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    Memory upgrade for Vaio vgn-fw140E

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by photobug, Oct 14, 2009.

  1. photobug

    photobug Notebook Enthusiast

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    My laptop is running painfully slow. I have gone through some steps to clean it up but want to add more ram from the 3 it came with. It uses DDR2 200 pin and currently has 1-1gig stick and 1-2 gig stick of PC2 6400 (400MHz). I was thinking of just replacing the one stick with 1gb with a 2GB stick. There is Ram running at 800MHz would this be compatible with my current setup or should I try to find a 400MHz stick?

    Would I benefit from upping both sticks to 800MHz?

    How about the 4GB sticks would this work on my computer if I wanted even more?

    Thanks
    PB
     
    photobug, Oct 14, 2009
    #1
  2. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    400MHz is DDR2-800. What are you using your notebook for? I would determine the cause of why your notebook is slow first. Are you maxing out your memory and getting "out of memory" errors?
     
    sgogeta4, Oct 14, 2009
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  3. photobug

    photobug Notebook Enthusiast

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    You're right, so PC26400 would match up with the memory I have in there.

    I am getting some slow downs on stat up and other processes as well and it is usually from the CPU being overloaded. I have run all the virus scans I can get for free and other cleaning processes as well like limiting startup items.

    With 3GB of ram i am running many tabs in Firefox and sometimes Adobe Light room and maybe photoshop all at once, but not always. I figure when all things are open the extra GB of Ram will come in handy. Although something else is responsible for the slow down.

    PB
     
    photobug, Oct 14, 2009
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  4. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    If your CPU is hitting 100% load for sustained amount of time, that means you need a CPU upgrade... 2GB stick is cheap, so you can upgrade to that no problem, but 4GB sticks are still not worth it IMO. Make sure you are using a 64-bit OS too.
     
    sgogeta4, Oct 14, 2009
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  5. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    Hmmm... are u using vista? If this is the case , i'm quite sure lack of memory is causing the problem... most porbably if it is an FW series laptop, 4GB modules will work but they're not worth it.. get 2X2 GB modules.. that's should be good and enough and a cheap upgrade..
     
    sean473, Oct 14, 2009
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  6. photobug

    photobug Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yep I meant to include the fact I was running Vista in my last post.

    Since there is already a 2GB stick in one slot should I just buy one more, or will buying a 2x2 GB package run better? I.e. buying a set of matched sticks?
     
    photobug, Oct 14, 2009
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  7. wildman_33

    wildman_33 Notebook Evangelist

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    when it os being "slow" have you looked in task manager it shows how much memory you are using. if it is over 2gb and near 3 it might be worth the upgrade but if you can a system restore to factory settings would provide a bigger boost in performance as windows tends to get slow over time. i did a system resotre on an old vaio and it went form being almost unusealbe to quite fast.
     
    wildman_33, Oct 14, 2009
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  8. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    Get another 2 GB module.. its good enough.
     
    sean473, Oct 15, 2009
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  9. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I'm running 3GB of memory on Vista 64. After a clean install, Windows only takes <1GB. I am trying eBoostr to use up another 1GB and a bit (though I'm not sure yet if it really speeds things up). Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Sean, don't spout BS about Vista, 3GB is more than enough to run it. If his programs like Photoshop require more then there is sufficient reason to upgrade to 4GB.
     
    sgogeta4, Oct 15, 2009
    #9