Memory for C90S

I heard there was a lot of problems with the Asus C90S and its ability to run 2GB of memory on a single slot (as in, one stick of 2GB RAM doesn't work). Is this true? Should I stick with the 1GB I have right now until the new BIOS comes out that supposedly fixes this? How long do we have to wait for that?

I'm getting my laptop this Wednesday, so I'd love to know what you guys have heard, if anything, for better judgment. Thank you. =)

 

Personally I would buy it know with 2GB and then update the bios if you bought it with 1GB you would have to upgrade later which would cost more. I think the C90S reads the memory stick as 1 GB right, well either way you will still have 1 gb till the new bios comes out.

 

hmmm... do u still have time to have ur reseller test it ? I ordered a single 2gb stick ( corsair brand ) and it wont run from battery power. and, a significant number of people are having trouble running this config ( pls. read on the forums further )

So as a precaution, if you could ask them to test a 2gb stick on battery power, that would really be helpful. Or, if ur buying them outside, just make sure to TEST IT ON BATTERY POWER before u purchase the RAM.

 

Well, see, it's already been shipped, but it's coming with a Corsair brand memory, so apparently it's been working out for them. I suppose I should wait to see what they put inside, because I sent off an email but never got a reply.

I got the Velocity Micro X20, by the way. I will test it on battery power, and then purchase the RAM. I lived for three years on 1GB of memory -- a few more days won't hurt.

 

the problem is usually with the single (2gbx1 pc.) RAM stick. U can still obtain 2gb of ram by buying 2 pieces of 1gb sticks which seem to be more problem free ----> actually, i haven't heard of anyone with the c90 having problems using 2pcs of 1gb sticks. ( various brands seem to be compatible. )

If u want to take the risk of using a single 2gb stick, test it in battery power before purchasing it. This is an important precaution

 

That's what I meant I was doing. I would very much rather have 3GB of memory rather than lose the ability to have that without spending gorges of money more.

I don't really know how I'd be able to test memory before purchasing it, but I'll see what happens...

 

buy the ram from the seller like I said, thats the way to test it.

 

I tried contacting them, but they never replied back. I don't believe they sell the memory separately. That's what I said in the other thread.

 

then trial and error is the way ! haha. gudluck man.

 

I got my memory (3 gb) from the asus dealer and i have problems on battery so its not always problem free (though my issues seem to be cpu related) basically just take your chances and hope for the best

 

So, you think I should go ahead and purchase the 1x2gb memory stick? I don't know if I'd be completely satisfied with 2GB after seeing all the optimistic remarks regarding the benefit of 3gb over 2gb. I plan to do my fair share of movies, games, office apps, etc. I tend to multi-task as well. The thing is, I saw the 2x1GB memory sticks of Corsair ValueSelect brand for around $75 on Frys, while the cheapest 1x2GB I saw was $105-$130 on Newegg (depending on the brand). What if I kept my laptop always on AC power? Would that be alright?

What a conundrum. If only Asus would fix the damn laptop already!

 

1.) performance, comparing from what some people posted on their 3dmark06 scores : i got 3200 points in overclock mode, and im running on an E6320 processor ( 1.86ghz ) and 2gb of ram ( 2pcs x 1gb sticks ). SO i dont think the performance diff. between 2gb and 3gb RAM would be too distant. ( Vicious also mentioned he doesnt notice any big difference 2gb vs 3gb )

2.) its up to you if you always stay plugged. BUt, even if ur plugged & you lose power for whatever reason, the pc would lock and u have to restart. Its up to you if this would be extremely inconvenient.

 

No performance seems equal to me, however I didnt really go thru the loops for extensive testing between the two.

3dmark with 2gb of ram for me was like 3100, with 3gb of ram I think it was the same.

The only reason the extra 1gb of ram will help anything that I can think of is if a game needs like 2gb of memory or more because the video card uses a large chunk of it for turbocache. So with 2gb you may come up short, but with 3gb it should be enough. However I hardly hit that mark on my desktop with higher settings than I would use on my laptop so it should be ok.

There is also a new vista gaming patch out that releases allot of virtual memory address space, that should help aid things too.

 

I only had to deal with the power going out once over the span of the entire school year last year, and even then, it was only 10-15 minutes. If the power is out, I don't think I would be too worried about using my laptop then.

So, if I do stick with 3GB of memory, and just use an AC Adapter, that would be fine? If It means having to be tethered all the time, I don't really mind, so long as the BIOS update comes soon. That's not a big deal to me.

I pretty much feel that I'll be needing 3GB of memory. I almost always max out 1GB, and if 2GB would only cut that in half, I believe 3GB would be that sweet spot. I am just unfamiliar with what exactly the problem is that people are facing when it comes to this configuration, so forgive my ignorance.

Thanks a lot for the help thus far! I really do appreciate it. You don't know how much you're helping me right now.

 

well I for one im not sure about what problem im having, i can run on battery for 10 min and then i hit a bsod. the most common one has a message that says "IRQL_IS_LESS_OR_NOT_EQUAL" i have confirmed that two more people are getting this error message.

At the beggining everyone pegged bsod errors to incompatible ram, then Ken from Gentech confirmed that there is also problems with new revision conroes which might be triggering bsod in battery mode due to watts differences.

in the end im not sure what the issue is with mine. I do believe that a 2x1gb config is going to eliminate the problem, but i dont think its the ram's entire fault i believe this is a combinations of issues.

 

I thought it was the old Conroe processors that were causing the problems, not the new ones? This is a new laptop, so I doubt they'd optimize for an older version of a processor.

The question is, if the only problem with 1x2GB of RAM is that I can't run off the battery atm, should I go with that anyway and remain tethered until the new BIOS comes out?

 

Confirmed by an asus dealer (Gentech) it is the new ones... all the testing was done with old revision conroes. Ken send a c90 with the new conroes and asus tech guys were able to replicate the bsod so they are working on the new bios based on this too.

 

But is the memory problem only causing issues with trying to work on battery alone, or does it also happen when you're plugged into the wall?

 

only on battery mode (im plugged in right now)... thing is i dont think its just ram causing issues i believe its the combination of some ram and new conroes causing bsod on battery.

theres a ton of explanations about why it is the ram... but in the end some people that have 3 gb of ram are running fine so i assume they have old conroes and thats why they dont have issues.

bottom line if you plan on staying plugged in then you wont have bsod (i have a 2gb kingston + 1 gb Nanya btw). if you are lucky you will be able to boot on battery and may or may not bsod every once in a while. if not you wont even be able to boot from battery.

 

Alright, I went ahead and bought the Corsair ValueSelect 1x2GB from Newegg. I was considering buying a different brand to work in tandem to save some cash, but I didn't want to risk any compatibility problems. I'll try it out and see what happens. I get my laptop on Wednesday, and hopefully this memory on Friday, so I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks a lot for your help!

 

my e6700 was the old revision and had the ram problems, so its not related to the cpu sorry.

the ram only interacts with the motherboard.

AMD would be different the cpu's have an on die memory controller and are directly responcible for the ram, but an intel system puts that responsability on the southbridge on the motherboard.

 

lol there goes my batman theory (you know the one were jack nicholson as the joker made cosmetics that killed when mixed toguether in a specific way..)

anyway heres the link to the thread with ken talking about the conroe thing for the ones that wnat to know but are to lazy to search


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2390312#post2390312

 

Cancer, thanks for that post. I was looking for that earlier. I guess I wasn't searching the right keywords.