Which 3rd party memory upgrade for a 1645?

Hi,

I have a 1645 on order and plan on upgrading the memory to 8 GB. The Dell upgrade is very expensive. NewEgg has upgrades from G. Skill, OCZ, and other for under $200. Do these work OK in the 1645?

Thanks,

Jerry

 

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

I did this comparison, basically your choice for laptop RAM is mostly going to come down to price. There's two performance tiers to worry about when selecting RAM for this system from newegg, there's the DDR3 PC3-8500 1066MHz usually marked with 7 CAS latency and the DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz and marked 9 CAS latency. The 1645 supports 1333MHz RAM so that'd be what to go with, but the slower 1066MHz memory will work and will save you $25 bucks. CAS latency won't make a difference here and I've had the experience that laptops don't even operate at the low CAS latencies if given the option and having the proper RAM, so go for the maximum bandwidth and operating frequency you can afford. It all has lifetime warranties, and the memory chips themselves are all made by basically the same few companies (Samsung/Hynix/etc). It should all be fully compatible with the 1645. You might get a higher quality/better tested component with the more expensive stuff, better support sometimes, etc.

 

That's a great deal. I think you should hold out for a bit as DDR3 price is still falling down. We will see some great deals very shortly, imo.

 

As recently as last January, that same DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz was selling at NewEgg for $199 for just one 4 GB stick. Now, you can buy 2 4GB modules for less than it had cost to buy 1 just 8 months ago. It is truly amazing how the prices of RAM (and of processors) can drop so fast.

With regard to the product itself, I'm using that RAM in my 1645, and I have no complaints.

 

Thanks for the information.

I will probably get the memory sooner rather than later since I will be running Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 simultaneously.

Has anyone tried the Corsair, Newegg.com - CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9 ?

 

I'm using the GSkill DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz that is in the NewEgg link that was provided earlier in the thread. As I said above, I paid $199 per 4 GB stick. When the price went down to about $169 a few weeks later, NewEgg did refund the difference. I'm not sure what their time limit is for doing so, but, even if the price does go down within a relatively short time after you buy it, it is likely that NewEgg will refund the difference.

 

The OCZ is the best ram on Newegg spec wise, but the differences between the sticks is so minor it probably won't make any noticeable difference, so get which ever one you want. It's really silly how expensive Dell upgrades are when you can buy 8GB of ram for cheaper than upgrading 4 to 8 with Dell, especially since you can then sell your old RAM on ebay and make at least some back for it.

 

I just noticed that what I have orders is a 1647 (i7) not a 1645. Sorry for my confusion. Does this change anyone's recommendation?

 

Do you mean a dual-core 620M?? If so, then yes, it does change everything. The quad-core i7's (1645) have 1333 MHz memory controllers. The dual-core i7s and i5s (1647) only have a 1066 MHz memory controller, so getting 1333 RAM would be a waste. What you need is the 1066 RAM with the lowest latency. I'd recommend: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model F3-8500CL7D-8GBSQ

They're on sale right now for $160.

 

OK. I guess I was not confused (or doubly confused). I have a i7 quad core on order. This is a 1645, correct?

 

Yes. Go with the original recommendations then, lol.

 

I think that is especially true since Dell isn't likely to be using the very top of the line components either. Also, with the GSkill memory, my WEI score (for whatever limited value it has) is still at 7.4, which is, I believe, the highest possible score for RAM that is possible with the 1645 hardware configuration. The bottom line is that, whatever differences that there might be between the GSkill and other memory, I can't imagine anyone noticing even the slightest difference in actual performance.