need to upgrade my laptop's ram and harddrive.

i have hp pavilion dv6314tx
core 2 duo [email protected]
160gb harddrive
1gb ram
came with windows vista home premium
and i guess it has mobile intel 945gm chipset

so i called up HP..they said maximum i can updgrae to 200 gb harddrive and 2 gb ram..
i installed windows 7 ultimate
after that i installed 3 gb(2+1) gb ram..and its showing in my system..
so i guess HP customer care is crap...
now i need to be sure before buying a internal harddrive..that how much can it support?
and is it possible to install 2nd harddrive in the same laptop????
and can i upgrade to 4 gb ram???(ram is ddr2)
help will be really appreciated..

 

You can stick 4gb in there, but since the chipset has a 32bit memory controller you will only get about 3gb usable.

 

You might be able to install a second HDD if your computer has an extra bay for it. You may require an extra HDD Caddy. Also you might need an interposer to connect the HDD. Some laptops have two bays for HDDs. (See Sig) Some don't. Your computer can support any 2.5" HDD. It can be 80GB or 640GB, any speed. 5400RPM, 7200RPM or it can be a solid state disk (SSD).

 

@dr650se@ thanx for the info...well ok i will buy a new 500 gb i guess..but how can i be sure that it the space for extra harddrive or not...and can i upgrade my ram to 4 gb or more..i hav 2 slots in it...where i have put 2gb in one and 1 gb in one

@moral@ my chipset isnt 32bit memory controller...its 64 bit only i guess..and i m running windows ultimate 64bit..and system information shows its x64 based pc..

 

Leave it at 3GB. That's as much as you can realistically use.

The memory controller is on the northbridge with your machine, not on the CPU. The machine may be able to process things in 64bit chunks, but the memory controller is still limited to a 32bit address space. Go ahead and read about it: http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=22816 The relevant section is on page 325 of the datasheet linked from that page, but it basically says that 4GB is the max, and that PCI devices can map out sections of that 4GB memory range for mmaping, which means you'll never be able to use a full 4GB on that chipset. What you'll get is Windows showing you have 4GB installed, but you won't be able to realistically use more than about 3.2-3.5GB of it.

 

You can put 4GB in but u could use 3GB at most.. due to 32 bit limitation... but seriously , i would recommend u save ur money and just get a new laptop... this one is becomming too old...

 

Is that your answer to everything?

 

True in 99% of cases, except when the HDD ships with the 12.5mm height form as opposed to the far more common 9mm height. The 12.5mm HDDs are the highest capacities available and apply to only a handful of HDD's in the market. But people do get attracted to purchase the highest capacity disk they can find - so keep your eyes open on that.

 

I agree with the too old to update thingy. I don't have to update to prove too myself or others I'm not a moron but updating such an old system may just prove what a moron I am. It's all about ballance.............

 

Would it not depend on what the op uses his/her laptop for? If he/she is just surfing the web, emailing, and maybe watching a movie or 2 the than I see nothing wrong with upgrading the hard drive and memory.

 

Maybe you don't, but some people would if they haven't done any upgrades in the past. Everyone has to start somewhere.