mixing RAM?

I am looking to add some RAM, and yes I actually need it, i have been reading and know it can take up to 16. atm I have 6gb wit one empty slot. Wanting to put a 4GB in it so I would have 10GB. I know people say its best to keep it all the same

I was wanting to add this

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ

how well would it work? I have heard that its best to have all sticks the same size? I just dont really have the money to fill all 3 slots with 4gb ram

 

Eh, it doesn't REALLY matter, unless you're running in dual / triple channel mode. I don't think you'll see a difference, unless the new stick is quite slower /lower quality.

 

Having the ramsticks the same size will allow for synchronous Dual Channel operation, and your 1333 data rate.

 

well the reason I want to get the 4gb stick is because eventually I want to exchange the other 2gb sticks for 4gb to have 12. So are you saying its not worth it to just add the 4gb? and If im going to add ram, get 2 4gb or 3 of those?

 

Well, if you can afford it, do your RAM upgrade in pairs for best compatibility and performance. 2x4GB and 2x2GB is a good combo, then later replace the 2GB with 4GB

 

Do you honestly need the extra RAM?

8gb is more than enough...

 

well it only has 3 slots, so if i bought just a 4 gig, itd be 2-2 -4 for RAM. how would that perform? Than eventually I would like to buy 2 more of the same 4gigs so itd be 4-4-4

 

There's a 4th slot on the underside of the mobo

 

oh ok, I was wondering about the other 2gb and its location, well I want to buy the two 4gigs but deciding because of money. But if I get the 2 4gig, whats the best arrangement out of the 3 slots? does it matter?

 

Probably the 1st and 3rd slot. I'm not 100% how the memory channels are configured on this notebook, but it's either 1 and 2, 1 and 3, or 1 and 4. I assume it's 1 and 3, because that's how all my desktop builds are setup. But, I'm not sure that's how the laptop is setup. *shrugs*

You can always just plug it in, run CPU-Z and check which mode is being used, then change them around to figure it out.

 

well I was also wondering how hard it is to reach the slot thats not visible?the one under the mobo? and whats the numbers? like is the one under the mobo 1. than 2,3,4 from bottom to top

 

Mixing RAM doesn't always work. If the manufacturers are different or even sometimes RAM from the same manufacturer will have different timings and can cause random issues.

You may not immediately notice the issue, but you may have programs crash, blue screens, or other problems from time to time because your system had to change the timings on one of your sticks to match the other stick and it wasn't designed to work at those speeds.

Sometimes it works fine, but I'd say most of the time it doesn't.

Regardless, whether purchasing new RAM, mixing RAM, trying out old RAM, whatever you do, you should always do a full pass of Memtest to make sure everything is working correctly.

As far as dual and triple channel goes.. The performance increase is usually slim to none so I really wouldn't worry about that. 1-3% performance increase isn't normally noticeable unless your constantly crunching a lot of data.

 

I bought this

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9

Installed it with no issues, recognized right away.

 

From the user manual:
Under mobo: 2
In access compartment: 1,3,4 (bottom to top)

Doesn't say anything about which are pairs, of course.

 

hmm, so any way to find out what the pairs are? I dont think the g73 have color coated slots. Typically its 1,3 and 2,4 any confirmation?

 

I ordered a similar RAM module (2GB) to put in that empty slot. It's This one. I should have it today or tomorrow and will edit this post to let you know if it works out okay.

 

Well I ordered 2 4gig sticks. And they should arrive within the hour. So was hoping to find out if its better to scatter them or next to each other. any way for me to test it out

 

It shouldn't matter, they work in asymmetric dual channel mode if they're an odd number of sticks unless you have only one stick.

If you have only two sticks, probably 1 and 3.