Dell Inspiron 1720 question

Is it possible for me to upgrade my memory capacity?

 

Hi and welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately, your laptop's memory capacity (4gb) is limited by your BIOS and chipset, hence can't be increased.

 

ok thanks, i phrased question wrong i meant could my current memory be upgraded (2 gb) i searched the forums and found my answer thanks.
I have another question for anyone willing to answer, if i stall 2 more gigs for a total of 4 gigs will my 32 bit operating system recognize all 4 or will it cut off?

 

any 32bit OS will only utilize ~3gb of memory. You'll need a 64 bit OS to use all 4gb.

 

I hate to spoil the show, but I have to disagree with David.

I am a 1720 user with 6GB of DDR2-667 installed. To say that this particular Inspiron 1720 with GM965 chipset model maxes out at 4GB is wrong. Update your BIOS to A09, get X64 and you can get the full 6GB working. I repeat, the 1720 DOES NOT Max out at 4GB.

FYI, the GM965 does support more than 4GB. See the Intel Specs Sheet for more information.

Want to see a the 1720 with 6GB really works? There are 2 valid proofs;

See my sig
OR
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305464

I may upgrade to 8GB sometime later on. 6GB is still not enough for my needs. I'm going to give a try to see if BIOS A09 really has the 8GB potential.

 

That's great news that you the 1720 can support 6GB, however the Intel spec sheet still says the limit is 4gb. I guess you proved them wrong!

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/316273.pdf

 

Oh yeah, I didn't realized. Guess I didn't see that one coming... My apologies about the Intel Sheet statement I made earlier... I was looking at other chips. I probably got mixed up....

 

Since Santa Rosa it has supported up to 8GB. So it is mostly limited by the BIOS. Montevina does up to 16GB now because Dell has a Precision with up to 16GB.

 

does x64 64 bit OS? can i upgrade my processor and if so what would you recommend?

 

Yeah x64 is a common way of saying 64bit OS.

 

somebody should ban this guy. If some newbie believes that sheet she/he may run into trouble if nobody is here to correct.
And this is reviewer ! With bunch of green dots !

 

huh?

anyways the 1520 sees 6gb's as well with x64 as well for anyone who was wondering.

 

That is right !
Please email Dell to correct BIOS for 8GB
All other notebooks with GM965 got new bioses in November

 

What the hell are you talking about?

 

That's what I was thinking. I believe the 8GB should work well into the 1720. I'll be purchasing another module later.

 

While it technically *should* work, it will probably be like the M1530 tests where the users found it will only accept one 4GB stick and one 2GB stick. When two 4GB sticks are used it either won't boot or will only see one of them. So, this was Dell's doing to only allow 6GB unofficially. Their literature says 4GB max.

 

Hmm... I am also in this dilemma. However some M1530's are working well with 8GB... I think I've seen one M1730 with 8GB and BIOS A09. You'll never know by testing out.

I found some buyers for my RAM, I'll sell to them immediately if 8GB doesn't work.

 

I highly recommend the T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz FSB 6mb) or T9500 (2.6GHz 800Mhz FSB 6mb) processor. You can buy them off from ebay for a good price.

If you're strapped for budget, the T9300's my bet. Try undervolting it as well. It runs alot cooler.

 

I'm sorry if you think I should be banned. Most people view the manufacture spec sheets before purchasing a laptop and not purchase a laptop to test what works and what doesn't. If anything, you should take it up with Intel for releasing inaccurate information to the public.

 

That's not very nice. David is a good contributor to the forum.

Haven't you ever made a mistake? We all make mistakes in one way or another and no one is *above* anyone.

I'm not trying to start something here...but he already corrected himself if you look at his recent post.

Practicing random acts of peace/kindness/and forgiveness is a good thing.


Cin

 

@someformofhuman or anyone else who could answer this question, so you didnt change your motherboard but you were able to use 6 GB of memory because you upgraded your operating system and updated Bios.

 

You will need a 64bit OS to use more than ~3GB. The latest BIOS should give the most functionality. People have brought it up to Dell to add this feature to the BIOS, so it is up to them. Apparently it is working in some cases.

 

Yes. There are only 2 kinds of motherboard/chipset for the 1720; the one with the integrated graphics (Intel GMA X3100) and the one with a GPU slot for your 8400M GS and 8600M GT. Both of them should work with the same updated BIOS (A09) like atbnet said.

Any particular reason why you need that amount of RAM? Photoshopping purposes?

 

yeah i wanted to start getting into photoshopping so i could make funny gifs of my friends, im sorry if im being a both to anyone but one last question, exactly how did you update your bios to A09?

 

I'm kind of learning how to PShop..it's fun!

And, no your not bothering anyone..that's why were all here on the forum..To learn, and help each other out

Cin

 

Here is the A09 BIOS

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=264348

 

sick thanks alot. you guys didnt have to change your hardware or anything when you upgraded to 64 bit did you?

 

Nope. But we call them "upgrades"; like RAM for example.

 

No it uses the same hardware given that you have a 64 bit processor which they all are and have been for a few years.