Upgrading memory on my X205-9349

I bought this laptop 8 months ago and am very happy with it so far. My only concern is that my 2 GB of memory is really slowing me down when I play computer games. Most notably "The Witcher" and "Oblivion" frequently slow down on medium to low settings.

I was looking to upgrade to 3 GB of DDR2 PC2-6400.

My questions are:

How to find which memory would be compatible with my laptop?

Should I expect any problems beyond the installation of memory? (would Windows automatically detect it?)


Thanks in advance!

 

You can do a "power search" on Newegg but (and I might be incorrect here) your motherboard won't support anything above 5300. With prices like they are today you might be better off going with the 2 X 2GB sticks........then if you ever go up to x64 you'll be able to use it all anyway.

 

gibbersome,

The unit has 2x1GB Modules, so you could either buy a single 2GB and replace of the 1GB's to get to 2 or you could just get a new 4GB kit (2x2GB).. Standard SODIMMS PC5300 (DDR2 667), will work, OCZ, Crucial, work best..

 

Crucial.com shows that I can use DDR2 PC2-6400 memory. Is there any way to confirm?

 

I think that the memory will work but it will down clock to whatever the maximum your motherboard will support. If that's the case, why pay for something more expensive when you can't get the most out of it anyway?

 

Thanks Slimshady!

Also, did you upgrade the processor on your X205-S9349?

I couldn't help but notice the specs in your sig.

 

Yeah, I just did that a couple of days ago. Used the disassembly guide that someone on here linked me to. Was relatively painless and it was plug and play......didn't have to change anything in the bios (made sure the latest was installed before I did the swap). Brought my Windows Experience scores up from 4.8 to 5.0 overall, and the process jumped to 5.4 (I think that's what it went to anyway).

 

Nice, I found the guide as well! Looks pretty involved. I've messed around with desktops before so I wouldn't be completely lost doing it.

Have you see a noticeable improvement in performance?

 

Yeah it definitely boots faster now............but I did new hard drives and went from x32 to x64 all at the same time. It cruises right along now though. Finally got all the driver issues worked out on it and just hit 6456 on the 3dmark06 test with the overclock on the card. It runs Crysis at medium settings and 1440 X 900 with no lag or issues at all really.

 

Awesome, your computer should be a great gaming machine for the next couple of years or so.

I'm thinking about doing the same, perhaps closer to the end of my warranty period and when the price of the T9300 drops a little.

What kind of RAM did you use to upgrade yours?

 

You would think.............although Crysis starting giving me a hard time yesterday even after I lowered the resolution............was less than pleased. Think I'm going to go back to Vista 32 bit.

I used G-Skill...........ordered it before I really found this website and didn't know there were better brands out there.

 

Well Crysis is in a league of its own, lol. It lags on the GTX 280, albeit on max settings.

I hear you about Vista 64-bit. I would go back to XP if I still had my old CD somewhere.

 

I've heard of many issues with XP on these systems too.........Toshiba provides no driver support from what I've been able to find. If you get it to work though let me know.

 

Hi do you have a link to the disassembly guide? How much does it cost for a laptop CPU upgrade and where can you find them? Thanks.

Edit: Never mind found the guide, still any info on laptop cpu's would be appreciated.

 

I didn't really do a ton of research on pricing when I decided which CPU I wanted, but as long as you know what motherboard you have and what socket type you have then you can use the "power search" function on Newegg to easily find out what chips they carry that will fit your application.

I ordered my T-9300 through Compuvest and had it shipped out here to Iraq for $325. There are cheaper processors out there that would probably perform just as well for my application (mostly gaming) but again, I didn't research much before I jumped on the bandwagon and upgraded. Ask around on here, there is a ton of treat info available from the people on this board.

 

Thanks for the help, I will look into it some more. One more question though, did you wait for your warranty to expire before trying anything like this? Thanks.

 

No, I didn't wait for the warranty to expire. The primary HD took a crap on the computer about 2 months after I bought it......had that fixed under warranty but since I'm in Iraq getting anything like that done is a PITA. Figured I might as well start messing with it myself since it's easier to fix it if it breaks when you know what the heck you're doing.

 

Good point, I only have a few months left anyway then it's up to me to fix it. Thanks for the advice.