M15 Ram Upgrade

Hey dudes,
Heard a bunch of people talking about saving some money by buying their own ram and slipping it in their M15x's. Good idea? Also, the ram you get off the AW site is 667MHz. I heard a rumour that it will recognize 800Mhz ram as well, but I do not see how that is possible... the computer is configured to run on 667. The only thing that makes it even plausible at all is that they are both DDR2, but I still don't think it would work. But anyway, can anyone tell me the details of the mod. What ram will fit in? What ram stays the coolest (I want the best, coolest ram for my m15) Any ideas?

 

Good idea

rumor is bad idea

DDR2-667 as you said

You are the first person asking this on the forum

 

you can put 800 mhz ram into the m15x. the ram will just downclock to 667.

as to what ram will stay the coolest, im guessing most ram will run the same since most ram is created by 1 company and then rebranded by other companies and sold. im guessing the ones with the heat spreaders are better. i have ram with no heat spreader and it seems to be fine.

 

heat spreaders on 667mhz RAM... it's a joke... MAYBE heat spreaders are good for something on DDR3 RAM with like 1800mhz...

 

gskill ram with heat spreaders from newgg was said to fit inside the 15.
if the spreaders help or not is nothing anyone has mentioned nor brought up as far as i am aware.

 

From what I understand, the coolest memory (and also tied for fastest) is the stuff you buy from AW. I forget the manufacturer off the top of my head, but it's near impossible to find their stuff in the consumer segment.

honestly, heat, for RAM, isn't really anything you need to concern yourself with.

As for the 800 vs. 667 debate. the northbridge is a GM965 (GMA X3100), and is only capable of memory speeds of up to 667Mhz. so 800Mhz RAM will NOT make any difference.

 

i would like to see the info on the memory if you can get it mystic.
i mean based on the money they charge for it, it should be the best out there really.

im not a memory guru (not even a pc or notebook one for that matter right now) but i am getting into the swing of things and would luv to see the comparison of AW memory to an aftermarket/other vendor unit.

 

guess not?

 

Make sure the RAM you get does not void the warranty. There are certain models of RAM that AW has approved for upgrading. As to which specific model, I'm not too sure (I've seen the list somewhere on these forums but I can't recall which thread it was in.) If there is a certain brand in mind, make sure you contact Alienware via email or phone to ask them whether the RAM you are about to purchase would void your warranty.

 

eh?
how would a certain type of RAM void the warranty...??
not like they can tell - all you would have to do is re-install the RAM that came with it....
just seems weird to me...

besides, i am still interested in knowing what type of RAM and the specs with them since someone said AW offers the highest quality vice what you can get aftermarket....

 

@ryujin: No, it won't void the warranty; they just "can't support it"

 

Oceanus - wrong
ryujin - correct

 

still would luv to see the specs and/or information on this...
until then, i think AW just boosts prices on the memory for no reason.

 

cooler than the alternative by 1 nano Celsius?

 

AW = overpriced

why pay them more when you can buy a compareable or better laptop from sagernotebook.com or www.powernotebook.com?

All you're doing is paying a premium for a shiny alien head on the back of your laptop.

But it's your money.

 

I agree with Diaper boy. Sorry ryujin just teasing you. But ya I would like to see facts on the Ram also.

What I know the Ram you payed for outside alienware can void the warrintee if there a issue between ram and motherboard which make the motherboard faulty.

So flip a coin.

 

Question why do we have noobs here that are spamming for other companys. Is that agenst the notebookreview reviews.

Ya I love the light on my keyboard mouse and such.

 

The RAM is manufactured by Net List, CAS ratings: 5-5-5-12... Same as just about any High-Performance memory.

I read that netlist is some of the coolest RAM on the market somewhere, no idea where I saw that now... but just looking at their page, I can see why AW would buy from them... they even have all their core competencies listed on their website (of which, web design was not one of them... lol)

 

according to my calculations, the ASPW (Average Syllables Per Word) rating of that page is about 9...

so yeah i can see what you're hinting at Mystik...

 

you might want to check this ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134661

 

yeah, they really seem to know what they're talking about... however, did you notice that if you're in... let's say the core competencies area of their webpage, the entire imagemap for navigating AWAY from that section, just navigates back to the page you're on?

you have to go back to the home page to get anywhere else on the site.

Like I said, good at what they do, and web design is not on the list.

 

do they make the RAM themselves? could just be another reseller like kingston or crucial...

 

it looks like they do... they have "patented technologies" to increase memory densities.... whatever that means... they seem to be BEHIND the game in terms of memory options. the stuff AW bought for my m15x isn't even on there.

 

i still say they're just another (actual) RAM producer like hynix or qimonda.

 

I think you're right.

... but they have a really bad website... I just can't get over that... man. terrible!