M17x memory upgrade?

I want to upgrade my 4gb 1333mhz to 8gb at 1333mhz

I understand that means two 4 gb sticks of ram
will this work or am I stupid?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=2

 

The link came up with 8GB RAM, but at 1066 not 1333 MHz. Make sure you get the right speed to replace your 4GB 1333.

 

RAM is plug and play so all you have to do is take the old chips out and put the new ones in.

That RAM should work fine, but as Luigo mentioned the RAM in that link is 1066 MHz. I think the 4GB 1333 MHz sticks are a lot more expensive...

I don't know enough on the subject to tell you whether 8GB of 1066 MHz RAM would perform better than 4GB of 1333 MHz RAM but I'm sure one of the many wise NBR inhabitants could point you in the right direction in that respect.

 

this is the right one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e9e3da2&itemid=280441424857&ff4=263602_263622

 

What exactly do you need 8gigs of RAM for? 4gigs is plenty for gaming. If you do video editing or something along those lines then you might need more.

 

thanks for the ebay link. I knew it was the wrong speed, but I couldn't find 1333 on newegg, but I don't need 8gb of memory, I just desire it...and with my paycheck coming in tomorrow, Im going to slap some macbook people in the face with my m17x.

 

Perhaps he's one of those types who is under the illusion that RAM is the most important piece of hardware for a gaming rig?

Why don't you upgrade the CPU instead then?

 

go for an ssd thats a good investment

 

Actually...

This is a better idea.

 

Yes, SSD if you want to see a performance jump. If you don't need 8GB of memory it's better to get 4GB of better memory than the stock stuff Dell provides. 80 SSD+Kingston HyperX memory will cost the same as that 8GB of memory and you'll actually notice the difference.

 

Don't listen to this guy!

He's a total n00b.........................................

 

first a robot now a n00b, lol

 

If you really want I say go for it since it is your laptop. But, as the others are saying you'd best go for a SSD first. Once, I get my M17x-R2 that is the first thing I plan to buy for it.

You know it's surprising how many people think that outside the forums. Geek Squad from Bestbuy say it like a slogan.

"My computer isn't connecting to the internet."
"How much ram does you're computer have?"
"Um...4gigs...Why?"
"Add more ram and you should be fine."
"WHAT?!"

 

I hope you know I was joking!

Sarcasm can be hard to portray in a forum.

To be honest with you, I thought this for a long time. I learned the error of my ways in good time though!

But yeah, people buy "gaming" computers and wonder why they don't handle games nicely...

"I've got LOADS of RAM... What gives...?!"

 

yes, I picked up on it.

 

It's a live and learn process. In the last year I learned how important a higher speed hard drive is too a computers performance.

 

I'm contemplating getting this one to up my RAM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16820145281

There are actual reasons for needing more RAM. My reason is that I use it as a development platform. I've capped out my current RAM with UT3 open, causing crashes. More RAM would increase my productivity and stability using the software. My buddy does this as well, except with Photoshop instead of UT3. Images above 4096x4096, Photoshop will begin to chug heavily.

That being said, does anyone here have any experience with the above listed product? I've had good/bad experience with corsair before.

 

I'm using corsair RAM on my M17, not the one u mention above thou, it's a 2x2GB RAM and everything works well.

What kinda bad experience you had with corsair ?

 

This was about three years ago, had a stick of RAM go bad, and the one they returned to me after I RMA'd was defective as well.

 

I think the younger people dont understand that More ram can be use. They have grown up with the 4gb limit. But Look up Ramdisk and online mmo Games and you can learn alot on How to speed up game not due to gpu but a Virutal Ram drive.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=268590

 

This has more to due with speeding up acces times on the hard drive than how much RAM you actually "need". Yea having more RAM allows you to have a bigger Ramdisk, but going through this process is not for everyone. If you get a SSD then it's not needed and only having 4GB RAM is fine imo. Unless you are using intensive software for graphics or something.

 

replacing 4gb 1333 with 8gb 1066 seems a pretty wasteful move, unless you really need 8GB of ram (one wonders why you bought this instead of a mac, since I can't think of a single game out that that requires more than 4gb of memory).

 

No I am looking MMO game that use large amout of hard drive useage. So going on area to the next can take up to 15 seconds depending on what you have. Ramdisk can load up the same thing in 1 second.

This is lotro useing a ramdisk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJzXm_4j8E4

This is another forum that talk about and use ramdisk in games.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=107670

 

Alright well maybe you guys could help me out I had an M17x R1 which has had every piece replaced in it due to crashing screen going black then locking up video drivers constantly failing and BSD all the time. That machine had the QX9300 processor and *gigs of 1333 memory and a 500GB HD and dual 260m's.

After complaining to Alienware enough they decided to replace it with an M17x R2 I just got my R2 which now has the I7 940, 8 gigs 1333ram, 500GB HD and 2x Nvidia 285m's.

Now I play a regular amount of video games on it but then I use it a majority of the time with Autodesk programs like Revit Architecture and Adobe suite. Some of the projects I do in Revit can just about max out 8gigs of ram just after opening the project. However with my R2 I have only worked on projects that use about 4gigs of ram since I just got it this week. Now this system crashes multiple times a day while in Revit. It will lock up to where I cant move the mouse and have to do a hard reset. I am reinstalling Windows now to start clean again to see if that fixes it but I am already looking at other solutions.

Im tierd of dealing with alienware so I was thinking of upgrading the memory to the best memory available, whether corsair, crucial, or kingston Hyper X memory. Now you guys also are making me look in to getting an SSD. So could I run a 256gb SSD with a 500GB Raid 0 or is this not the right route?

 

the whole ramdisk concept looks interesting (i read through most of the thread that you posted)... maybe i'll try it... (if i can save my ssd from usage and still have blazing fast load times i don't mind haha)

 

You cant (or shouldnt) set up a raid array between a SSD and a mechanical HDD....this will completely spanner the idea of having a SSD as one will be ultra fast, the other will not be and since, in raid 0 anyway, the data is effectively "shared across both drives", it doesnt make sense to have one faster than the other (imagine one drive reading and writing faster than the other one does - since data is written across the drives, its not a good idea) - it is just not advisable, although im sure some people have done it, its not correct really.

It would be more beneficial to use the SSD for the OS/frequently played games etc and use the other 500gb HDD for additional storage.

 

Yeah this is what I had in mind. Running all the programs I use frewquently and frequent files on the SSD. Then setting up the mechanical HD with a different drive letter and just using it for programs I dont use often and data storage of files I just need to keep. Or should I just ran a Raid 1 or just scrap the mechanical HD?

 

Raid 1 (mirror) is not the best for performance, its good if you value safe data storage as the data on one is "mirrored" on the other - should one fail, you have the other image)....if you do backups to an external, no point in doing a raid 1 setup imho...

I am kinda looking at something similar myself. Im not that bothered about a "mirror" setup, but what I am considering regarding SSD's, is wether or not to get one large SSD or two smaller ones to equal the capacity of the large one.....

Im strongly favoured towards x2 160gb SSD's in raid 0 (fastest performance) over x1 large SSD and a mechanical. DR650e has this setup (x2160gb SSD Raid 0) and has also removed his optical drive to allow space for a large mechanical HDD...I use my optical drive so I wont be doing that BUT i would buy an external caddy and use one or two of my existing HDD's for even more external storage....

 

Hey guys, i just got curiosity about this question and i did check my ram module's, im more n00b than mandrake ( ), so, can you tell me please if this is the right speed for my ram's:


My confusion come because i saw two speeds there, one is memory clock supported: 533.3 Mhz which means 1066 - And the other one is 666.7 Mhz which means 1333, which is the speed of my ram, the last one?, im ok or i need to do something about?.
Thank you guys, very nice of you.

 

Thats weird! - I just checked mine using Hwinfo32 also....mine shows the modules and the max supported clock as both being 666.7mhz unlike yours showing 533mhz....not sure if there are any settings you have changed etc so maybe someone else could chirp in on that one.....im intrigued too!

 

Thanks for answer, steviejones133, and the answer is not, i didnt modify nothing, why i have setup the max speed into 533?, this should be affecting my performance :/
Can any one help me with this?

 

I dunno how you go about getting that altered etc....just seems odd that its says max is 533 but you have 1333 ram (that is the speed of your ram modules according to hwinfo) and obviously, the max supported ram speed should be the same max speed as 1333 (667mhz) and not 1066 (533mhz)....which IS odd. Probably a real simple answer to it and nothing to worry 'bout.....i too would be keen to hear why its different....as, according to that screenshot...sounds to me like you arent benefiting from your "faster" ram????

 

i just check the bios > performance options and i got than the memory frecuency is at 1333, but, CPUZ said its a 532 MHz, and not 666, which will be the right



Strange . . .

Edited: I did a search and i got this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/513332-i5-520m-max-1066-memory.html
Also, the manual said:

And i have i5; in any case, i dont understand why they use this kind of memory on a system which cant handle 1333; it means that if i want to upgrade from my i5 processor to any i7 i have to change the board or something?

 

I think that if that is the case (that I5 cpu's only support max ram speed of 1066, firstly, its beyond me why Dell have put 1333mhz in ?????

Secondly, looking at your previous screenshot, your CAS timings for your ram are 7-7-7-20.

A quick google revealed this thread: Is CAS 9 1333 better than CAS 7 1066 ? - Memory - Motherboards-Memory which shows that there isnt much difference between 1333 with a CAS9 latency (as mine is) and 1066 with a CAS7 latency (which yours is) ...actually, i think it said that yours could be slightly faster .....

Maybe the only real benefit of 1333 CAS9 is overclocking ability as opposed to 1066mhz ram....

Also found this for you: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/488853-core-i5-1333mhz-ram.html

Go figure! - crazy stuff! - seems that you cant have 1333mhz ram with a core I5.....max is 1066mhz.....wow, i learn something everyday on this forum.!!!

Bottom line: I dont think it makes any "real" difference....not that you will notice much....the crazy thing is why Dell put 1333mhz in your laptop knowing its support is a max of 1066mhz!

 

Well, thank you, i though something was wrong on it.
The bad thing is than they are offering i7 processors as default processor on new's AW M17X R2, and i got this replacement just 15 dyas ago, thats mean that i lose the chance

 

Cant you call 'em and see if they can excahnge for you?

 

Exchange the whole machine for the new ones with i7?, would be that possible?

 

I dont know, but its worth asking isnt it? ...probably have to put more cash to it i would reckon...but you dont get unless you ask huh?

 

I dont sure about, this machine have just 15 days since i got it in exchange, this is my second machine on exchange (3 M17x R2 total), i think they hate me already, and, most important, what i should say to get this one?, i just want it so give it to me?, maybe with a better idea, and sure, it worht to ask

 

Not sure. And hey, since i ordered my 1st system back in june '10, i had 5 replacements in as many months. Dont know if you bought new or refurb/outlet but its worth a shot if you feel strongly enough about it.

Is it just cos of the ram? - if so, i woundt bother unless you have other probs....i would however double check wether or not you can upgrade the cpu later if you wanted to.

Find out for sure wether or not you can upgrade the cpu.....i mean, its Alieanware, I would imagine that you should be able to swap out the I5 for an I7 without swapping the mobo.....

 

I think i can replace my i5 for an i7 without change the mobo, but, this will mean that i have to deal with tech support, which, let me tell you, are bad, bad as hell in here, all those guys just broken my machines.
I dont have any problem with this machine, just that with the ram but its normal, and some strange noise when i am installing some application and listening music, which was the same problem they sent a tech guy and then replace my machine for the mess this guy had done.
I think the best will be keep it as it is right now, get the warranty extension and see what happen next

 

Well, good luck with whatever you decide to do - if your current system has faults, no matter how small, I would be on the phone (thats just me, personally though).

And yeah, I thought you could upgrade the cpu without new mobo.

 

^^This is false the i5 might not support it but Core 2 CPUs also do support 1333Mhz memory.

Your current MoBo supports the i7 core CPUs so need to change the system.My advice: if you're going for an upgrade and Dell doesn't want to replace your CPU buy it outside and go high (i7 920xm/940xm) it's cheaper i bet,as later you'll want to do it again. Keep your i5 for warrenty purposes.

And as steviejones said if you got problems with your rig call them that's why you paid for warrenty,correct me if i'm wrong! You should be happy for the money that you paid. Being polite and telling them what the problems are should do it. I don't think you want to see your warrenty's end and with the machine still not working.

 

@Katalin: Well, thats the information that i got in the user guide, yes, its "kinda" false cause indeed my Laptop is running with 2 memories (4Gb each one) which are 1333, but, the mobo slow down them to 1066.
For both you, and others (Stevie and Katalin), my problem was and still being this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/529128-scratch-sound-while-some-apps-starting.html

I got this machine as replacement, but what a surprise, the same annoying scratching, i did tried a lot of things but nothing, in this machine (which is my 3 M17x in 6 months) the scratching is less, but i can notice it, and well, when they was building my system they denny to me the upgrade to an i7, even if i pay for it !, i dont wanna update now by myself cause i will lost the warranty on my new processor and also because if i buy this one to dell it will cost a lot and the tech support on my country really stinks !!!!, which could be less and less risk if they didnt denny to me the possibility to update.

What do you say about that problem?, thank you.

 

I say, if you can, get your money back and re-order with the spec you want if your not happy with the spec you have. I would reiterate that your current replacement STILL is not correct, state that you HAVE been patient and worked WITH Dell but, enough is enough.....say you would like a full refund and then re-order. (thats exactly what i did after all my faulty systems)

Be sure first on the configuration you DO want, and make sure you can afford the extra (if extra to pay)...once you have a full refund from Dell, you are then free to re-order whatever, whenever you want.

That is what i would be inclined to do - they have had a few goes at sorting it out.....its time for some action if your not happy with your current system....be polite, remain firm and insist.

Just make sure that this is the right course of action for YOU....before going down that route....

 

Im still under 21 days politic, i think so, let me see the current price, if i can get more for almost the same price, will be a deal for me, otherwise i will just lost time and money. Thanks for all your help
But dont forget to take a loot at that thread i showw you, you will see what's happening.

 

I wouldnt be worried about lost time.....you probably have spent enough time already dealing with replacements....the key objective here is to get a fully working system.

That being said, you should play around with the online webiste configurator to see what kind of system you want/can afford with your refund ... work out wether or not you want to put money towards that newer spec and be certain in your own mind that that is what you want.

If your within your return period, I would be insisting on a full refund and THEN pursue the system of your choice, wether it be an R3 or a different spec R2.

Also, remember that when buying again, dont go for Dell's 8gb ram or whatever....get the basics right like screen/cpu/gpu.

You can save alot of money by upgrading the HDD's and ram "aftermarket" ...the cpu can be done also...as you mention that your not entirely happy with the I5, maybe consider reordering with a base cpu and consider getting a better cpu via shirley's or laptopmonkey etc (ebay)...i think you can get an xm for around £400gbp at the moment.

Anyway, let us know how you get on....maybe you should post your case on this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ement-systems-warranty-repair-issues-241.html as thats where all the replacement stuff goes.....you will also find lots of useful info there and people inthe same boat as you - looking for redress from Dell.

Best of luck mate, keep positive, focused and eventually, you will be happy with a system of your choice.

 

Glad to be of service - hope you get it sorted.