Any reason I won't be able to get 8GB of RAM into the Sony Z?

Title says it all really, I want to use 2x4GB RAM sticks in a Sony Z. Any reasons why that would not work?

Thank you in advance

 

bacause sony Z series specifications say

"Up to 4GB DDR3 SDRAM"

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570897

 

8GB of RAM is wasteful at this point... why do you think that you need it?

 

It does not matter what a web site or manual says as long as the hardware can do it. The Monteniva platform supports 8GB of RAM, is there any reason the Sony Z won't allow for it?

It is not wasteful when you are running 3 Virtual Machines which require 2GB of RAM each.

 

If the specifications indicate a max of 4GB, then there is a good chance that the BIOS won't recognise it, or you will face stability issues and BSODs when running the OS.
4GB DDR3 modules literally cost a fortune. You'd be better off with a 4GB kit for now.

 

8GB or more of RAM has its applications, but running VMs is not one of them; although you can meet the memory needs of four operating systems, its not like you can meet other needs such as CPU time, HD access, or GPU usage.

 

Can I use DDR2 RAM in the Sony Z? You can get 4GB sticks of DDR2 for $477.00
http://shop.kingston.com/partsinfo.asp?ktcpartno=KTL-TP667/4G

I am pretty sure you can.

You can actually get it for even cheaper ($400) from here
http://www.provantage.com/kingston-ktl-tp667-4g~7KIN90MP.htm

 

I am currently running 3 VMs with 1GB of RAM on a Dual Core Santa Rose laptop (Samsung X60) with an external drive just fine.

I am not going to be running servers as VMs, they will not be constantly serving requests and requiring CPU & IO resources. They are simple client VMs which have to be all running at the same time (3 x 2GB of RAM + 2 GB of RAM for the host O/S)

 

Yes, the BIOS.

They're not saying max of 4GB just for the hell of it. It probably can't do more than 4GB.

 

Does the notebooks support DDR3 or DDR2 RAM ??
They are totally different and are not compatible with each other.

 

The specs for the older SZ models said "up to 2GB," but it could handle 4GB, no prob.

 

Well, we need to figure out if we can get a 64bit operating system working all correctly with the right drivers and utilities on the Z first before we start slamming extra RAM modules into it.

 

It would be a waste if the Z couldn't handle 8GB of RAM...

I see no other reason why the motherboard is made for DDR3 RAM, because there isn't really a performance increase DDR3 vs. DDR2...

Or what other reason would justify this motherboard having DDR3?

 

Sony does funny stuff. On the G, there's no reason why it shouldn't support 4GB, but BIOS whacked it at 2GB. It even wouldn't boot if I had a 3GB DIMM in there; I had to get another 1GB one.

So I wouldn't say the Z would support it. I was the first person on these boards to try a 2GB DIMM in the SZ (the first gen SZ90) back in the day, but 8GB of RAM in a laptop is VERY non-standard. At that point, you need a desktop really. I do plenty of VMs and having the need for more than 4GB, I'd just remote into a desktop.

 

With Montevina 25watt CPU platform and the DDR3 ram, you end up getting massive battery savings without sacrificing performance.

 

why would a company downsell a spec?? I dont understand.. there has to be some reason to that ?? Am I missing something.. .. why would I say only 4Gigs supported if it can take 8... wont I sell better by saying 8??

 

Clearly you don't get the whole picture. Sony isn't testing an 8GB config. Even if it did work, the cost is prohibitive. So you won't ever see anything from Sony saying it will unless they sell that config. If they say it supports it, they not only need to support that machine (which is a non-standard config) and such.

 

4GB DDR2/DDR3 modules haven't gone mainstream as yet. There are PM/GM965 notebooks, getting BIOS updates to support more than 4GB.

The OP can try out 2+4GB DDR3 (as specified in the link), and see if it is supported or not, and be the first to report on it.

 

OK. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to just shoot down your questions; a lot of people around here ask about upgrades that really aren't necessary, given their applications.

 

Bog: Not a problem at all, I am happy to be challenged. It gets everyone thinking.

To everyone else, thank you for your responses. I hope I don't come across as a moron by saying this, but I would appreciate it if people put some though into their posts before making them.

If the specifications of the Sony Z said that the laptop supported 8GB of RAM or it was 100% certain that all Monteniva laptops supported 8GB of RAM, then there would be no need for the thread, would there? Clearly there is an element of doubt here, hence me posting this message and trying and identify a good reason why this would or not would work. I am looking for a reason based on facts or past experiences and not "well it probably..." or "well it might...".

A lot of people are also replying with erroneous information. This is quite bad, especially if I was prepared to accept all the answers without question.

1. The Sony Z in a lot of countries is currently being offered in many configurations, some of which use DDR2 and some of which use DDR3. From this is can be safely assumed that DDR2 memory will work just fine in this laptop.

2. The performance difference between DDR3 and DDR2 in the majority of applications is negligable.

3. The power consumption difference between DDR3 and DDR2 is negligable (this has been proven in these very forums)

4. There are many laptops out there which quote a MAX RAM size that is absolutely not the MAX. Many existing Santa Rosa laptops can unofficially support up to 8GB of RAM.

5. There are many new Monteniva laptops out there which are officially supporting 8GB of RAM, so 8GB Of RAM on a laptop is certainly not a "non standard" thing.

6. The RAM modules I provided links to are 4GB modules of DDR2 not DDR3. It's a subjective matter, but at $400 for each module I don't see cost as being prohibitive.

Cheek: that is exactly my point.

MegaMan X: That's a very good point. I kind of took it for granted. I will check out Sony's website for the presence of 64bit drivers.
edit: Nothing official, but 64bit drivers are available here: http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit/

Since I am not from the US, although I will be making this purchase soon in the US during one of my trips there, could you please suggest a website that carries these RAM modules and would allow me to return them if they did not work in my system?

Again, thank you all for your replies

 

AFAIK these were errors / typos. "DDR3 DIMMs have 240 pins, the same number as DDR2, and are the same size, but are electrically incompatible and have a different key notch location." It would be physically impossible to use DDR2 RAM in the Vaio Z.

It may be a small improvement, but it's still an improvement.

 

You may not like some of our responses, but some of us speak from experience. I've owned quite a few Sony laptops now.

See my above comment. I got 3GB working in my SZ90, but couldn't get past 2GB on the G. Just because a chipset technically can support up to xGB of RAM doesn't mean the manufacturer will allow it or cripple the architecture in some way. Sony has done this in the past with, for example, the early SZs when it had if I remember correctly the 667MHz system bus but it only supported 533MHz for RAM even if you had 667MHz RAM.

It is non-standard, period. The Z is NOT meant to be a desktop/server replacement really. You're starting to see more laptops with 4GB as standard options, but on the SZ, it took Sony awhile to support that officially. For at least I think the first year or more of the SZ they only supported 2GB.

The reality is that most laptops still ship with 2GB of memory or less. For the average user even with Vista, it's enough.

To you maybe, but for many people who will balk at Sony's cost of $150 to upgrade to 4GB, $400 for one module is outrageous. When I got my 2GB module to put in the SZ, it was well over $400 at the time.

And let's also face facts: unless you're either running:
a) A server product (W2K3 or W2k8)
b) A 64-bit OS (which Sony also doesn't officially support on the Z just yet since they didn't provide drivers), 8GB is useless on a 32-bit desktop OS

Sony is not one to push the boundaries to start with. They'll revolutionize in one way (i.e. a very powerful, capable, lightweight machine), but cripple it in one way (i.e. RAID 0, but no Blu-Ray, the lac of official 64-bit support, etc.).

 

FenderP & ac500 thank you for your replies. You saved me from a lot of effort that would be completely wasted (and also possibly money also wasted) if I tried to get those 4GB DDR2 modules working on the Sony Z.

 

As far as I know, the guy who said DDR2 will not work in Sony Z was right. Z supports DDR3 and is not compatible with DDR2. But I could be wrong here, this is what I read somewhere.

I also don't believe 8GB will be a problem.

 

what SZ series r u using?
i'm using SZ220 with 2GB of rams, is it also possible to use 4GB of rams, should i need to change my bios?

i'm using the original WinXP HE..

sorry a bit off the topic

 

when i first bought my sony SZ, sony said it would only accept a max of 2GB and the bios wouldn't allow more. I insisted to them that the chipset supports it and they are wrong, they informed me i was wrong - look at my specs and then you'll see who was wrong.

by the way the same went for my previous HP DV2500T - HP also insisted they're dv2500t, 6500t, 6500z couldn't support it even though the chipset can and ofcourse it worked just fine when i had the laptop for the short time. 75% of laptops at that time, said a max of 2GB because 2GB sticks weren't very big at the moment. No idea why they still didn't say hey, you can upgrade this but they didn't and know for a fact they're doing the same again now, and i'm sure the HP laptops will say the same, and other companies too, etc.


what im saying is: the Z will handle 8GB just fine....i hope