1333Mhz RAM in M11x R2

Well title pretty much describes it. I currently have a M17x and I just ordered new Kingston Hyper X memory for it. My sister is getting a new M11x R2 with 4GB of RAM, can she use my stock 8GB 1333MHz RAM from my M17x. It should downclock down to 800MHZ right?

 

yes, it will get slowed to 800mhz (the m11x's sold in australia have 1333mhz ram even though the board can take only 800mhz).

 

Alright nice thats what I wanted to hear. I can't believer their charging $350 to upgrade to 8GB of RAM when you can buy it for under $100 aftermarket.

 

It'll downclock to what ever the memory controller is running at. Stock is 2 channels at 400mhz, at the full BIOS overclock it'll run 2 channels at 500mhz which is why most (all?) of the m11xs ship with 1066 memory.

There have been reports of lower stable overclocks on 1333 memory. If your sister doesn't mind, it'd be nice to see some benchmarks before and after the memory swap.

 

I think R2's ship with 1333 memory.

 

Then I got shafted.

 

Well when her computer arrives, I'll be setting it up for her so yeah I'll do some benchmarks with it. I'm actually getting 1600Mhz RAM for my m17x which only supports 1333Mhz. I'm hoping I might be able to get a better CAS since its downclocking but not counting on it.

 

In that case maybe it's random, or depends on the original configuration. Curious.

 

I have only seen faster CAS on the lower bandwidth ones. I have option for a higher bandwidth and I think I would have been better going for the lower ones as the bios auto set the speed / cas.

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10600 (1333), 204 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3, 1066MHz 2x204 SODIMM, Unbuffered, CAS 7-7-7-20

 

I was under the impression that most R2's shipped with 1066MHz.

 

My R2 came with 1333.

 

It's been a while, so I could be wrong. I'd have to find my original dimms to see what they were. My current kit is a pair of PC3-8500F 1066 Samsung.

 

Well, Alienware only promised / specifies "xGB of RAM running at 800Mhz". And that's what you got.

The difference between whether they include 1066Mhz or 1333Mhz in your system depends purely on what supply they have on-hand. Their only obligation is to give you exactly what you paid for, which is xGB of RAM that runs at 800Mhz.

This is the same reason why they only specify general performance parameters of HDDs and SSDs (e.g. 500GB 7200rpm drive), and do not specify brand/model. They can and will buy several different brand/models of computer components over time, depending on the supply and costs. One day, it may be cheaper to buy HDD's from Seagate. Two months later, Western Digital may be cheaper. It makes no difference to Dell. The customer is buying a "500GB 7200rpm" HDD, so Dell's only obligation is to give the customer a 500GB 7200rpm HDD.

 

Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but I'm also considering upgrading my m11x's RAM 4GB to 8GB. For those who have done this, is it worthwhile going from 4GB to 8GB for $60 i.e. will I see much improvement in apps (I normally just game, use Skype, browse the World Wide Web internet accounts and bulletin boards with my CompuServe and Prodigy accounts sometimes using AOL)?

I'm looking to get: Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BC1339

 

You're not going to see any benefit whatsoever with the apps you've mentioned. 4GB is more than enough for your needs. 8GB is only of value for applications that can utilize as much RAM as your system has. Virtual machines, video decoding/encoding/editing, extremely large format photo editing, SQL, etc.

 

I don't' know.... CompuServe has been known to be a memory hog.

 

I'm amazed that CompuServe is still around. I had an account back in the early/mid-80s. BBSes and 1200baud.

/shudders

 

It's not around. Harmattan was joking around.

 

Doh!

/facepalm

 

Bingo. Dang, I miss that sweet web-crawler spider logo and some of the Prodigy NFL free agent discussion threads...

Any other advice on the RAM? I know "is it worth it" is a rather vague question, but will I see any noticable improvement in start-up time, app performance ect. jumping from 4GB to 8GB.

 

No, you won't. 4GB is more than enough for games and large scale multi-tasking. Win7's memory management is really very good.

 

You will not notice a single difference.

You may notice that you walk faster, because your wallet is $60 lighter. But that's about it.

If you want to improve startup times, application load times, multitasking performance, and add a general "snappy-ness" and "smooth-ness" to your computing experience, then you should look at SSD's.

I have a few videos in my signature showing off SSD's. That might help you, if you're looking for OS / application / multitasking load time performance.

 

Thanks for saving me $60.

I do agree that SSDs provide a very noticeable difference (I boot my OS from an SSD on my m17x and desktop). My main issue with getting an SSD on an m11x is capacity. My budget and common sense won't allow me to get a 256GB (which would be right at the edge of being large enough) and 120 or 128GB just isn't big enough on a laptop that can only handle 1 HDD/SDD.

Hopefully with the impending release of gen 3 SSDs prices will go down...

 

This sounds like a job for Captain Compromise!!!

It looks like we have another candidate for the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid hard drive. It is the best of both worlds. For about $100 you can get a 500GB hard drive with 4GB of flash memory (like used in a SSD). Your frequently used programs (browser, OS, menus) automatically get loaded to the flash memory and this makes your day to day tasks snappier and boot up times faster, without losing the capacity you love and keeping green backs in your wallet. I have had mine for several months and have not had any issues.

Stain

 

agrees with stain - actually newegg is having a deal right now... here is a link to the drive Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive and here is the promo code (enter when checking out) EMCKHKJ28 (99.99 + tax, free shipping depending on where you live).

 

Well I'm also waiting for the 3rd Gen set of SSD's to come out. I'm not looking for hybrid just the C400 Micron drives. I won't be able to get use of the faster write speeds due to only having SATA II in my M17x but I'm just hoping for better firmware due tot he problem with the M17xR2's SSD issues.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1511/1/

However if you want upgrade your RAM it actually makes sense to stay at four ant look for 800Mhz or 1060Mhz RAM. AT these speed you can actually get better timings with a lower CAS. They aren't selling anything lower then CAS 9 right not for 1333Mhz which is kind of a bummer. But if you want to upgrade your RAM look at 4GB of hyper X memory. Although with the apps your talking about running I also agree to spend your money on a SSD. Me and my sister are architecture students so we use a few different 3D modeling programs and all of the adobe suite which can become very intensive on the memory. I have maxed out my 8GB's on a few occasion and brought my M17x to its knees crawling.

 

Guys, what makes more sense in terms of RAM,

1066mhz DDR3 with Cas latency 7, or...
1333mhz DDR3 with Cas latency 9?

The M11x underclocks the RAM to 800mhz, but still, I don't know what I should buy.

 

It really does not matter. You will not notice any real-world performance difference, either way.

I say, buy the 1333Mhz memory, because there is a higher likelihood that you will be able to re-use the memory in a future laptop, or more easily re-sell it if you want to get rid of it.

 

how do I check the speed my memory is running? On ebay the listing for my m11x only told me 8gb 800Mhz. I'm going to want to see if it's 1066 or 1333 they put in it.

I'm looking at SSD's before my machine arrives. I want the fastest boot time and no lag opening folders and such. That Seagate 500GB looks tasty at $100 but I really want to just wait for a full-blown SSD I can afford.

 

CPU-Z maybe?

 

Sorry for the newb question, but does having 1333 memory help at all when it comes to the overclocking the system? Also will having 8GB make much of a difference at all vs 4GB for the games that the M11x can run?

 

It has a good chance of reaching 166mhz BCLK, provided your CPU can clock upto there.
It doesn't clock far beyond 166mhz at CL6 timings- it's too fast to be stable at 1333mhz, my set isn't stable over 1066mhz (178mhz BCLK). I'm sure it's RAM instability- video artifacts and screen flashes before crashing.

For you have an R1, 1333mhz will do nothing for you if you are using BIOS overclock mode.

 

The only DDR3 laptop RAM that you can really find is either 1066Mhz or 1333Mhz. Both are faster than what the Alienware M11x is capable of running, even when overclocked. So you will have no advantage for buying 1333Mhz vs 1066Mhz RAM.

However, if you do buy RAM, buy the 1333MHz variety. It is about the same price as 1066MHz RAM, so you don't "lose" anything by buying it. What it does give you is higher resale value down the road, and the ability to more easily move it to another laptop (that may only accept 1333MHz RAM, for example) if you ever decide to remove it from the M11x.

No. In all likelihood, you don't even use all 4.0GB of RAM in your system. The only thing that 8.0GB of RAM will do is to make *YOU* run faster, because your wallet is now $60 lighter.

Just about every single game out there is written in 32-bit, which can consume a max of 2GB of RAM for just the game itself. If you add the RAM usage overhead of Windows 7 and any background / minimized applications you are running, you will be using 3.0GB - 3.5GB RAM at the absolute max (and you will very rarely ever hit the 3.0GB - 3.5GB usage range).

Unless you are running very specific applications that are RAM-intensive (e.g. databases, virtual machines), anything over 4.0GB of RAM will be a total waste of money. If you want to spend your money where you will actually notice a difference and get a tangible return, get an SSD.