Does the Inspiron 1520 Support 8Gigs

Would my Inspiron 1520 work with two of these modules?

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

 

I'm not sure, but if it does make sure you have a 64 bit version of Windows.

 

No, maximum it will support is 4GB.

 

I planned on using x64 anyways, if 4gigs is all it will take, then that'll be a shame

 

Only montevina supports 8GB, but 4 will be plenty for quite awhile. The 1520 isn't a blazing fast machine, and even if it did support 8GB, you wouldn't notice a difference.

 

The 1520 is Santa Rosa-based, so no, it does not support 8GB. Only 4GB.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3810069

Santa Rosa based Dell D830 supports 8GB!

 

I most certainly would. I use AutoDesk Inventor and have a lot of VMs. Slackware Ubuntu XP ontop of Vista.

 

I'll second that. 8 gigs of RAM is pretty useful for those who do alot of graphics and design. I am one of those, and yes, I always seem and tend to use a large portion of my RAM everyday. Approximately 2.8GB of it will be used every time when I do Photoshop, Maya and AutoCAD.

I ever tried a workstation desktop with 8GB of RAM before. Man, was it good.

 

Vista commands about 1 gig. Add your 2.8 and you are a smidgen below the 4 gig ceiling. You probably won't be able to run much else when you are doing your graphics work, but it seems like you shouldn't be hitting the swap file.

 

It appears that Santa Rosa supports more than 4GB. I got one stick for a total of 5GB. My friend also has a 4+2 for 6GB in hers.

 

Wow, I didn't mean to post that many times, I am using Google Chrome...the page froze, I closed the tab and came back, I pressed F5, didn't see my post, then reposted pressing "Post quick Reply" once and then...I see this.

 

Interesting. I'm guessing you've already used more than 4 GB at least once just to test it out? Are you running the A09 BIOS?

That's a ginormous page file, by the way!

 

Just to correct some mis-information on this thread.

The chipset on the motherboard determines how much memory is supported. For some reason the Intel mobile chipset (usually the 965PM or GM chipsets) will only support 4gb of memory on two slots.

The desktop equivalent of the 965 chipset has never had that limitation and has always supported 8GB.

I should also add that if you have the 965 chipset in your laptop, it is unlikely that you will be able to actually use more than 4gb regardless of the amount of memory installed. As this seems to be a chipset limitation I'm not sure even vista 64bit will make a difference there. It would be interesting for someone to test this though.

 

So, has somebody tried to max out the 8GB? Maybe a couple of virtual machines, running with 3GB and your system with 2GB... Let's see some results...

 

FWIW, I have an HP HDX (20" notebook) with Santa Rosa chipset, and I have 2 of the aforementioned memory modules from Newegg installed in it, and it sees all 8GB just fine (Vista 64bit).

I'm not sure what others here are basing their answers that the mobile chipsets don't support it, when in fact, it supports it just fine.

I am now setting up some Studio 15's for a client. I could try moving the 8GB modules from the HDX to the Studio, but then I'd need Vista x64 on the Studio...not sure I want to put that much effort into it.

Would anyone be happy enough just with what a Studio 15 BIOS reports with 2 x 4GB modules in?

 

What I'd like to see is any Santa Rosa notebook (including HDX) with a Task Manager graph that shows 4.5 GB or more in use. This would have to be Vista, as XP shows Page File usage instead of physical memory. The reason is that I've heard that Vista SP1 x86 will report 4 GB of memory even when it can't use all 4 GB, to prevent customers from complaining about being ripped off. Vista x64 may do a similar thing with > 4 GB on Santa Rosa - report it as being there but not actually be able to use it.

So while Intelman's screenshot is good in that it shows Vista acknowledges 5 GB of RAM being there, it isn't quite conclusive that Santa Rosa allows you to actually use that 5 GB.

I know Santa Rosa officially only supports 4 GB, but I've heard of other cases where chipsets that only supported a certain amount on paper did just well with greater amounts, often in DIMMs that were created after the chipset. The HDX Dragon should be an adequate test for all Santa Rosa's with discrete graphics in theory, as all are 965PM.

As I'm pretty sure NASA has said several times, it's not a question of what it was designed to do, but of what it can do.

 

yes please..
that would more than clarify things..

 

Hey guys, I just did some stress testing on my Dell 1720, with 6GB of RAM. It seems to recognise and work though. I opened alot of Photoshop .psd files, and many Corel PhotoPaint .cpt files to stress max it. Have a look at it yourselves. I'm pretty sure it should work for 1520s.

Click on thumbnail to enlarge

 

SomeFormOFhuman: maybe you should try some virtual machines too, it can utilize so much RAM, only two systems running can utilize same ammount of RAM as when you open lots of psd files.

 

Well at least someone else did the testing for me. It does indeed support just under 8GB ram. Two 4GB modules will not work, but a 4+2 will work just fine.

I suspect that there is a small MB discrepancy in how much ram this could support. The bios might freak out at 8192MB but might support 8180 or anything less.

In any case, any combination with a 4GB + X < 4GB will work.

Windows does indeed use it as well, my cached ram is at 3823 free is at 28. I'm not sure why windows wouldn't use it, especially since the bios stated usable ram as 5Gigs...There is no software or hardware limitation here past that point.

 

Interesting thread guize. I'd love to throw 6GB in there to see what it does.

 

I've already did a test on my 1720 if you want to see what it does. It's smiliar performance with the 1520s if 6GB of RAM installed.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305464

 

I heard from some people at Microsoft that Dell has a limit of around 7GB on most laptop BIOS, but they fixed it on a few models...too bad they don't care about the 1520... I contacted their support twice. The first guy thought what you did, so I started to send one back, and then I found out about the BIOS issue. The second guy just kept saying they would only support the memory I bought though them, and wouldn't even listen to anything I was telling him...I HATE Dell's support...

 

Hello man my inspiron 1520 has
intel core 2 duo t7500
4gb ram
120gb 7200 r.p.m.
Nvidia 256 mb 8600m gt
Windows vista ultimate 64bit

But my computer under the task manager only shows 3581 mb it never recognizes the 4gb entirely just as it happens when I use the 32 bit version
what can I do different so that I would get the same results as everybody here
Thank you in advance and God bless us

 

Get a 64bit version of vista.

 

being a 1537 owner, how does p8400 work with 4+gigs of ram?

 

I already have a windows vista ultimate 64bit version but it still shows 3581mb available only I do not know why. Everybody else has 4gb but not me and to tell you the truth i do not know why. Does it has to do with the drivers? with the configuration? or what? I have the A09 bios and everything else seems normal but i can not make it show more than 3581. I would really appreciate anybody's help

 

Do you have integrated graphics? If so, that is likely why.

 

No I do have the dedicated video card (NVIDIA 8600m gt 256mb) but still not getting the 4gb of ram

 

which bios are you running?

 

I have the A09 Bios it is the newest one

 

U sure you have 64bit?

 

Yes of course I am sure if not I would not be writing this. Does it has to do anything with the motherboard or something? or what would be the cause of this? Thank you again and God bless us all
Merry Christmas

 

i see the inspiron 1520 will support 8gb of ram with a bios upgrade. i have a vostro 1500 (same motherboard as the inspiron 1520) and the bios upgrade only goes to a ver 06. the question i have is will the inspiron bios ver work in the vostro 1500. if not why not since there the same motherboards? also how can i run 8gb in the vostro? thanks