GT70 20C RAM Upgrade Question

Hi,

I've got some Corsair Vengence 16GB (2 x 8GB) @ 1600Mhz and had a couple of questions regarding upgrading the laptop with it.

Firstly, should I remove the existing RAM from under the motherboard first? I want to run Dual Channel so I presume I cannot run 3 sticks (1 original and the 2 new ones) at once and still have Dual Channel... can someone confirm?

Also to run Dual Channel, does it matter which slots I put the two sticks in or can it be any of them? For example there's two slots below the keyboard and two under the bottom of the laptop. Should I just remove the first one under the keyboard and put both in there or 1 under the keyboard and 1 under the bottom?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Correct, you cannot run an odd number of sticks in dual channel. The system will run in single channel with three memory modules.

It's best to populate each pair of banks that are side by side, so if you're installing two new DIMMs, install both of them either in the slots under the cover/bottom side of the motherboard, or in the other two available slots that are near one another.

 

Excellent, thanks very much.

I removed the single 8GB RAM stick under the keyboard and replaced with 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengence and CPU-Z says it's running in Dual Channel. Question though... is it much better than single channel?

Also it says the frequency is 799Mhz, not 1600Mhz.... Cannot see where to set it to 1600Mhz in the BIOS?

Thanks for your help.

 

Base freq 800 - DDR freq 1600 MHz. Dual channel gives nothing or upto 1 - 2 % more speed.

 

Ahhh cos it's Double Data Rate... I see.... every days a school day thanks

 

You can run dual channel in any configuration, 2 sticks, 3 sticks. SODIMM is being access differently on a notebook compared to a desktop.
MSI also has SKU that is configured using 3 SODIMM modules.
Newegg.com - MSI GT Series GT70 2OD-064US Intel Core i7 4700MQ(2.40GHz) 12GB Memory 1TB HDD 17.3" Notebook Win 8 Multi-language

For population, it's required to fill out one side first before filling out the other side.

 

Was it easy to remove the 8gb stick from under the keyboard? Which guide did you follow to get under the motherboard? The reason I ask is because I want my two sticks side by side so I can access them both easily.

 

In order to access the compartment under the keyboard, you have to remove the touch bezel first, then the screws for the keyboard, and then the keyboard itself.

 

Thanks Kevin, I've seen a few videos of people performing this but wondered what the OP used for reference.

 

No problem, feel free to ask any questions here if you need further assistance.