8gb in Dell Latitude D830

So Dell is now advertising the M6300 with 8gb capability (2 x 4gb DIMMS). As far as I understand, the M6300 uses the Intel PM965 chipset, the D830 uses the Intel GM965.

According to Intel, they both 'only' support 4gb:

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart.aspx?mmID=28117,28116&familyID=7&culture=en-US


So is there a fairly good probability that the D830 would also support 8gb if 2 x 4gb DIMMS were installed?

Anyone tried? Obviously 4gb laptop DIMMS aren't easy parts to obtain right now..

 

It looks like the motherboard is limited to 4gigs of ram so you won't be able to use more than that.

 

I know thats what Dell 'officially' says, but the purpose of my inquiry was to find out whether or not anyone had independantly verified that by actually attempting to install 4gb SO-DIMMS.

Dell might not be marketing the D830 as an 8-gb capable solution because they want to sell their more expensive M6300 model to high end users who want 8gb.

 

As we speak i am running a Latitude d830 with 6 GB of Ram, I tried two banks of 4 (so a total of 8 GB) but it does not boot....
so it looks like there is a limit, but it is at least 6GB...

 

Hmmm.. BIOS limitation? Any idea if it matters which slot you use for the 4gb module?

 

It does not matter, I have two 4 GB modules, I tried both in both slots and as soon as I hit the 8 GB, the machine does not boot.... maybe a new version of the Bios will do the trick ( I am at the newest now, so I'll wait for the next one...)

 

Ah okay. Well at least there's not much of an incentive to me to upgrade to Montevina now. Its looking like there will be a decent CPU upgrade path for my machine as well if that 'end' of it gets too slow..

Once again, thanks.. I'm assuming you have the DIMMS kickin around so you can try again in the future, right?

 

EricD, I was in exactly the same situation with a Precision M4300 (essentially the same as the Latitude D830). I would love to know details of your situation.

1. I assume those are the Kingston 4gb DIMM modules
2. Since Kingston lists them on their web site as being compatible with the D830, are they giving you any help from their support to try to make this work?
3. Have you opened a support case with Dell, and wht was their response?

I opened a suport case with Dell and they said that 4gb was the most RAM officially supported in a M4300. I was running out of my window to return the laptop so I returned it. I did not have the advantage of the M4300 being listed as compatible on the Kingston site. I was hoping someone would get this to work with a Dell 15.4" screen model and post the details. I assume it is somehting that Dell could address by way of a BIOS revision but I am not sure. My choices now are to either order a M6300 or wait another few days and get one of the E series latitudes. I am eagerly waiting on pricing for the E series to make that decision.

Thanks in advance for any additional insight.

 

Hi,

I have just received 2 x Kingston 4GB SODIMMS and have installed into a Dell D630 (as Kingston indicates this model supports 8GB). KTD-INSP6000B/4G is the part number.

The behaviour I have experienced is that the progress bar on the initial Dell splash screen is very very slow... in fact, it hasn't completed yet and it's been moving along for over 45 minutes.

EricD, is this the behaviour you were experiencing on the D830?

FWIW, I have tried both 4GB SODIMMS independently and in both slots and can confirm that the machine recognises the 4GB module.
Also note that I have updated the BIOS to A12 - which was released in June 08.

I will leave it for another hour or so to see if anything changes (i'm perservering with the slow boot as i've noticed that any hardware changes on the D630 result in an initial slow boot followed by normal speed boots).. so am crossing my fingers in the hope that IF this gets to the end, subsequent boots may be ok...

Failing all that, I guess i'll try with 6GB to see if my experience is similar to the above.

Cheers

 

Hi All,

Just a quick update. With 8GB installed, the laptop never got past the progress bar on the post screen... so I assume a BIOS update in the future from Dell will give the machine the capability to see 8GB. - Certainly the motherboard is supposed to support it.

Installed 6GB, and after a couple of restarts (for some reason it didn't work on the initial startup), the machine got past the POST, prompted me to say memory had changed and proceeded to work from then on.

I've now installed Vista 64bit and all seems to be fine with 6GB.

Cheers