12-16 GB ram in an Alienware M15x?

Put the SSD in the main slot and the HDD in the optical bay. The bay isn't Sata II.

 

Thanks, I actually just came here to look so that I could figure out what SSD I should buy. I was going to look at the MB specs to figure out the speeds of everything so I could not waste money on a drive that was outperforming my MB...etc.

 

Is it the right time now to purchase 2 sticks of 8 GB RAM modules? Or, should I wait till a few months later as the price of 8 GB RAM module will keep on decreasing?

Well, I already have 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) in my laptop, thus am in no rush to obtain additional 8 GB. That is why I would wait for the time when the price of 8 GB RAM module is at its lowest, before buying two of them.

Thank you for the advice.

 

I got lucky, Yesterday Fry's had Corsair 8GB 204pin SO DIMMS DDR3 1333 - x2 for 109.99. That was certainly the time to buy. I also picked up a Corsair Force 3 180GB SSD for 189.99 after mail in rebate.

I went with the corsair because the drive bay is only SATA 2 and even though the force 3 uses asynchronous memory and performs at a lower speed than an OCZ, the SATA2 limitation means that the OCZ wouldn't be any faster in an m15x anyway.

So, I say if you can get the ram for cheap like I did, NOW is the time to buy!!!

 

thats what i paid for them a month ago, after rebate

 

I looked all over the web and the best price I could find was about 89.99 per 8gb module. The Fryes deal, during the 2 day sale was 54.99 per 8gb module, so the total price for 16gb of ram was 109.99 plus tax. I couldn't pass that up. The corsair ssd was only 189.99 after mail-in rebate. So a little over 300 for the entire upgrade.

 

So this actually work? Good! The shop near my place just start selling the 16Gb Kit for $130

will get mine soon and report here also..

 

Does 16gb 1600mhz work? I am doubting that it will, but if it does that would be amazing. BTW using i7 740qm.

 

Do people find 16GB helps general performance?

 

no not in general performance really the only place that i use constantly that i have noticed any difference is in autocad

 

general perform should be about same...,

but in my photoshop, it's a huge upgrade...

 

Ok father san!

 

So how is it possible to get 16GB ram?

Specs:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 740 @ 1.73GHz
Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850
750GB HDD @7200
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
9-cell battery

Do I need to upgrade the CPU or anything? Or can I just put in 2x 8GB RAM?
Any particular brands I should look out for?

I'm guessing it would void warranty? True?

I thought it could only get 8GB RAM maximum?!
It says so in the manual and what-not... maybe I'm just to gullible... But can someone please explain to me in detail how it is capable of supporting 16GB when Dell says it will only support up to 8GB...

I'm really interested as I use a lot of 3D and film editing software, and After Effects tends to put my ram at 90% of the 8GB at most times...

 

Those spec sheets are pretty old, before 8gig stick were on the market. As far as brand, i believe corsair is the only one that has them at the moment. Your cpu will work just fine with the 16gb @ 1333mhz. It wont void your warranty just keep the original sticks around for a rainy day.

 

Mushkin and Elpida also has 8Gb Sticks arround..

got elpida one for price i mention in previous page..

as for manual book, as i also stated few pages before, Intel technician mention that memory support is varies among brand factory

so we all just found that this M15x is one of the old notebook that still can beat it's odds..

 

Brilliant!

So would I need to change any settings to allow for the 2x 8GB ram? or is it just "plug and play"?

So it will indefinately support the extra 8GB ram?
Could my system crash or become unstable because of it?

So to fully clear it up:

2x 8GB DRR3 1333Mhz ram of any brand will work with the motherboard and not ruin any other hardware or cause any system failure?

 

It won't break anything.

 

Nice.
Thanks for clearing it up.

So what was the whole deal with Dell saying it could only support 8GB when it has been proven that it can support 16GB???

Could I use Newegg.com - CORSAIR 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Memory for Apple Model CMSA16GX3M2A1333C9

Even though it says they're for Mac?

The link is from katalin_2003 in another thread...

Newegg.com - CORSAIR 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9

Sorry for double post, but what about this?

 

Those are the ones I have.

Honestly though, for your purposes, focus on the CPU first if you're going to spend money.

 

Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.
I did 20 hours rendering in Maya over the weekend with the CPU at 100%, soooo much lag...

Which CPU would be best?
Others are saying either 920XM or 940XM, thoughts?

Also, I found this RAM aswell which is available in Australia, it would be quick delivery for me... Has anyone had any experience using this ram?
Is it a decent brand?

Also, it has the MoBo supported list, is the M15x Mobo on there?

G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-16GBXL 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 [GS-F3-10666CL9D-16GBXL] - $139.00 : PC Case Gear

 

That's desktop RAM

 

Ah... Bugger...
Well, I'll get the ones from Newegg...

Cheers all.

 

Use this coupon:
EMCNHHB24

If you're going to get the ones on newegg.
The kit is currently $149,99 applying the coupon will cut $30 making it $119,99

Cheers

 

Ohhh... nice... I like discounts! XD

Thanks for that.

Last night really did make my mind up... ram test renders in After Effects... used 92% ram... only rendered like 20% of the animation...
16GB will be a life saver!!!

 

Indeed. If you can order from FRYS, they have the Corsair kit for 109,99$
FRYS.com | Corsair

 

Even better! XD

Will be purchasing them tonight.

 

Best deal I could find.

Cheers

 

There's a lot of bad reviews on Newegg about the RAM, but some are good...

What have been all of your experiences with it?

A lot of the reviews say the ram fails memtest or faults causing lots of BSOD's...

Thoughts?

 

i ordered the kit from frys, they passed the memtests, and have not cause any bsod. from what i remember the fail reviews on newegg were mostly mac users. i have been using this since dec-jan without fail, i would recommend it to any alienware owner

 

Well, Newegg won't post to Australia... and it'll cost me $185 to ship to Australia from Fry's... I'm a bit hesitant...

I looked up ebay, this is the same thing? Only place that will ship to Aus.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Corsair-CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9-16GB-2x8GB-DDR3-1333-PC3-10666-204pin-SODIMM-Laptop-/130633735884?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6a609ecc

 

Are there really no shops around your place in ausie that sell this RAM kit ?

i think they should already sell it by now, i started to found it available in shop since last december, but now the brand and the price is start to get more option..

 

The places I've asked only sell the desktop.
or they charge a fortune... $220+

 

So, ah, I'm sure it's the same kit... Can someone please verify? I have a twitchy "buy" button trigger finger...

 

Judging by what's listed, yes, it is the same model.

 

Sweeeettttt.... *BUY*

Hopefully it all works fine.

Cheers.

 

This is awesome news!

Friend of mine just pointed me at this forum .. I always read the official spec and it said "max 8GB" so I thought it was a limitation of the old Intel PM55 motherboards.

I'm going to test out with his 2x 8GB SODIMMS before I purchase mine but this should make a massive difference.

I expect to be testing this week on my rig .. if successful I will buy the kit and post back next week or so ..

Why do I need 16GB RAM?
Some people have been asking .. why do you need more than 8GB??

I do a lot of enterprise IT consultancy work and travel a lot.. this means I have to run a bunch of virtual machines on my laptop (and some of these are pretty hefty .. my "standard" VM uses 6GB on its own!)

At one conference I had to run 5 servers all on my laptop (and it was creaking .. BADLY!)

Going from 8GB to 16GB would mean I could run everything I needed for every-day and it won't creak and strain on those days when I need to run 3 servers (with 4GB RAM each!) and probably puts off my next purchase for at least another 18 months.

 

Yeah, MartinHatch,

I was exactly like you, just pure shock! so fricken awesome!!!

I'm doing different stuff than you, animation/editing... and I'm just stoaked! 16GB is a huge win!

I'll post a review once I have mine setup, jus awaiting delivery.

 

Wish I had a reason to get 16GB haha! Might just wait till it is as cheap as 8GB now and try to find ultra low timings too then

 

Ah thank god for this thread. After Effects and Maya have just been killing my 6gb of ram lately. Definitely gonna upgrade to 16gb soon, hopefully RAM preview in AE won't be so slow and use 90% of my RAM haha. Thanks for discovering this!

 

Haha... i have the same problem with 8GB ram in AE!

And I feel that it won't change with 16GB because I'll just use even more of it. lol.
Atleast, hypothetically, I'll be able to get more work done...

When will they just make super-biological computers with infinite ram?!?! I kid... haha.

 

T-ravisty you ought to throw a SSD in there to help with your editing process. I have the Sammy 470 256gb and it is a great drive. The best in fact for SATA II. No SATA III drive other than the unreliable Vertex III can match it under sata II

 

People have been recommending the Crucial M4... thoughts?

 

Crucial M4 is great if you want to go to Sata III now. However under SATA II the Samsung is faster. Not only on paper but more importantly in real world benchmarks too.

For me the choice wasn't easy however this and the fact that samsung engineered this product from the ground up (everything both hardware and firmware etc is made and designed by samsung) make this product the best choice for any SATA II machine.

Considering I want to keep this machine for a long time and that my processor can match a 2860qm due to its ridiculous OCing ability I don't want a SATA III drive that will perform worse in my M15x for the next couple of years. I wanted the very best for SATA II to future proof things nicely.

Mind you I am not knocking the M4 at all it is a great, realiable drive and will be the better purchase if purchased for a newer SATA III machine, however it is the wrong choice in my opinion if you intend to keep the M15x as long as I do. By the time a fully specced out M15x is obselete far faster drives than the M4 will be available and at better prices. I guess SATA III will already be old by then too lol.

So basically I say buy the Samsung if you can and especially if it is cheaper BUT don't expect a huge difference between the two. I simply wanted the best even if only by a small amount. I am sure you will be happy with either. Both drives have fantastic proven reliability the choice between the two comes down to your circumstances and future plans.

 

I bought the Crucial M4 512GB and it has so far been a great drive!

I agree it is not necessarily the fastest SATA II drive .. but I wanted to buy this for the medium/long term as well.

The price point was also a winner for me .. 512GB SSD for £504 (including VAT and shipping) meant under £1 per GB (which is one of the first quality SSDs I've seen hit this price point!)

With the pair of 8GB SODIMM chips I just ordered these are both components that I can take to my NEXT laptop .. so they are not just an M15x fix.

Note - Crystal Disk Mark was showing ~280 MB/sec sustained read/write speeds on my M15x .. so it is still extremely quick, even compared to the other SATA II machines.

 

I just upgraded my cpu to the I7 920xm @2.0 ghz
my current setup is

4 GB ram
ATI Mobility Hadeon HD 5730
ST9250410AS Hard Drive

I run autocad/rendering and play different video games. would it be better to upgrade to either 8 or 16 gigs of ram or upgrade my video card first for the next performance boost? WIth just running WoW and one tab of firefox i usually run at 67-70% of my ram. Any advice would be great

 

GPU, no question.

 

Indeed although 8GB is so cheap you may as well upgrade to that at the same time

 

Does a single 16 GB RAM module exist? If it is so, can M15x support it and have a total of 32 GB RAM available?

Sorry for asking this silly question. The point is that if single 16 GB RAM modules can be manufactured in the near future, the money I presently spend in buying 2 sticks of 8 GB RAM modules will be wasted. And, I have to spend additional money in buying 2 sticks of 16 GB RAM modules.

Thank you for the information.

 

Not yet, Alvin.

 

I am fairly sure the M15x won't be compatible with 16GB modules. Theoretically it is possible. However by then we will probably be on DDR5 or something else and with a different incompatible pin configuration on the module. Such as between DDR2 and DDR3 SODIMMS now.