X220 - need more ram

Hello,

I bought my thinkpad x220 featuring an i5 2520m, ssd and 4 gb worth of ram and have been more than happy with it untill now. So, I need help to verify that the two options I am looking at will work on my computer. They are listed at the bottom.

Why I need more ram? I´m currently studying social planning and as such I´m using ESRIs ArcGIS 10 quite alot, which seem to be more demanding on the ram than any program I´ve used before that. I am also running photoshop cs6 along with spotify, utorrent, a few pdf:s and about 5-6 google crome windows open most of the time.

When I started using ArcGIS on top of the other programsl I started noticing that most of my ram was used up, which was also indicated by photoshop stating that I had ran out of memory.

So, im planning on adding some memory and since the prices are fairly cheap right now I thought I might as well get 2x8gb. Or, if there wouldnt be any noticable differens, just 2x4 gb. 16 gb would cost me about 134 dollars and 8 about 68 dollars. There is only one option for 16 gb where I am bying the ram from; there is one more but its twice the price.

These are the the ram options im currently looking at:

* Corsair Value DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz 16GB
Kit 2 x8GB, Unbuffered, 204pin (PC10600)

*Corsair Value DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz 8GB
8GB modul, Unbuffered, 204pin (PC10600)

others are:
* Crucial DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz 8GB KIT
2x 4GB, 204pin, PC3-10600, CL9

* Kingston ValueR DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz 8GB
CL9, 1.5V, 1GBx64, 204pin (PC10600)

 

For now, you could buy one 8GB stick. The 4GB in your computer is probably 1 stick so you would be able to add to that and have 12GB.

 

Don't buy Corsair. They cause problems with ThinkPads.

 

I believe there's many ThinkPad users here that have Corsair memory with no issues. Personally, I'd buy whatever is cheapest. ThinkPads these days are not picky about memory these days.

 

Buy whatever's cheapest. I would also stick with 2 x 4GB, as 8GB DIMMs are prohibitively expensive right now.

 

Say what? DDR3 204pin 8GB SoDIMMS were $39 last week. Since when is that "prohibitively expensive" ???

Lots of options at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...67&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20 for what seem to be pretty decent prices to me.

I know quite a few people running http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233217 with no issues on the W520, X220, T420, T420S, etc.

 

To each their own, I suppose. A $90 pair of DIMMs seems expensive to me, though obviously it's much cheaper than even a couple months ago.

 

Considering 2x8GB SoDIMMS were $4000+ a little over a year ago, I have zero issue paying $80 now.

$2000 per 8GB SoDIMM was definitely "prohibitively expensive" even in my book.

 

Hello again and thanks for the replies.

I ended up buying just the one 8 gb module which will hopefully be enough, at least for the time being.

The moduel I went with is:

Corsair 8GB (1x8192MB) DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz

It was slim pickings for 8 gb modules at the swedish webbsites for some reason. Most only had 1 or 2 of these and the rest were 2x4 etc.

Anyway, I had two more questions. First off, someone mentioned that I should just purchase the one module for now since I most likely alread had just the one module installed. This was true after checking with sisoft sandra. However, the module already installed is a samsung brand and would´nt it pose a problem running one samsung module and one from corsair at the same time?

I descided against buying another samsung module since they where almost twice as expensive.

The other question I have is in regards to using one or two modules. Being an i5 would´nt there be a performance loss using only one module opposed to two? Or does this only apply to desktops?

 

Any two modules are better than one. See my table here. There's no need to worry about mixing two different brands. Modern BIOSes are good at interrogating the modules and working out the fastest timings supported by both.

John

 

Hi John,

Thanks for the quick reply and the info. Should be getting the ram stick in 2-3 days.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

I am running these:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10

 

Are you running them in a X220? How long have they been in your machine? I assume no problems at this point?

 

I hope you can answer some of these questions that I've been wondering about: is it running at full 1600mhz speed and what is your WEI score for graphics? I've been debating between this or the 8gb 1866mhz Corsair.

 

Yes it is running at full speed and the graphics wei is 6.3.

Yes in my x220. No issues at all. They have been installed for about a week.