X220 RAM question

Forgive the noob question, I've done a bit of research but I can't seem to figure this out.. My X220 is shipping with 2gb ram and I have a few questions:

1. G.Skill DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory (PC3 10600) is what I am going to order; is it okay to pop that in with the 2gb stock memory or would I be better off getting 2x 4gb modules?

2. Would I need to mess around with timings in the BIOS or anything if I did that?

3. Would performance suffer given that they are not identical modules?

4. Would I be better off just using the 4gb stick (rather than 6 total) and going to 8 later on if I want?

5. Does 8gb really make a big difference? I mainly just do multimedia stuff, light gaming (may do an egpu), word + chrome with 20+ tabs open.

I just want to save money right now as I'm a student but if its worth it I'll get 2 sticks as they are on sale for $25 each atm.

Thanks =)

 

1. Its ok, but you would be better off spending another $25 for the 2nd stick.
2. Nope, its automatically set for you.
3. Perhaps, because its not running in dual channel (2GB + 4GB don't match). It's probably not a huge difference, but personally I'd just get the 2x4GB.
4. I upgraded last week from 4GB to 8GB and I saw no difference at all... but an upgrade from 2GB to 4GB might make a more stubstantial difference. Especially if you play games, that memory is shared with your GPU.

Conclusion: I think you should just pay the $50 and get it. I'm sure you won't regret it.

 

1.- It's perfectly fine to run it asymmetrically. You won't notice any performance differences unless you're actually using up nearly 6GB of RAM.

2.- In the vast majority of cases, no.

3.- Theoretically, yes, dual channel mode will not be working. Practically, no, you won't notice any difference whatsoever--the difference is pretty much only noticeable in benchmarks.

4.- Why would you not put to use a stick of RAM that you already have? Use your 6GB of RAM, and if you find that you actually use that much RAM, which I highly doubt, then you can easily buy another 4GB stick to replace the 2GB stick.

5.- For those listed uses, 4GB of RAM is already plenty enough. 6GB is a lot more than enough, and with 8GB, even Windows may not be able to fill up the entire RAM with cached information.

 

Awesome thanks very much for the response, MdnightSun.

 

so, which one u prefer, 2x4gb that u will rarely fulfill the max potential, or a good timing RAM around 7 or maybe 6?

 

Can you elaborate on the timings? I don't proclaim to know much. I ordered 1 stick of 4gb. Figured I'd either just use that, use that and the 2gb stick already in there, or eventually get 8gb. For the time being, would it be better to use just the 4 gig stick or go for 6 gigs? Pros/cons of each? Thanks =)

 

I have 2+4 for 6 total in mine. I think people blow the dual channel thing a little out of proportion. You are not going to be stuck in single channel operation by having mismatched sticks. In that case, the chipset runs in what is called "flex mode" which runs the matched amount in dual channel and the remaining in a single channel...For example with 2+4 sticks, 4gb total is running dual channel while the remaining 2gb of the 4gb stick runs in single channel mode. Really, you arent going to get any significant real world difference regardless what mode it runs....one of those only really see it in benchmark things....then in addition to that, you'd really have to constantly be running some heavy duty stuff to even really be concerned with it as 4gb is enough for most usual tasks.

Bottom line is no need for 8gb unless you just want to max it and/or have good use for it. Otherwise popping a 4gb stick in the second slot will be the most cost effective. It'll only run about $10 more then a 2gb stick, and with 6 total, gives you a plenty comfortable amount of ram to use even when the onboard video takes it's full share.

 

^ Thank you so much, chief. That is exactly the info I needed. =)

 

What c17chief said. But beware that if you run it in full single channel mode, it is quite a bit slower (still to lazy to buy a 2nd stick for my W520).

 

I think you're overblowing the impact. I ran my T500 for more than a year with a 2GB stick, and only later added a second stick of 2GB. Not only did I not notice the difference between 2 and 4 GB, but the single/dual channel modes did not make any noticeable difference.

 

I believe Tom's Hardware or someone did some benchmarks for single vs dual channel RAM for the Core 2 era, and the difference isn't huge there (like, the bandwidth difference was like 20% or something). However, I think the gap is larger with Sandy Bridge as my W520 gets around 9.5 GB/s from the single channel RAM versus the 14 ~ 15 GB/s I see for Sandy Bridge laptops from reviews (using Window's winsat mem command). Windows also rates my RAM at a 5.9 on my W520, whereas my desktop with 4GB of DDR2 800 in dual channel gets 6.6 with a Pentium Dual Core E5200 at 3.3GHz with 1200 MHz FSB (Windows reports around 6.2 GB/s). It feels faster than my desktop, and can definitely game better than it, but I think it'll feel slightly faster with another module.