thats about it...currently.

I am waiting on G3 for the SSD's....not that my chipset will take advantage of the 6gbps speed, but simply to see how much G2 drives drop by. Could snag a bargain innit?

Cpu wise, pretty much the same....with SB just released, I would expect the older series chips to drop a bit over the next few months so im quite prepared to hold off on that one for now too.

One thing I can do right away is system ram. I have read lots about it. Lots of brands about and so forth. I have read that it is best to have ram with as low a latency as possible, my current CAS = 9 in the form of a 4gb and 2gb setup....(i think from recollection that they are Hynix and Kingston modules from sys info.

I did a bit of googling and gave up promptly after reading this garbage: http://www.notebookforums.com/thread234194.html where the guy obvioulsy must NOT have known even how to turn his AW on in the first place....made me ma self laughin...(must have been the free bag and surge protector that whipped his qx9300 eh? lol)

Now, onto the real question.

Basically, who makes the best ram modules and which ones perform the best in the R2.

You guys will know, im sure of that. As ive only had my AW 6mths, i wanted to ask you guys right off for some pro advice.

So there you have it. Let rip. Any advice (as usual) more than welcomed.

Cheers fellow NBR'ers....
Steve.

 

i really don't see why you need to upgrade the ram at all. even with the lower latency you won't see much of a difference unless your benching. but for everyday task you won't notice any real world difference. maybe swap the 2gb stick for a 4gb stick, if you need the extra ram.

 

Its not that I NEED them in esscence lol, just got an urge to DO something right now after all this R3 crap....i thought for the few poxy quid it would cost, it aint gonna do no harm is it lol - guess i just want my "baby" to be as good as she possibly can be.....that and i would have got 8gb but i was too much of a tight git to pay Dell the money for it !!!

 

yeah dell charges way too much for ram upgrades. imo its prolly best to save up and get an ssd upgrade. even a small one for a boot drive will make a huge difference in overall system performance.

 

Well, like i said, i have my eye on SSD prices, atm, in the UK, i can get a G2 X25-m 160gb for around £200gbp....seems pretty good, im hoping prices drop even more....ideally, when it comes to ssd...i would like x2 in raid BUT the issue with that is the TRIM. Maybe TRIM will be available on ssd in raid at some point....i may just hang on....

Im just kind of wanting to do a small upgrade now, no matter how insignificant.....kind of like a little treat to myself.

 

ok i feel ya. but most lower latency options are only available for 2gb sticks AFAIK, so either 4gb of lower latency or just replace your 2gb to a 4gb and your good to go.

 

I read somewhere than Kingston HyperX has a low latency, but i associate Kingston with budget ram. (i read somewhere that the CAS was 7 but it was 1066 not 1333mhz.....)

I dont even know if CAS lower than 9 is available with 1333 ram sodimm's for our M17x R2's.....

Basically, looking for the fastest ram, with the lowest latency, i dont even care if i have to buy a 8gb kit of x2 4gb as i can sell off what i have to get a small amount back....i know i can get around £30 - £40 for it so its not a massive outlay.

Its always bugged me too that ram performs best in identical modules of the same size.....some dell rep tried to tell me different...yadda yadda....

I know that the 6gb that i have, 4gb runs in dual channel, the remaining 2gb runs in "flex mode"....i know it probably doesnt make an iota of difference, but i like the idea of having matching sodimms, same size, same manufacturer etc etc...

Its just a little tweak, nothing major but im kinda after the best advice on which ram is the BEST to pop in my little beastie...

 

Having 8gb of ram is great! Don't let anyone tell you different. The system knows how to use it when it needs it.

As per the quality of the ram out there, that is pretty much hit or miss. I dont know of any ram maker that is "bad", but two names I trust are GSkill and Coursair. You pay for the brand though, but I feel it is worth it.

Just make sure you really burn in the chips while they are under warenty, so you make sure you didn't get a faulty chip. And be careful if you buy off eBay. Some people there saying they are selling brand name are in reality selling whatever they have.

I'm sure you know all of this, so the short answer is find the best deal you can. There is no real difference between 1066 and 1333, and there is no known brand not to work in the R2.

Good Luck!

 

Surely some manufacturer makes ram that is better than the others - y'know, kind of like SDD's, you can get a value kingston or you can get a Crucial C300/Intel X25-m which seem to be among the best in SSD's.

 

I had the 4GB and 2GB config and wanted to upgrade to 8. I bought the M17X RAM from Dell's site when it was $69 for a 4GB upgrade. Currently it is at $126 for a 4GB stick DELL 4 GB Dell Certified Memory Module for Dell Alienware M17X Laptop : Memory | Dell

You can get similar RAM at Newegg for a third of that price Newegg.com - Laptop Memory,4gb ram ddr3

The reason I went with Dell was because of the price, which at the time was half of normal and Dell certified RAM assumes the warranty coverage of the laptop.

 

Thanks but im in the UK so cant buy off NewEgg

What I cant seem to find (and maybe its cos its not made at all) is ram that has 1333 with a CAS of lower than 9???

 

Spotted these: http://www.buy.com/prod/kingston-hy...04-pin-laptop-memory/q/loc/101/217597104.html and I can get 'em in the UK too....

Are these ok for my M17x R2? - from what I can tell, they are....only thing I was wondering is that obviously max for my system is 1333 and these are 1600......

Would that be ok...i assume that they will just operate at 1333.....(no doubt they would be PERFECT for a SB R3 capable of 1600mhz....)

Just cant seem to find ANY 8gb kits of HyperX anywhere in the UK that meet 1333 204pin ddr3 9-9-9-24 specs.....

Also, as I havent entered into the realms of overclocking just yet, would they be a good buy given the added "headroom" in terms of speed? - just a thought that the timings etc might be slightly easier to overclock as its higher speed by default...(forgive my OC'ing newbie-isms lol)

Any advice on these HyperX would be great!

Thanks!

 

Get matching pair of ram, dual channel means better performance. so technically you can make 4 gigs perform better than 6... but I'd say check newegg...

and I realize this is a dead thread.

 

Yes it is,Stevie already bought a nice set of Hyper X ram.

 

they are fine they have profiles all the way down to 1066

if you can take adventage of xmp they will run at 7-7-7 @1333
if you can,t then they will be standar 9-9-9