The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrading from 4GB to 8GB RAM (any benefits)

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by TricksterMatt, Apr 26, 2011.

  1. TricksterMatt

    TricksterMatt Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    25
    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Hey guys I was thinking of upgrading from my 4GB RAM to 8GB as when I go university this year I will be doing a lot of stuff on things like microsoft office 2007/2011 and image and video editing software such as adobe photoshop and sony vegas.ect and also converting softwares. Will more RAM benefit me? I will have several of these programs running once most likely and what brand are the RAM alienware provides you? And will more RAM benefit me in gaming at the slightest? Say newer games like RAGE or battlefield 3? Thanks

    I was thinking about these: Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz Laptop Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
     
    TricksterMatt, Apr 26, 2011
    #1
  2. DraZziW

    DraZziW Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    49
    Messages:
    135
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    don't know about video editing and photoshop but you probably won't notice any improvement in games. The ram they gave me was one 4gb Hyundai and 2gb Kingston
     
    DraZziW, Apr 26, 2011
    #2
  3. Oldakowski

    Oldakowski Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    When I upgraded to 8gb, I noticed loading times were halved in basically every game I played. The performance increase was very noticeable. I Highly recommend the upgrade.
     
    Oldakowski, Apr 26, 2011
    #3
  4. TricksterMatt

    TricksterMatt Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    25
    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Hmm sounds like a good buy and suppose its "future proof" in a way even if its only a slight improvement as technology is becoming increasingly more advanced and technical in terms of requirements from todays standards in games and software.ect
     
    TricksterMatt, Apr 26, 2011
    #4
  5. TricksterMatt

    TricksterMatt Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    25
    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    34
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Also will the RAM in the link fit and are they better than the ones in the alienware atm?
     
    TricksterMatt, Apr 26, 2011
    #5
  6. jwolf7722

    jwolf7722 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    282
    Messages:
    881
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    It does improve HD video editing times slightly. My old system with 4gb ram took longer to edit (Just going by memory from the times it took in the past). When playing Civ 5 I dont see any difference in load times from my old Alienware with 4gb over my current system with 8gb.
     
    jwolf7722, Apr 26, 2011
    #6
  7. madoon

    madoon Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    62
    Messages:
    267
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    the extra ram will help with image and video editing if you run/open a lot of files and projects at the same time, but not much if you are a light user with smaller files/projects.
     
    madoon, Apr 27, 2011
    #7
  8. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    596
    Messages:
    2,162
    Likes Received:
    466
    Trophy Points:
    101
    I honestly noticed no difference in performance. The only reason I upgraded to 8GB was to turn off my paging file with my new SSD.
     
    kosti, Apr 27, 2011
    #8
  9. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    I shared the same reason and the same experience.
     
    The Revelator, Apr 27, 2011
    #9
  10. James D

    James D Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,314
    Messages:
    4,901
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Trophy Points:
    231
    turn off paging file, faster work in photoshop, RamDisk and else
     
    James D, Apr 27, 2011
    #10
  11. ryanwhite123

    ryanwhite123 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    3
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Hey Matt,

    I've been thinking about doing the same over the past week. I was going to link the exact same RAM to you on Ebuyer! Im going to buy that kit this weekend i think :)

    Also, i've noticed my RAM usage hitting around 90% in some recent games, so you may see some performance increase if you've got quite a lot of programs open in the background. I've read mixed reports on a minimal performance increase, and seen a few individuals on forums say that its made a noticable difference to some games. Basically though, for £71..... Go for it, just dont expect it to change the performance by a massive amount :D

    Hope that helps,

    Ryan
     
    ryanwhite123, Apr 27, 2011
    #11
  12. ryanwhite123

    ryanwhite123 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    3
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    RAM Ordered, should get it late this week i believe :)

    Also, im busy writing my dissertation for UNI at the moment and ive got quite a lot of tabs and documents open, which is using 3.2gb at the moment, so the extra RAM may be more useful than i originally thought if i want to game without closing all of my work.
     
    ryanwhite123, May 2, 2011
    #12