Laptop Memory Question

[S6PNJ]

On one of my old laptops which uses DDR3 RAM, I have the option to have either 2 x 4Gb 1600Mhz sticks (same manufacturer and specs but not originally sold as a pair) or an 8Gb 1300Mhz and a 4Gb 1300Mhz stick, different manufacturers.

Would I be better off with less RAM but faster, or more RAM but slower? Nothing 'exciting' happens on the laptop, simple web browsing, Word, Excel, Outlook etc. No game playing, maybe a little bit of TinkerCAD (runs in a browser window) but nothing that will stretch its capabilities.

Rest of the specs: CPU is an i7-2670QM and it has a 240Gb SSD about half full.

[somouk]

How much RAM does the machine have at the moment and how much does it use in normal operation. 8 Gb is usually enough for the normal day to day tasks so I would go with the quicker.

[eeLee]

more RAM would be better. It might be that the RAM all runs at the speed of the lowest stick depending on the chipset in the laptop....but more RAM is always good.

[Mr Pointy]

I'd go with more over faster as long as it's running 64 bit. 32 bit has an 4Gb limit anyway (referring to Windows of course).

Edited by Mr Pointy on Friday 30th June 10:20

[biggiles]

My vote would be "more RAM". I doubt any normal user/usage would ever notice the difference in memory bus speed. More RAM, within reason, generally helps.

[wyson]

I’ve had stability problems with mismatched RAM, so started always upgrading in similar pairs (spec, size, latency, timing etc.) after that. No problems doing that. I think matched pairs is the best (same Ram produced off the same line at a similar time).

[silentbrown]

So many questions....

• How much memory do you have at present?
• What speed is it?
• What speed does your laptop motherboard actually support?
• Why do you think you need to upgrade the memory?

No point in using DDR3 1600 RAM is the system only supports 1033. It will just fall back to the lower speed.

[mcflurry]

Cex sell 8gb DDR3L sims for £12, so you could get a matching pair for £24..


https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail?id=smem2q3aa1&...

[S6PNJ]

Thanks all, to answer some questions...

I already own all 4 sticks of RAM - I had another laptop that died, so 2 of the sticks are from that and 2 are from the laptop I'm now using. All 4 are in working condition (tested in this laptop).

I'm running 64 bit windows.

The laptop is a Dell Inspiron N7110 and I believe it can see/use 1600Mhz RAM.

I'm just trying to make best use of what I already own.

[silentbrown]

S6PNJ said:

I already own all 4 sticks of RAM - I had another laptop that died, so 2 of the sticks are from that and 2 are from the laptop I'm now using. All 4 are in working condition (tested in this laptop).

So at a guess you currently have 8GB of DDR3 1600, and are considering switching to a mismatched pair of 12GB of 1300?

If you're currently running low on memory, your machine will get faster.
If you're NOT running low on memory, your machine will get slower.

I'd just leave be, or- as above - stick in 16GB of DDR1600 if you're actually running on low memory.

[S6PNJ]

silentbrown said:

So at a guess you currently have 8GB of DDR3 1600, and are considering switching to a mismatched pair of 12GB of 1300?

If you're currently running low on memory, your machine will get faster.
If you're NOT running low on memory, your machine will get slower.

I'd just leave be, or- as above - stick in 16GB of DDR1600 if you're actually running on low memory.

No, I have 2 x 4Gb of 1600MHz (same manufacturer and part number), 1 x 8Gb of 1300 MHz and 1 x 4Gb of 1300MHz - these 2 being different manufacturers.

[silentbrown]

S6PNJ said:

No, I have 2 x 4Gb of 1600MHz (same manufacturer and part number), 1 x 8Gb of 1300 MHz and 1 x 4Gb of 1300MHz - these 2 being different manufacturers.

Yes, that's what I meant. (even if it's not *exactly* what I wrote...)

[FunkyGibbon]

S6PNJ said:

No, I have 2 x 4Gb of 1600MHz (same manufacturer and part number), 1 x 8Gb of 1300 MHz and 1 x 4Gb of 1300MHz - these 2 being different manufacturers.

I'd stick the 1 x 8Gb of 1300 MHz and 1 x 4Gb of 1300MHz to get 12Gb. If it makes an improvement then great, if not just leave in. 12GB will better than 8G, and the speed of the chips won't make a deal of difference in your use case.

[S6PNJ]

silentbrown said:

S6PNJ said:

No, I have 2 x 4Gb of 1600MHz (same manufacturer and part number), 1 x 8Gb of 1300 MHz and 1 x 4Gb of 1300MHz - these 2 being different manufacturers.

Yes, that's what I meant. (even if it's not *exactly* what I wrote...)

Ah yes, I see what you mean/ wrote now!