Hp Dv9000 Ram upgrade

Hi Im about to purchase an hp dv9000 from cuircut city with 1gb of ram but Id like to upgrade to 2gb of ram , to do this upgrade do I need to purchase
a new memory of 2gb or can I use the 1gb the hp brings and then just ad another 1gb mem to make 2gb of ram ?

thanks <><

 

Most likely HP would have installed 2X512MB sticks and since the laptop has only 2 slots you will have to replace them both with either 2X1GB sticks or just get a 1X2GB stick.

 

Everytime you receive a computer, whether it be a laptop or desktop, from a manufacturer they always split the RAM. So if you have 1GB, you have 2x512MB sticks, if you have 2GB, you have 2x1GB sticks and so on. Therefore, if you only bought a 2GB stick you'd have 2.5GB of memory. I would strongly recommend you either go with 2x1GB sticks or 2X2GB sticks. The reason for this is dual channel memory. When you have two sticks of the same size RAM it will run faster because of dual channel technology. Also, the reason why I also say you could go with 2x2GB of RAM, even though you have a 32 bit OS and it won't be able to see the full 4GB, is because RAM is very inexpensive and it wouldn't cost you much more for the extra RAM. Also, if you ever upgrade to a 64-bit OS you already have the 4GB.

Go and check out www.newegg.com for RAM. Your laptop has DDR2 memory that will run at 667MHZ max. It will also support only 2GB per slot and your laptop has 2 slots. If you have any other questions feel free to ask us and we can help you further.

 

Will that be the same case for a DV6000T that was bought this past January running XP MCE? Its t7200, 2gb of ram, but I would like to up it to 4gb of ram.

 

Yeah the dv6000 series also has 2 slots for RAM with a max speed of 667MHZ, with 2GB max per slot combining to total 4GB total in the system.

 

Awesome! I thought I could not do it because I am using XP, and everyone says that only 64bit Vista can handle 4GB of RAM
Any recommendations for a good brand or good prices?

Using different RAM than what came with your computer has never messed up any of your systems right?

 

Only 64bit versions of XP or Vista can use the full 4GB RAM. 32bit systems will map some amount for use by the hardware and so wont be accessible to the user. You can still use 4GB RAM with 32bit OS(XP Home, MCE etc) but you will only see ~3 - 3.5GB of usable space, the rest gets allocated for the hardware. Also I believe some Intel 945 series used in the dv6000 does not allow you to utilize full 4GB RAM even if you had a 64bit OS. Basically you can use 4GB RAM but only ~3GB will be usable.

Check the RAM deals thread(in the notebook & tech bargains section) for the best prices on RAM. You should be fine using aftermarket memory unless you buy one which is of poor quality or a lemon.

 

How much will show up when using XP?

 

It varies depending on the hardware, typically ~2.8GB - 3.5GB.

 

alright
Do you think its worth upgrading than since the amount of RAM recognized is uncertain? I would like 3.5gb, I know I will feel the difference, but 2.8, im not guessing I'll feel much. I have 2gb in right now.

I don't plan on switching over to Vista until next year some time, when 99% of the bugs are fixed.

 

The amount of RAM that will show up with Windows 32-bit is 3GB, but in actuality it is 3.2GB. Even if you switch to Vista, you have to get the 64-bit version to utilize the entire 4GB. Also, the amount of RAM that windows can use has nothing to do with the hardware, unless of course the hardware doesn't support more than 3GB or something like that, which is non-existent nowadays.

Jay07, if you have 2GB of RAM right now you are fine with that, but if you wanted to upgrade to 4GB it is very cheap and if you ever upgrade to a 64-bit version of windows you will be able to fully utilize all 4GB. Its all upto you though on what you want to do. All we can do is provide you the information you need so you can make the decision that will best suit you.

 

How does the 500MB of unusable RAM get allocated to HW? I'd like to have my 8400GS use the unusable RAM... how would you get that to happen?

 

You wouldn't be able to use the RAM that Windows can't see for your video card. The 3.2GB of RAM that 32-bit Windows workstations OS's can see is the maximum that your system will be able to use. Basically the RAM that Windows can't see is wasted and there is nothing you can do about it unless you get a 64-bit Windows OS.

 

Yeah, I dont think thats possible. Plus it has turbo memory which should assign RAM as and when necessary for the GPU. Plus adding more slower memory is not really going to help performance any.