X220T -- 8GB upgrade: is it worth the trouble?

I own a new X220t, with a 3GB RAM.
The OS is Windows 7, 32 bit. So to upgrade to 8GB I have to reinstall Windows with the 64 bit version. On the other hand, I can just upgrade simply to 4GB.

Should I go for 4GB or 8GB? I like speed and multitasking, but is the trouble worth the 8GB? Is there a substantial difference between 4 and 8 GB?

 

Depends on how you use your X220.
If you regularly use 4+GB of memory, then I think it's well worth the trouble. Otherwise, why wasting your time reinstalling OS and money for 8 GB of memory.

I usually run several VMs concurrently, 8GB memory is primary reason I move from X200 to X220.

 

You might try turning on PAE, shouldn't require a reinstall. I haven't paid attention to 32bit for awhile but I think 7 can still do it. (the first Athlon64 was when I ditched 32bit for good)

Not quite the same as real x64 but you can use all of the installed ram with multiple programs, up to 2GB per. Most standard programs are still hiding in the "x86" program files folder and run as WOW64 anyways, sad but true.

 

You can install 8 GB into a 32 bit OS, it just won't address more than 3.5 GB of it. If you need 8 GB, that all depends on you.

 

If you go from 32bit/3GB to 32bit/4GB you still won't be able to use all of the extra ram you put in, and you might notice only a marginal speed increase. If you go from 32bit+3GB to 64bit+4GB you should notice immediately a dramatic speed increase - plus programmes can take full advantage of all the ram. Others will be able to comment on adding even further ram...

 

Thanks! This is interesting. Didn't know that.
I'm now almost convinced to reinstall a 64bit Win 7....

 

The 3Gb to 4GB swap will give some performance boost, even with 32 bit Windows, because the RAM will be full dual channel. In my experience there's no big improvement in performance between 4GB and 8GB unless the programs you are running cumulatively use more than 4GB RAM.

Task Manager will show how much RAM you are using.

John

 

Absolutely. It's worth having 4GB to use the 32bit system to its full potential, but very few users need more than that.
Task Manager will show if you are running out of memory, but unless you are (1) running two or more Virtual Machines, or (2) using a program like the full version of Photoshop that can actually access all the memory, there is no point in going above 4GB.
Just adding extra memory above 4GB will NOT give you a performance increase with normal day-to-day programs. And the extra memory takes extra current from the battery so it will run down a little faster.

 

Hmmmm.... thanks
Now I'm confused a bit. So I checked the Task Manager as you advised. I don't really know how to read it, but I found out the following:

1. most of the memory is "used": ~2300 MB.
2. ~400 MB is "stand by".
3. and almost NO memory is "free" (~10 MB, and sometimes none).
4. And the "Hard Faults/sec" curve seems pretty bad, with many time the curve gets to 100%.

I would guess this means that I will get some advantage by adding 4GB, and even 8GB (going to 64 bit Win 7)....wouldn't it?

BTW, I use a lot MS OneNote, with a lot of drafts and docs opened, while drawing with the pen into them, as well as a lot of quite heavy PDF files (some scanned ones), Word docs, browsers with 30 tabs opened simultaneously and so forth. So I would guess increasing to 8GB might help. But I'm not sure.......

 

Jessica,
A basic Windows installation plus a few normal apps needs about 3 GB to run, so with 3GB installed it's going to be fully used. That's why 3GB is the usual basic fitting in a modern 32bit PC. Going down to 2GB will be a big hit.

Increasing to the full 4GB that 32bit can handle provides a little breathing space above that minimum, and is worth having.

With the sort of applications you are using, going up to 8GB will give you a warm feeling and might show up in the WEI reading, but will make no difference at all to the actual performance of your PC as you are using it now.

 

Not really? Most software are 32-bit binaries anyway, unless you're running math or engineering software, where it actually counts. 32-bit Windows 7 uses less RAM than 64-bit Windows 7 in the first place too. 2GB of RAM is fine for basic day-to-day usage. A bit of paging here and there, but not that bad.

 

I'm not sure. I tell you that my new computer feels "breathless", it's a bit slow and "choked". Also, I use pretty standard software, but I wouldn't call it a "basic day to day". More like an exhaustive full blown "day to day" computing, taken to the limit

 

BTW, would I have to install different versions for all my programs when going from 32 bit to 64 bit ?

 

That's not something to worry about. If you go from 32bit Windows to 64bit you will have to do a complete reinstallation including all your apps and data. When you reinstall your apps, Windows will look at each one and decide whether to install it as 32bit or 64bit as required. You don't have to do anything different.

 

I should point out, if you are doing anything with virtual machines the extra RAM will be a huge help. So if you do have virtual machines the decision is a no-brainer.

 

This thread, it makes my head hurt.

First off from what you said about usage I would recommend the move to eight gigabytes of memory, due to the low cost of DDR3 memory it really is a small price to pay to future proof the laptop.

Second, since Windows Vista SP1, the operating system will report whatever memory amount is installed, but still can only address a maximum of 3.5 to 3.75 gigabytes of memory depending on the system and the physical memory addressed to hardware components.

Third, a clean install of Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) should idle with all basic services installed at around 800 to 900mbs of used memory. With drivers and preloaded software, anti-virus and misc. user installed programs this can raise exponentially.

Fourth, Windows 7 64bit will take advantage of additional performance benefits of a 64bit enabled processors, the difference is minimal but its worth mentioning. Additionally applications designed for 32 bit environments will almost always install in a 64bit operating environment. Some of the few restrictions on this are if the application is licensed by 32 or 64bit. That is usual for some business level applications.

*However, 16bit applications usually do not install and will error out on compatibility issues during installation. You can run a Virtual machine to overcome this issue if you run into this, although it’s highly unlikely for ninety percent of users today.

Last point to make is that memory is still viewed by many people in an incorrect fashion. Memory is a cache, not a resource per say. You should want all of your available memory to be used by SuperFetch, the operating system and the applications you are running. Having spare memory is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, it’s just unutilized potential.

Hope this has helped.

 

I wouldn't necessarily blame the amount of RAM for that. Something else may be slowing down the computer (you didn't happen to remove the battery so its only running at 800MHz?).

Before making any decisions about upgrades, it's time to look at Task Manager:

The Processes page will give you details of what is using the system (I find it is useful to add the CPU Time column and then sort by it) while the Performance page shows the overall CPU activity and memory usage. It doesn't show the CPU speed. One program that can do that is HWiNFO32 which has a nice graphical display of the CPU activity.

One drawback of 64 bit Windows is that if you do use some old programs then they may not install or run and a drawback of lots of RAM is that hibernation and resume take longer (if you use hibernation).

John

 

Sounds like your system is bogged down elsewhere. I had a good run with 2GB of RAM on my T400 (almost a year), and my X100e still has 2GB of RAM. The X100e isn't as snappy because it's single-core CPU is too weak.

See this: Coding Horror: Why Does Vista Use All My Memory?

 

Easiest way to see...

Is your hard drive activity light on a lot - even when you're not doing something normally disk intensive? Yes? More RAM.

Is this 100%? No. What this can mean is: You're system isn't caching enough data off the drive, so more RAM is more data cached and less disk activity. Or your system is swapping RAM to the hard drive, so more RAM is less swapped to the hard drive. Or you're running something disk intensive that you're unaware of.

In my experience, on Windows Vista and 7, 4GB->8GB is a huge boost. Noticeable enough that employees thank me for the upgrade frequently.

 

16 bit applications and applications requiring MS Access drivers (though in Office 2010 they offer 64bit access drivers now). Everything else, in my experience, works without issue on 64bit.