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    L702x owners (2720 & up) who installed their own RAM - Question

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by xmacro, Mar 27, 2011.

  1. xmacro

    xmacro Notebook Geek

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    Well, conflicting reports are floating around, so I wanna get the record straightened out by those who have their laptops in hand - what's the deal wit the RAM?

    Dell manual says that the 2720 and higher can handle 1600MHz RAM, but then some members are saying they installed some Kingston Hyper-X 1600MHz along with Dell stock and they're only getting 1333MHz

    So what's the deal? Does the 2720 only downclock the 1600MHz if 1333MHz is installed? What if only 1600MHz is installed and the dell stock RAM is left out?
     
    xmacro, Mar 27, 2011
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  2. ZippoMan

    ZippoMan Notebook Evangelist

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    I have 2x4GB 1600 HyperX. The BIOS says it's 1333mhz. As does CPU-Z. According to Performance Test the HyperX is a little faster... but I doubt this is actually noticeable by the end user. See attachments.
     
    ZippoMan, Mar 27, 2011
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  3. xmacro

    xmacro Notebook Geek

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    So there really wouldn't be any difference between installing just 1600 and installing 1600 + 1333?
     
    xmacro, Mar 27, 2011
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  4. ZippoMan

    ZippoMan Notebook Evangelist

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    Correct

    10chars
     
    ZippoMan, Mar 27, 2011
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  5. Jukkie

    Jukkie Notebook Enthusiast

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    Not at home at the moment, so can't check, but are there any RAM settings in the BIOS (speed/latency), or is it all locked down?
     
    Jukkie, Mar 28, 2011
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  6. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    If it's like any Dell laptop made in the past decade (almost 100% chance such is the case), it will all be locked down. There may be third party software that can mess with the timings, but I don't know more than that.
     
    Commander Wolf, Mar 28, 2011
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  7. [-Mac-]

    [-Mac-] Notebook Deity

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    if you install both of DDR3 1600MHz and DDR3 1333MHz in the same system it is obvious that the overall bandwidth of the system is aligned to that of a system that only DDR3 1333MHz.
    The RAM global performance is always aligned with the Memory Module with lower performance.
     
    [-Mac-], Mar 28, 2011
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  8. leerage

    leerage Notebook Enthusiast

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    Zippoman, if you have the stock Dell ram in, remove it and then go into the BIOS. I'm not positive but there should be settings (i'm hoping XMP settings) that will allow you to select 1600MHz (XMP Profile 2).

    But like -Mac- said, if you have the 1600MHz installed along with Dell's stock 1333MHz, it will only clock at 1333MHz.

    Edit-- Xmacro, i think this is what you were looking for in the other memory thread: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsL702X/en/SM/memory.htm#wp1180190

    Anybody with a L702x would be kind enough to go into the BIOS and look around for those settings, I'd appreciate it. I can't try for another week or so...
     
    leerage, Mar 28, 2011
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