Inspiron 1720 with 6GB RAM Tested

The set up are as follows:

T9300
8600M GT
320GB 7200rpm x2 (640GB)
6GB RAM
(4GB G.Skill and 2GB Kingston memory) both PC2-5300 @ 5-5-5-15
Ultimate 64
1920x1200
A09 BIOS

Purchase of RAM

The 4GB RAM Module is purchased from newegg. Unfortunately, newegg doesn't ship products to Singapore, so I had to use Vpost (Vpost gave a US address and everything)... Then Vpost will ship it to Singapore.

This is a follow up thread from Does the Inspiron 1520 Support 8Gigs and How to upgrade your M1530 to 6GB of RAM

Installation procedure:
As usual, I only installed the RAM on DIMM A. I have not tested it on DIMM B, not too sure if it works or even to the extent of the BIOS or mobo detecting it.

UPDATED (Friday, Oct 3, 2008; 11:52am): DIMM B also works. See this screenshot for details.


LOL, here, I got myself a black keyboard. Just ignore it. No, it's not an Inspiron E1705 people. My friend from the UK (Migrated here, now living in Singapore) didn't want his Vostro 1700 anymore, so for no reason, he gave me the keyboard.


As usual, open the hinge cover and gain access to the DIMM A RAM underneath the keyboard. Instructions can be found here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1720/en/SM/memory.htm#wp1180192


Make sure you slot it properly into the slot...


Once fixed, especially the keyboard and hinge, boot into your BIOS to double check it. Here, it is written as 6142MB.

Also, make sure you're using the latest A09 BIOS released from Dell.

Testing

Things just don't stop here. Just because it "sees" or, "detects" 6GB of RAM, doesn't necessarily mean we can assume that the 6GB will be utilized because, it is widely stated that the 1720 cannot support more than 4GB of RAM, and so as most Santa Rosa machines. The same goes for the others. Here, I did some interesting "Mythbusters" style tests... I got lots of drawings and graphics that I do everyday, like 3DS Max and all those workstation stuff. But specifically, I am going to launch 2 of the most vicious RAM eaters out there. They're non other than Photoshop and Corel PhotoPaint.

Tuesday 8 Oct 2008 11:17am UPDATE: VMWare Workstation v6.5 will be tested!! This will really help to see if there's a performance boost with 6GB RAM installed, and be utilized.

The question we're going to answer today is:
Santa Rosa GM965 (Dell Inspiron 1720 platform) does not Utilize more than 4GB of RAM.

Well, you heard it everywhere and even written on Dell's documents clearly in black and white. 4GB of RAM, and no more than that. Of course, except the Precision M6300 and other workstation machines with support of 8GB RAM. But for a normal, everyday-use laptop? Let's see if that is true. Detecting the full 6GB of RAM is one thing, but fully utilizing it, is another. Let's see...

Photoshop

I decided to use the .psd files that were made for my school work. These are one of my projects that were done entirely out of my Inspiron machine, including rendering and putting the images together to make a promotional poster in photoshop. There are in fact alot more .psd files out in my documents that I would like to use, but I'll just choose the 3 of the biggest files, and with the most number of layers for each graphics software. All of these posters are in A1 paper size, CYMK, 300dpi.

Unfortunately, the very maximum Photoshop CS3 can only use is about 3.2 GB of RAM, regardless whether you're using an x64 OS. Now that CS4 is out, there's a native x64 bit support, and has support of more than 4GB of RAM.... Anyway the Performance setup in Photoshop are as follows:


Test 1. This first file I open was an A1 300dpi poster, as seen in the screenshot below. Stated on the right is the Task Manager, and File Properties, to show the size of that, particular opened file.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 2.26GB.

Test 2. Then, I simultaneously opened a similar file, without closing the previous. Screenshot as seen below.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 3.09GB.
Note: At 3.09GB, this is the line which marks a dangerous "Lagging Eminent" point for a PC only with a 32bit OS and 3GB RAM. For those who only have 3GB of RAM installed, you're probably gonna crash and burn with just opening these 2 .psd files

Test 3. The final .psd file being opened. This time, depicting a roof storey plan coloured in photoshop. Again, done with my 1720. The other previous 2 .psd files previously opened were again, NOT closed. Circled in red are to show the usage of RAM and the number of files being opened at the same time.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 4.46GB.
That is one hell of a big jump. And most importantly, it has gone above 4GB.

So there you have it guys. 3 of the biggest .psd files, opened simultaneously one after an another without closing the previously opened and 4.46GB of RAM being used. Now rather than just using photoshop, I am going to try using Corel PhotoPaint, to open another set of .cpt drawings instead.

Corel Photopaint is an image editing/graphic design software similiar to photoshop. Most importantly, the Corel Company is best known for making CorelDRAW, a vector graphics software, which -maybe- will be tested extensively later in the guide. Trivia: Did you know that the animators of South Park use CorelDRAW to graphic their characters?

In the next test, I will again select 3 different .cpt files to be opened simultaneously, similar to the previous tests done in Photoshop. To add extra ingredient to the testing, the previously opened photoshop files will again, will NOT be closed, otherwise this Max RAM usage test will be a bust. In summary, there will be 6 graphic files opened in total, simultaneously.

Corel PhotoPaint

In this setup, I've used these settings as seen in the screenshot below. The thing I like about Corel PhotoPaint is the ability to use more than 4GB of RAM even though the application runs as a 32 bit platform only.



Test 4. This is a drawing of the head of Chrysler Building which I am currently doing to the best of its accuracies. Again, I had to split into many different .cpt files showing each parts of the building. To gather all layers into a single file would prove impossible and its file size would go over a gig.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 4.57GB.

Test 5. Then, I opened a second .cpt file, this time showing the highly adorned eagle gargoyle of the Chrysler Building which I drew. I purposely opened an image of it at the left.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 5.03GB.
NOTE: RAM usage finally reached 5GB. We're not there yet, we're going to push it to the limits to the point where the 1720 start to lag, which it still hasn't.


Test 6. Finally, the 3rd opened .cpt file, totalling 6 opened graphic files altogether including Photoshop, showing the base of the Chrsyler Building, again with the picture on the left.

Click to Enlarge


RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 5.67GB.
NOTE: This is just insane. On my testing, it still showed no sign of lagginess of sorts.

Well guys, sorry but I'll just stop here for the day. I'll continue to add more stuff as I go along... So no worries. I'll try to test it further.

************************************************
UPDATE Friday, Oct 3 2008; 11:20am: Well I have received some feedbacks or... "complains", as I put them, stating about the, genuineness, of my findings. Apparently some of my peers (Tech Junkies themselves BTW) did not really believe the screenshots I posted to them. "If you are so good in photoshop, you would have probably photoedited the screenshots on your task manager to show 5GB of RAM. How can we be sure about the genuineness of your findings?" Now folks, that is crazy talk. It also really hurts my feelings when someone says that... and that is the last thing I would ever do. I wouldn't do stupid things like this.

In the light of the situation, I decided to use my 10 megapixel digital SLR camera to take shots of it including the entire computer instead of on-screen screenshots. I currently do not own a camcorder of sorts and my cellphone video recording quality is poor.

This time round, I lauched 3 instances of Orthos Stress Test, to stress CPU and RAM. I lauched 3 instances so that it can reach its RAM usage to the highest point.

For the following 3 images below, click on the thumbnail to enlarge







VMware Workstation

VMware Workstation is a Virtual Machine software that emulates, and enables launching of another OS, onto an OS. Like a movie within a movie, they're probably best known for for making VMWare Fusion.

More info about VMware Workstation @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_Workstation

In this test, Windows XP 32 bit will be installed via VMWare Workstation, and will be tested to see if the 6GB RAM will really make the difference or if any, a performance boost!

See the screenshots below:

Click to Enlarge

"Your computer will be faster and more reliable" right on straight. Long live XP and all its glory!

RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 4.53GB.

Click to Enlarge


Finally, this is how it is... 2 OSes, at the same time.

RESULT: The RAM usage increased steadily to 4.59GB.

I did try VMware Workstation on my desktop, but somehow it was proved to be laggy, and slow, probably the fact that VMware itself (Not the Host OS) uses a vast amount of RAM, and I'm just using XP Pro 32 bit, 3.2GB RAM max. On my Dell 1720, there proved to be no lagginess of sorts, while running XP 32 and Vista x64 with 6GB of RAM, 4.5GB being used.

In all conclusions from this test, it seems like VMware will surely benefit 6 - 8GB RAM.

Conclusion

I would love to hear your opinions about this, before I can gladly say "Busted!!" I'm pretty sure you can't just rely on task manager to see the amount of RAM being used. I am a guy who doesn't like to jump conclusions, and assume. So, if you guys have any other way of testing RAM usage, please, shout me a message. Like Mythbusters, I would review this all over again if the viewers like yourself are unsatisfied with the results.

Games will not be tested. It has very little to do with performance/framerates regardless of how much RAM you install, whether be it 2GB or more. If you have to know, COD4, Crysis (Low Settings) Assassin's Creed, Kane's Wrath, HL2, CS Source all tested fine and behaved the way they were originally before the G.Skill RAM was installed. Leave gaming performance to the GPU. Startup time relies more onto harddrive speed, not really so much onto RAM, but still has an affect for it. Startup for my computer is ~appox. 35 seconds.

 

Wow Man ... Great Work !!! ..

 

That's a great review. Thanks fur putting the myth to rest. If I had money to burn I would try it on my machine also, but frankly, I am trying to keep myself out of the money spending trap at the moment! : )

 

Just one simple question , how did you get black keyboard ?
It really looks cool compare to the plain keyboard silver color

 

@mmax

here is what was posted earlier..

 

Wow, nice. I will have to look at Intel's spec sheets for the 965 chipset to see if there is anything officially stated about the RAM limit.

It is possible to use more RAM than you have via the page file - I assume the hard drive wasn't going crazy when you were doing your tests.

 

Thats just crazy man! I didnt even know they made freakin RAM that large nowadays. I need to get my head out of my butt and start updating everything! lol! Great job!

 

Woah, +rep to you for doing this. I am sure you will make a lot more follow in your footsteps!

 

Great work. But I always thought why would anyone buy an Inspiron machine to do workstation stuff on it.

 

Well the HP8710w and 8510w certainly did support 8GB of ram. It depends on the manufacturer's BIOS I am guessing?

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/321957-321957-64295-321838-3329741-3369263.html

 

Didn't know you posted it here too.

He has also posted this at HardwareZone.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2112651

 

Mad props to you for testing that out so thoroughly. Glad to see that it worked as well - you've proven it beyond my doubt (which the first tester of this did not). +rep I'll remember this if it ever looks like my coming 4 GB upgrade won't be enough - doubt it, but certainly good to know more will work.

Nice drawings as well. Far beyond what I could do.

 

Wow, nice work man.

 

Could this work on the Studio 1535?

 

I wonder if T61 will support that much ram.

 

Woah man! This I gotta try!!! Nice work, you finally nail that myth! Busted!

EDIT: Oh yeah, where are my manners, +rep for you. I rreally love your hard drives!! With 2 320GB 7200rpm drives, 6gigs of RAM, your 1720 is really a beast.

 

So do we think that a XPS M1730 would support 6 or 8GB also? I'd be willing to go for it since I run VMs frequently at work. I'd have to reload with a 64-bit OS but it would be worth it, I've already got 2 200GB 7200RPM drives on the way I'll have to reinstall everything for anyway.

 

Cool. Maybe 64-bit will become more popular sooner than we might expect...

 

Interesting read!

 

let us hope

 

Why SomeFormOFhuman is still not marked as Highest Guru ?
WWTTFF is moderator of this ?!!!!
I asked question about 8GB in May here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=137749&page=69&highlight=8gb
Please note how stupid answer #681 from obviously noron 3NZO
Why moderator tolerates such answers obviously from norons not knowing what they talk about ?!!!
Why 3NZO answer is still not deleted ??!!!!

 

The HP HDX20s also use the Santa Rosa chipset. There are a couple people running these machines with 8GB of RAM. Check out the Official HP HDX Owners Lounge post for more details.

 

so excited now, this would also work on my T7500?

 

That's what I was thinking. Apparently it's the BIOS that limits the capability to reach 6 - 8GB of RAM. And, like I said, The Dell Precision series can accumulate up to 8GB RAM. In fact, most workstation machines can.

Nah... Harddrives are quite ok. That's why bought a fast 7200rpm one.

Actually, this is not very new news. I actually knew about the rumors that Santa Rosa chipsets using 6 - 8GB of RAM long ago since when I bought my current Dell. I created this thread to show whether the extra 2GB installed can be utilized, rather than just be detected, but not use. Those were rumors long ago I guess...

**************************
UPDATED: Guys, I just updated my guide again. Some people think that I, "cheated" in my tests, and photoshopped the task manager to show 5GB of RAM. If any of you thought that way, then I'm sorry for you if you thought otherwise, as I don't the have time nor mentality to do stupid things like this. Deal?

Many thanks to all who replied.

 

19:52am?

 

Changed.

 

Ops , I miss out that line .Awesome 6 GB support , looking up with the 8GB test.

 

^ Hmm, I'm not sure if want to go that far to 8GB. Reason being that guy, Rhodan who tested his M1530 and quoted:

"...I did try 2 4GB sodimm in the M1530. For whatever reason slot A will not recognize the 4GB module. This might be correctable by a BIOS upgrade."

from this thread, it seems like it didn't recognize the full 8GB support... And... I wouldn't want to spend another, USD 169 on another 4GB G.Skill RAM, as it might end up like his situation. Sorry!

But anyway, thanks. Yeah a black keyboard defines its difference from other 1720s. Makes it look like an E1705 with a numeric pad.

 

on newegg reviews there are comments hp and asus with gm965 work with 8GB. So it is dell only again that disappoints :-(

 

Yup that is true. Right on straight... If you ask me, I would take a guess that it's the BIOS that limits its capability.

The BIOS is the answer to the control of everything inside a computer. It can control overclocking and frequency of a CPU, RAM and everything else. I can overclock the CPU of my 1720, but no. The BIOS is holding it back, not displaying an option allowing you to do that

I can also set or overclock the RAM frequency to 800MHz effective instead of 667 to get a good 1:1 ratio. But again, no, the BIOS is holding it back, again not displaying an option allowing you to do that... Once its controlled, tied down, and locked, there's nothing much we can do about it.

 

Guys, I have just added testing with VMware workstation. See it for yourself! It works well with XP as a host OS. Check out the main guide, scroll down...

 

Not sure what is actually happening with the ram specs from dell and intel. If the bios sees it, then the operating system should be able to see it (though not necessarily use it).

It did always strike me as odd though, that intel claim only 4gb support for the 965 mobile chipset, when it's identical to the desktop equivalent that has always supported 8gb.

Hence my comment in the other thread suggesting someone test this out properly.

I suspect that support depends on the type of sodimm rather than the size.

 

Now I want 6gb for my two laptops ...

 

Would the studio 1535 be able to take 6gb of RAM?

 

If the inspiron can then the answer should be yes. You would need to be carefull though as it may require specific sodimm types or combinations.

 

PeterDW, can you please elaborate on "the specific sodimm types" as you have just said?

As far as I know, it's never a matter of "SoDIMM types", rather, the BIOS itself is holding it back its capacity/usage. Standard Santa Rosa platforms/motherboard use the same fitting size as 200pin, PC2-5300 DDR2-667 counterparts. Any other size like if a PC3-5300, 204pin fix would not work, if that's what you mean.

I also don't mind testing out a different "SoDIMM type" to see if that different kind of combination still works for it.

 

How large is your page file?

 

IF it can take 6GB then it can take 8GB(2x4GB), correct?

 

@ SomeFormOFhuman,

So, is this laptop still going OK? I hope so, great write up, much appreciated, I am considering this at present, depends if I can get the RAM locally or have to have it shipped in.

A more pressing upgrade for me is to install a larger HDD and Windows 7 at the same time; not even sure if that would work OK?

Would the Drive D still be recognozed by Windows 7?

I have asked about this on other threads, but if anyone reading this has any tips, please let me know.

Thanks, John

 

Yea, you shouldn't have any problems by going with a larger HDD. Both drives will be recognized, and I'm 95% sure his 1720 is still kicking, but I'm sure he'll be by to confirm this. I considered the 6GB, but for me it wasn't worth it. By following his guide there should be no problems. And for the HDD there shouldn't be any problem either.

 

Found this stick via a link in another 6GB or 8GB thread from below, and it is great for anyone overseas so I will share it here, the site is very easy to navigate, search and provide all details of products listed -

MEMORY C . COM (Ireland )

They also have the latest Vertex 120GB SSD at reasonable price so looks like I'm set do this

 

It's still alive and kicking. Still fast and in pristine condition from the day it arrived to my home 3 years ago. I use it as my backup machine. Yes I've Windows 7 x64 installed and a 1TB HDD setup with dual Hitachi 7K500 7200rpm harddrives installed. (Would be nice if there were RAID options in the BIOS though...) Now only armed with a T9300; the X9000 is now in my M1730.

 

Thanks for the reply, now changed my mind to going with the 1 x SSD and 1 x HDD (probably the Hitachi 7K500 7200rpm)

Once I do that, I will see how it is running and get the 4GB RAM later this year if I think it is worthwhile. I can get the best price and shipping to KSA from the store mentioned before, so that works good for me.

I have checked out the processor upgrades, but will just do 1 thing at a time and make sure all is working as I go along. And they are a lot of $$$$ for maybe not to much gain from T7500 to T9500

And now all this talk of SSD, WIN 7, and so on has me thinking of opening up my Acer Aspire One and putting new stuff in there

 

Yippee, I won a brand new 4GB stick of RAM on eBay for only $66.87, even with shipping it is about 60% of the best online price I can find, just have to wait for it now

G.Skill DDR2 667 PC2-5300 Laptop Memory 5-5-5-15 1x4GB

 

Inspiring *cough*

I'm just now starting to look at upgrading my currently unmodified 1720.

I'm planning on throwing in a Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB Solid State Hybrid Drive into my first bay and shuffling over the existing HDD to bay 2. SSD would be faster I know but the hybrid seems a good compromise.

I have a T7700 CPU and upgrading that would be wonderful do you have any tips on that?

Had no idea I could bump the RAM past the 4GB limit... I really wanna do that as well. Anye word on whether you can get the 1720 to support a full 8GB?

Now that last thing is the NVidia 8600M GT I wish I could bump that up to at least a 512MB or 1024MB card. Did you tweak settings on the 8600?

Again thank for posting this it's great to know what is possible!

 

T7700 is already a high end processor. Only thing would be jumping to a T9300 but you really won't see a performance gain.

GM965/PM965 will support 8 GB RAM. Intel wrote the specs before 4 GB modules were available on the market.

The 8600M GT has 256 MB discreet and with Turbo Cache can leech another 256 MB from your RAM, no way of getting it to 1 GB but kind of pointless as it's a 128 bit card with GDDR2 RAM. OC can be done.

 

8GB = music to my ears!

Just downloaded Nvidia system tools to start tweakin hope I don't blow anything up

 

GM965/PM965 supports 8GB.

But the 1720, 1520 does NOT, due to BIOS limitation in this case. Therefore, it's up to 6GB maximum.

 

Thanks for the clarify on that. So I take it with the mixed 2GB+4GB stick combo you lose some performance dropping out of dual channel mode?

PS: I do see in the BIOS screenshots it shows DUAL CHANNEL but I thought that was only active for matched stick configurations...

 

An update;

I got a 4 GB stick of Corsair DDR2 800. Does not POST with Vostro 1500 A06 BIOS. =( Had high hopes, guess not.