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    PCMCIA, RAM chip:: Any adapters, cards etc.?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by strategist333, Jun 25, 2005.

  1. strategist333

    strategist333 Notebook Consultant

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    Anybody know if there are any PCMCIA cards or other accessories (USB, maybe?) that allow more RAM to be added to the system if the RAM slots are already full? I have extra RAM chips (SDRAM 66) that I want to be able to use with my laptop, but my laptop's 2 RAM slots have already been used. I don't know if such a card/device exists, but in my mind it would be a card with a sort of tray for the RAM chip(s).

    Is this (adding RAM after the system has booted, since my laptop probably won't be able to detect a PC card during boot up) even possible? If this is possible, I'll keep on searching for a device...

    Anybody with any other ways to add RAM to a laptop after the slots are full, post your experiences here! I'd love to learn more about it.

    Thanks
     
    strategist333, Jun 25, 2005
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  2. vagitus

    vagitus Notebook Guru

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    I highly doubt that is possible at all.
     
    vagitus, Jun 25, 2005
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  3. lowlymarine

    lowlymarine Notebook Deity

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    The bandwidth of Type II PCMCIA/32-bit Cardbus slots is far, far too low for system memory. System memory needs an acess rate measured in GB/s, Cardbus is limited to 132MB/s (according to PCMCIA.org).
     
    lowlymarine, Jun 26, 2005
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  4. dblank

    dblank Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

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    In fact even if your system had additional ram slots there is no advantage to going beyond the system's maximum memory limit. i.e. if your system supports at max 2 gigs but has 4 slots adding 4 1gig sticks won't help you and possibly may slow down or damage the system. Check crucial's website for more info on ram and how much/ what type your current system supports.
     
    dblank, Jun 26, 2005
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  5. miner

    miner Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Dont worry about using your spare RAM it wont probably help and may not even work. Also even if it works it will make the whole system slower since new laptops have DDR/DDR2 memory running at 266MHz or even higher in some cases. They also will have SODIMM's which are much smaller than regular desktop modules(DIMM).
     
    miner, Jun 26, 2005
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