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    ram...should i get 1 DIMM or 2 DIMM?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by jaxxx, Feb 5, 2008.

  1. jaxxx

    jaxxx Notebook Consultant

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    I was wondering what the difference between the two....I might add some more ran later on
     
    jaxxx, Feb 5, 2008
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  2. chubbyfatazn

    chubbyfatazn Notebook Evangelist

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    If you're going to get more later, get 1 DIMM.

    1 DIMM means that the RAM occupies one of the two slots on the notebook. 2 DIMMs means that the RAM occupies both of the slots of the notebook. So if you ordered 1GB of RAM, it would be 1x1GB in a 1 DIMM configuration or 2x512MB in a 2 DIMM configuration.
     
    chubbyfatazn, Feb 5, 2008
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  3. feri00

    feri00 Notebook Enthusiast

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    The 2 DIMM configuration would be a bit faster because it will run in dual channel. But If you want to save money now and buy additional memory later definitely go for the 1DIMM configuration. And besides I don't know what amount of memory you are looking for I wouldn't recommend you to buy 1GB in 2DIMM nowadays.
     
    feri00, Feb 5, 2008
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  4. Hassler

    Hassler Notebook Enthusiast

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    I agree with all that they say. I would either get the 1GB or 2GB single dimm configuration now. If you get the two sticks and decide to upgrade later, you'll end up replacing one stick. Plus Newegg or others are usually cheaper. But dual channel (2 matching sticks) is a niceity.
     
    Hassler, Feb 5, 2008
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  5. jaxxx

    jaxxx Notebook Consultant

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    should I get another 1 gb to match the other 1 gb or get a 2gb to have a total of 3 gb?
     
    jaxxx, Feb 7, 2008
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  6. meekus

    meekus Notebook Consultant

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    The added memory bandwidth of symmetric dual channel is *not* worth the trouble if what you need is just more memory. Just having the extra memory will yield all the performance benefits all by its lonesome. Remember that paging out to hard disk via virtual memory is a freakishly slow process and even asymmetric dual channel is way faster.

    That said I'm running 3GB in async dual channel mode (1GB + 2GB) and things are infinitely way more peachy than when I was just running 1GB. Since I'm running 32-bit Win XP Pro running 4GB (2GB+2GB) would be a total waste of coin.
     
    meekus, Feb 7, 2008
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  7. chubbyfatazn

    chubbyfatazn Notebook Evangelist

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    Agreed. Since you'd only be seeing at most 3.25GB if you got 4GB, it's probably not worth it. It's the reason I got only 3GB.
     
    chubbyfatazn, Feb 7, 2008
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