XPS M1730 and 8GB Ram

So, my research online has turned up that since bios A07 the M1730 can support 8GB of Ram (4gbx2).

Can anyone confirm this is true, or is it based on rumors?

 

The Santa Rosa chipset is limited to 4GB of RAM.

 

the Dell Precision M6300 uses Santa Rosa but is able to take up to 8gb of RAM, therefore I don't know if what you're saying is completely true!

 

That's because it isn't true. Santa Rosa supports up to 8GB. I didn't look close enough. I was reading most limit to 4GB since 8GB is still expensive.

 

Good deal. Makes me happier about the "future proofing" of this computer. Although 4gb should last a while

 

it could be hardware limited by the chipset, or software limited by the BIOS...

anyways, dont think any of the current processors would benefit too much from 4->8GB, unless u dont want a pagefile on ur hard drive.... u'll probably more likely to get a new computer than upgrading to 8GB of ram

 

I'm wondering which research you did to find that out, since we had that discussion a few weeks ago:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3724232#post3724232

The XPS M1730 does support 8GB. There are people using it.

It depends on what you do. Disabling the page file is a nice thing and you'll appreciate the performance boost if you have to run multiple VM machines.

 

WOW really 8Gb of ram WOW!!!
i've recently only upgraded to 64bit Vista ultimate to be able to use my 4GB capacity.
Now i feel like upgrading to 8GB. I have also updated my BIOS to A09.

Where did you guys buy your ram from?

 

Anywhere you buy it, it won't be cheap. NewEgg has a crucial 1x4GB for ~$400.

 

8 GB is pretty expensive for laptops. It'll set you back around $350

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231202

 

Holy cow! How come I didn't see this before? Usually a 4GB module is 400-500 USD and now G.Skill sells it for $170?

Dell's 8GB upgrade is $1000+ ... compared to $350 here.

 

The manufacturer's love to overcharge for RAM. I guess they want you to do it yourself. I remember getting my M1210 in 2006 and they wanted $3000 for 4 GB at that time.

 

I'm amazed you posted that. I searched and searched NewEgg but couldn't find anything under $450 for a 1x4GB module. +1 for you!

So a few years from now it'll be like $100-200 to upgrade to 8GB, and I'll barely need a new computer. Or maybe even cheaper if say 8GB modules lower prices.

Ah, gotta love new technology for cheapening the old ones.

 

I just went to notebook memory then picked 4GB and it listed those two.

Yeah, no doubt it will drop. In 2001 I remember my notebook having a whole 64 MB of memory. Now we are looking at 4GB standard and even 8GB is possible. TEchnology is crazy.

 

When I was in elementary school, we bought a Dell with 512MB of memory for ~$2000.

:|

-Rofl, good times.-

 

Our first computer in 1995 had like 8 MB RAM, 75 mhz processor and maybe 800MB hard drive for around $3000. I remember the sales guy telling us this computer would last me through high school, haha.

 

LOL, ah man I tear up at the fact we'll be looking back 10 years from now and laughing at these specs.

 

It's actually a trend called Moore's Law, it first was described by the co-founder of Intel. You can read about it here. But it essentially states that every 18 months technology gets twice as fast and costs half as much.

 

New to the forum and just took the plunge with 8GB from G.SKILL. Once I get the order delivered, I’ll let you know how it works out. Currently have 4 GB in the 1730 with A09 bios. I’ll dual boot between Vista Ultimate 64bit and Server 2008 (64bit) using Hyper-V for virtual demos that we do with Microsoft based clients.

 

Okay, let us know in this thread when you receive it and can show us benchmarks.

 

I don't foresee that 8 gigs of ram will give you better benchmarks. You will be able to run more things without swapping but that is it. The memory bus speed is still the slowest part of the laptop in the eyes of Vista.

 

It will certainly improve performance, as you can completely disable the page file, multi-task more, and avoid using the HDD as cache. (Which is like 1000x times slower than RAM )

 

You are incorrect.

 

What a helpful post!

 

It is. I guess you are a very sensitive person. Please check your information before posting in a public forum. It is misleading when you posted incorrect information.

 

If you would have opened your eyes, you would have seen I corrected myself. Secondly, if you are just going to say something is incorrect, fix it, otherwise you are just as unhelpful.

 

I am glad that you corrected yourself. It's a lesson learned on your end. Please check your information before posting otherwise it is not helpful.

 

Thanks for the lesson professor.

 

You are very welcome!!!

 

Got the memory - works great but now I need to install Windows 2008 64 and Vista Ultimate 64

 

Wow 2.83 GB RAM usage? you definitely need 8 GB then

 

Yeah definitely need to get those on there. I am using Server 2008 x64 and it works great with the 64 bit drivers from Dell.

 

That's because I was running VPC 2007 running Server 2003 R2

Working to load up 2008 now

 

Done!!! Got 2008 running with HyperV. THE virtuals are runing great. Love the fact that I can run mulitple virtuals with great performance.

 

I thought to run 8gb of ram it had to be 64 bit version of of vista?


has any one done this? any issue, tips or tricks i should know about???


Thanks!

 

You do need the 64 bit version OS to run more than 4GB. As you can see the one screenshot shows only 3.xxx usable. You can use PAE in Server 2008 Datacenter for more than 4GB in 32 bit, but that is a lot of money.

 

Woot! What a deal!

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/DDR2/list.html

 

For 16GB you would be much better off finding a board with 8 RAM slots and sticking 2GB sticks in there. Then again, right now the only people needing 16GB+ probably can afford to spend that much. My 8GB only cost $200, I am happy with that much for now.

 

Ah okay..... so with a 64bit vista the whole 8 gigs is usable?

 

Yeah 64 bit Vista would be able to use it all.

 

There can be a huge benefit depending what you do. With 8GB I can render frames with RenderMan I couldn't render before.

 

So has anyone out there done this on a 64 bit system? any screen shots?

getting married trying to save money so if i buy the ram and it dose not work, thats a pretty big wast for me...

 

Did you even read preious posts?

8Gb is too much for what i need but 4GB doesnt cut it, so i thought about leaving 1x2gb and buying a 4gb stick. Will i loose performance because it cant run in dual channel mode or will it be the same performance just more ram?
Cheers

 

Didn't you even read that his post was in 09-25-2008 01:19 AM ??

And no, you won't loose any performance with 6GB RAM. Tried and tested.

 

Yeah i did.

Okay, Thanks for the info.
Nick

 

bumping this thread to see if anyone has done this with an x64 system, and has got any benches to show - particularly with x64 server 2008/R2 and Hyper-V.

 

may i able to do so...My 8GB samsung modules just sit in the PostOffice because of FFFF weekend..... Using windows 7 x64 Build:7127 as main OS Report back later

 

Hi!
I can confirm to 8GB DDR2 is working in DELL XPS M1730 Bios:A10
Got 2x4GB SAMSUNG DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 CL6-6-6-12
Fast really NO PAGE and SWAP file Win7 x64 Ultimate RC Build:7127

 

AssimilatorX, in your sig, you listed 3x500 drive. I take it you removed the DVD drive, to put in the third HDD?

How did you do it?