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    Determining upgradeability of my laptop.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Linuxperiment, Jul 8, 2009.

  1. Linuxperiment

    Linuxperiment Notebook Consultant

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    Hi, I'm determining if I can upgrade the RAM to 4 GB on this laptop because its running Vista. Crucial says I can only run up to 2 GB, but I just want to make sure. Here is the specs:

    Intel Pentium Dual Core T2410 2.0 GHZ
    Merom
    Socket P 478
    Intel Mobile 965 Express Chipset

    Can I upgrade to 4GB RAM on this thing or is what I just posted not enough for you guys to tell?
     
  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Well, brand/model of the laptop would have been helpful. If its the GM/PM965 chipset, 4GB RAM shouldnt be a problem, unless the BIOS is limited to 2GB.
     
  3. Linuxperiment

    Linuxperiment Notebook Consultant

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    It's a MSI VR420.
     
  4. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Well, provided you aren't hardware limited, you won't be able to access the full 4GB if you are running 32bit Vista, but you will still be able to get much more than 2GB out of 4GB of physical memory.
     
  5. Linuxperiment

    Linuxperiment Notebook Consultant

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    Well I just want to know if my motherboard will allow more than 2 GB or not, so hopefully someone could point me in the right direction.
     
  6. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Well, it has the GL960 chipset, which officially supports upto 2GB DDR2-533. So Crucial is correct.

    But there are some users who have been able to install 3GB memory in their GL960-based Acer and Toshiba notebooks, so you could probably try it out as well if you want to.
     
  7. Ayle

    Ayle Trailblazer

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    You should also be able to upgrate your cpu to at least a T7xxx series. T9xxx might work but P series are off limits.
     
  8. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Did you read his post? He wants to upgrade his RAM, not his CPU.
     
  9. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Search the MSI forum to see if anyone else has upgraded their (same model) notebook.
     
  10. davidkneiber

    davidkneiber Notebook Consultant

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    why dont u tell us the name of the laptop..
    that sure would be useful...
    i have to say though that you probably cant pass 2...
    your mobo cant recognize it...
    crucial is usually pretty accurate!
    David K
     
  11. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    He did... "It's a MSI VR420."
     
  12. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I have the Intel Mobile 965 Express Chipset, I have upgraded the ram to 4gb.
    I am dual booting 32bit xp pro with 64bit vista enterprise. In xp I get 3gb and in 64bit vista I get 4gb.

    I think it will work for you, the only way it could fail is if your bios doesn't support it.

    I have heard of people getting 6gb working with that chipset, even 1 person had 8gb working but only 6gb was available to the OS.