Help! - Sony VGN-SR19XN Max RAM?

Hi,

I recently bought an SSD for my aging VGN-SR19XN and I an now thinking of upgrading the RAM.

From what I can tell, it's DDR2-800 PC2-6400 SO-DIMM modules. I know that there are only two slots and both are occupied.

I was thinking of installing 8GB RAM (2x 4GB), but every information I find states that each slot supports only 2GB.

My questions, if anyone can help me, are:

- Can I put 4GB RAM in each slot, or is there a BIOS limitation?

- Should I put faster memory, like DDR2-1066 or DDR2-1300. Will it bring in any advantage in performance? I don't know if the VGN-SR19XN supports, and I wouldn't like to purchase faster RAM for no effect on performance...

- Is the VGN-SR19XN RAM Dual Channel? I ask this because with 1GB in one slot and 2GB in the other, it doesn't seem to me the best performance configuration.

Any toughts?

Thanks!

 

I believe there is a bios limitation. have a look at this thread. go_ahead_ed experimented with this and was only able to get 6gb working (2+4).
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/444388-sr240-sr290-8gb-no-6-gb-yes.html

- I don't think you will see any performance increase in going with faster ram. this isn't a desktop machine where your going to be able to go into the bios and change timings and overclock.

- I think it does run in dual-channel. look at that link above. go_ahead_ed's screenshot shows cpu-z listing it as running in dual channel. even though your SR is slightly older, all SR's are basically the same.

- I would go with the 4gb of ram (2+2) total, unless somehow you could do the 6gb like ed. (you didn't mention if your currently running 2gb or 3gb. If your running 3gb (2+1), i would swap out the 1gb stick with a 4gb stick; yeah you won't be running in dual channel then but I think at this stage you would benefit more by having more ram than by running dual channel.

I think you'll see a nice performance increase with the ssd and ram upgrade.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the information! I've already read that thread, but since the model is different, I can't really be sure, that's why I asked... There could be someone out there with the same model as I have.

I've been reading some information regarding the performance of dual-channel vs single-channel ddr2 and from what I've read, the performance gains are little to zero.

Since I'm on a laptop (as oposed to a desktop) and I'm already running single-channel (2+1=3GB RAM), I think I'm gonna go with your suggestion and swap the 1GB module with a 4GB module. If it works with 6GB, splendid. If not, I guess I'll save a few watts of power by just using a 4GB module instead of a configuration that uses both RAM slots.

Thanks!

 

sounds good, report back and let us know how it worked out.

 

Hi,

I had trouble finding a 4GB SODIMM DDR2 and those that I found we're terribly expensive (for such an aging tech). Also I couldn't find a place or a friend from whom I could borrow a 4GB module just to tryout.

As it stands, I purchased a 2GB module and now have a total of 4GB RAM. Not much difference from the 3GB, but I guess it's better, just because 4GB>3GB.

Thanks for your help!