Dell Xps m1210, Intel i945pm chipset, and 4GB memory- is it possible?

Hi guys

I have the intel 945pm/82801GBM (ICH7-M) chipset in my Dell xps m1210 laptop, it has a 64 bit C2D cpu and want to know if it will take 4Gb ram. Intel website says it will:

http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/945pm/945pm-overview.htm

But I heard people throw up new theories about how the memory controller is 32bit and wont support 4GB even under 64bit OS, or how the BOIS does not have the ability to remap memory. I have done extensive search but of no avail.

Here are few online posts which managed to confound the problem:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1084021&highlight=intel+945pm+chipset&page=3

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19263418/19446741.aspx

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=145984

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19025426/19148412.aspx#19148412

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/18499595/18622581.aspx#18622581>

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=250310&page=3

I maxed out the 2GB ram in my lappy, and the page file is 3.5GB, I would like to add 4Gb if its possible, to improve performance.

If anybody has 4GB in their machine with the 945pm chipset recognising the full 4Gb please let me know.

And finally the following two reviews talk about how the chip-set will only support 4GB ram at 533Mhz and 667 Mhz is not validated (mentioned in the comparison table). I thought they take PC2-5300 667DDR2 Modules. Could someone kindly through light on this as well

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/hp-dv10...-gma-950-graphics-processor,review-679-6.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/centrino-duo_7.html

I went to dell website to find out what memory they suggest and they suggest DDR2 800 MHz ( PC2-6400 ).

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&sku=A0821571&s=dhs

Now I am totally lost. Any ideas?



Thank you.
RV

 

didn't work for me in 2 different situations on Acer laptops. 3.35GB was usable only. They used onboard video (GMA950). I don't believe it is possible
I did have DDR2-800 installed, as well as DDR2-667, no problems, was using a T7400 so 64bit was enabled and present in hardware also as well as in software (xp/Vista x64 attempted).

 

yeah I agree with 3.35gb or something like that.
that is the max for your chipset.

I guess the answer is that yes you can install 4gb ram and it will run dual channel mode but you will not get to use all 4gb. still the performence won't be that much different between 3.35 and 4. I say go for the 667mhz ram.
unless you plan on overclocking the FSB, then go for the 800mhz ram.

 

Thanks for the reply goofball,

so the only difference between your acer lappys and mine is GPU, I have Nvidia GPU. I guess that should not make a difference.when you used the ddr2-800 ram did it pare down to 667? what is the point of running 800 when the FSB is max 667? pardon my ignorance.

Or did you overclock like Moral suggested?

 

yep, it slowed down to DDR2-667 speeds.

I was able to overclock the CPU, plus the price of the DDR2-800 was cheaper at the time than DDR2-667.

 

I guess I will have to make do with 3.3Gb. when I bought this sys, I bought it with the knowledge that I would upgrade to 4Gb when its affordable but now its disappointing to find out that it doesn't.

I have decided to go for ddr2 800 ram and OC it.
which one would you recommend from the following:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc... (PC2 6400)

Thanks for all the help.
RV