How can I find a 4 RAM slot 8740W?

Hi All,

I was about to purchase an "HP RENEW" 8740W (Part# WD938ET) which has an i5 540M. I have just discovered that it only has 2 slots although the HP literature seems to imply that it can have 4 slots. So which models have the 4 slots and which have the 2 slots? Apparently the HP reseller technical bods have not seen one with 4 slots?

Thanks,

Sam

 

all i7 Quadcores (with 4 cores/8 threads)

so not the 620M/640M, only 720QM,820QM,840QM and so on

 

Thanks for this. So you are basically saying that the i7 Motherboards are different. I rang HP and they do not seem to know. Here in the UK the specs on the HP site say "2 or 4 SODIMMS" as the value for "Memory Slots". However I then found a german distributor who offered 12gb on a WD938ET ie i5 540M machine so how does that work? unless you can get 6GB memory sticks?

To be honest all the UK models on the HP site seem to only have 2 slots when the HP guy checked. I have asked him to come back to me with models that contain 4 slots. I am still waiting.

Sam

 

Hi,

Can you recommend any good suppler of memory modules. I wanted to explore the 8GB modules, but I cannot find any.

So realistically max RAM for

2 slot config is 8GB
4 slot config is 16GB

Sam

 

don't believe the shops, the data may be wrong

it is written in the Maintenance and Service Guide page 10, also there you can read that you cannot put only dimms in 3 slots and all possible configurations

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02114152/c02114152.pdf

 

Superb..... Thanks.

Really appreciated.

Sam

 

Just reading it, see page 64, it talks about the "Primary Memory Module" and the "Expanded Memory Module" and they seem to be in different places. It looks like you can/have 2 of each.

????

Sam

 

you have two on the top - under the keyboard,

and 2 underneath.

and

this is the kicker.

1 and 3 are up top, 2 and 4 are underneath.

you have to put the slots like 1/2 or 3/4 you can't mix the numbers, nor can you do 1/2 and 3 because the system runs like a lame dog. ie very slow.

on the 4 dimm laptop btw

 

i use crucial.com/uk for my ram in the hp workstation laptops. used em for years. no issues whatsoever.

 

They're probably using a 4 GB stick and an 8 GB stick. 8 GB sticks are available, albeit extremely expensive. Dell is shipping M6500s with 32 (4x8) GB of RAM installed right now... for about a $10,000 premium.

 

I'm not sure that 8 GB RAM modules are available for the retail market just yet. I think they're currently still limited to OEM distributors, as I think supplies are still somewhat low.

 

@judicator,

I think I agree with you...

Thks,

Sam

 

thks, very useful.

 

So

For dual core you would have 1 top(primary) and 2 bottom(Expanded)
For quad core you would have 1/3 top(primary) and 2/4 bottom(expanded)

So when upgrading a 2 dimm machine you would need to remove the keyboard. Ouch. I thought these modules were customer changeable.

This seems weird. On 4 dimm machine which had say 2 x 2GB in the top slots you would only expect to change the bottom slots to say put 2 x 4GB sticks????

Thanks,

Sam

 

Hi,

I realise that Samsung have just released these to OEMs, but based on your experience what price do you think these will be in say:

a) 6 months
b) 12 months

Thanks,

 

Hi,

Just had a rumour that more than 8GB in a dual core setup is not recommended and could lead to instability problems. Thoughts on this?

One of reasons for asking this is that I was thinking of getting a dual core now and then upgradeing my RAM to > 8GB say in 12 months when the prices come down.

Thanks.

 

oh they are very easy to change! it's like 3 screws and unclick the keyboard

no you have to upgrade the ram in pairs, for complete stability.

thats a chipset thing i believe.

 

jolly you need to remember most dual core users only have 2 slots! if you really want to know i'll get a dual core i7 and test it for you on my quad core motherboard. but it wouldn't be a good result, because of the dimm slot difference. i only mentioned the 8gb thing, because it was discussed when i had a guy come in for the i7 issue when he had all 4 slots filled. hp told me back then it was a chipset limitation.

you could ave just asked this in the thread, you didn't need to open a new one chap

 

the hong kong price right now for oems is about the equivalent of £2400

but have no idea, retail price could be around the 5-700 mark when they come out mainstream

the 4gb ones were around that in the beginning

 

A big thank you for this... and especially to you for providing so much advice. I am getting the picture that if I can stretch to a quad setup then that would provide better flexibility and stability going forward.

Sorry if I was over eager on creating new threads

Thanks again,

Sam

 

Wow........ I think I will stick with 4gb sticks...!!!

 

Ok. I assume also that you upgrade in matched manufacturer/model pairs as well?

Thanks again.

 

yes, i took out the stock ram and bought 16GB of crucial ram in 8gb kits.


just for complete stability lol

 

no problems. but according to the intel site, the xM55/57 chipsets 'official' supported ram is 8GB, so its just an observation.

with the extra dimms you would get more vm memory to play with. was really the only reason i wanted one with a quad.

 

no problems. but according to the intel site, the xM55/57 chipsets 'official' supported ram is 8GB, so its just an observation.

Interesting..... We seem to have the same requirement on vms...

 

thanks... Good to know.

 

You can, if you want to make sure of compatibility, but it usually isn't necessary. RAM (unless you're playing tricks with it) usually isn't that finicky.

 

Sam, try to keep your questions condensed in as few threads as possible, that way it doesn't clutter up the forum. I merged a couple threads for you.

 

Apologies and thanks for merging. Will do heed your advice for the future .

Sam

 

ok will i'm currently running with a core i7 620M to answer some of your questions sam.

(i got it from a friend here in hong kong to test)

on the 16GB front. it seems to be ok with all 4 sticks in the system. i've just done some 3D editing work which used about 11GB and it was fine.

however i have just noticed my ram is running at 1066Mhz - this could be a chip limitation

as for VM work it too was fine.

The only reason i'm willing to test these, is cos i'm getting a 920xm and moving from a dual core to a 920 will be a nice change lol, and i just wanted to make sure we had answers for dual core users.

I've not had any stability issues so far. machine has been on for about 18 hours straight. the SSD is a touch more sluggish, gone from 201MB/sec read to 188MB/sec but other than that, the dual core seems fine.

it does reach a slightly higher temp than my old quad, though it might be due to the fact the heatsink paste hasn't settled yet.


===============
update:

The dual core actually is quite punchy! for simple things (photoshop, VS 2008) i have noticed these run a bit quicker than with the quad core. The intergrated graphics doesn't seem to be supported though, still only have the 2800M as my main adapter.

for VM's however, the 2 i have running at the moment actually are more responsive with the dual core. i guess this is due to the higher clock frequencies.

With the 620M you have 4 threads to play with, the two vm's are using two, but i don't notice systemwide slowdown. games like Everquest 2 run with a noticably higher (15+ FPS) framerate than with the quad, but that again must be due to the higher clocks.

any other questions you have for me let me know. i'm going to leave the dual in until i get my 920XM - though i may get the 940 if money allows! lol

 

Interesting that you got all four slots to work, I was under the impression that you needed the quad to make that possible. Good to know for the future.

The dual-cores only support 1066MHz memory; the quads are 1333MHz. The difference in memory speeds is not going to make a perceptible difference in performance.

 

i was also surprised. I felt that there was a limitation - but the bios reports all 16GB as does windows 7 pro 64.

just has downclocked the ram a bit though, but i don't notice any difference.

overall the whole system is a bit cooler with the dual installed.

 

Wow... This is really interesting. I had heard about the Dual Core's "punchiness" cos of the higher clock frequencies although they are supposed to "turbo" up for non core using apps. How effective this is I am unsure. Also because your board is the 740QM quad one then I guess this will be the most stable one with the 4 sodimms. Out of interest how much memory was being consumed in your VM test? Out of this I get the following conclusions:

a) Dual cores are quicker especially for non core app.
b) Quad core boards have a more flexible RAM layout ie 4 SODIMMS.

So I guess the ultimate flexibility is still with getting a Quad Core board and then developing the skill of swapping CPUs. Also the quad core heatsink will be great for the dual cores. How easy is it to swap in another CPU? Does it invalidate the warranty? I will be probably purchasing a 3 year next business day warranty although it will be most relevent in the first year when most things goes wrong. Finally how much are these CPUs costing? I guess around £250.

I see that you are in HK. Thought you were based in the UK. So further to send beer

 

lol, i'm from the uk, just out here on business atm.

ok to answer your questions

Out of interest how much memory was being consumed in your VM test?

I have 2GB per VM.

How easy is it to swap in another CPU?

if you have the thermal paste, (enough for GPU as well) takes about 20 minutes if you do a proper job.

Does it invalidate the warranty?

no. only does if you use an ES chip (ie not a retail one) or if you really really screw it up.

Finally how much are these CPUs costing? I guess around £250.

The i7 620m i have is about 180 quid out here.

the 740qm is about 300? i'm not really sure. though my 720 will be spare when i get my 920xm.....

 

Hi Siorah,

Hope HK business is going well

Thks for the answers

Just made an intriguing discovery which sort of matches your experiment with the i5 640's punchiness. I have found from intel's site that the 920xm's std core speed is 2GHz whereas the std i5 560's is 2.66 GHz and both CPUs turbo up to 3.2GHz. So, in respect of CPUs, it comes down to how many cores your software can use ie 4*2 =8 > 2* 2.66 = 5.32 or whether you will have a need for 4 seperate cores as in 3 vms plus host which you clearly do.

The biggest issue with the CPU for me is not the CPU, but the RAM slots and then again 8GB could be OK. It is still a lot for dev work with possibly a VM in tow with about 2GB which leaves a healthy 6GB. For graphics 3D work, yes you need loads, granted.

May be getting a little detailed on this, but it is fascinating and all is not what it seems at first site. Sometimes it is easy to rush off and buy the biggest and bestest without really understanding what one really needs.... ie do I really need 16GB. Would be fun, but do I really need 16GB lol. It is about £1K worth of fun

I have put a watch on a number of sites to see if any interesting models and prices appear including HP.

Thanks again,

Sam

 

no problem. if you have any other questions, you have about 4 days before i take out the 620 from this machine. so let me know.

although i like the dual core, i miss the 8 thread rendering on after effects. there the dual core is about 35% slower lol