Questions regarding RAM upgrade

I plan to purchase a cutomized Toshiba Satellite L850D-BT2N22 with the A10-4600m processor and the rest base components - 320GB HD, 1x4GB 1600 ram (unspecified CL), etc.

I'd like to upgrade the HD and RAM once I get the machine - I will be replacing the HD with a SSD but I need some advice on what to do regarding the memory.

I know the APUs performance is tied to the various specifications of the RAM and want to make sure i purchase the appropriate/best components. My intended use for this notebook is primarily some mid range gaming - titles like Diablo III, CS:GO, Civ V (i know this game is CPU intensive but the A10 should be fine).

Questions -
1) 16GB of RAM is generally considered frivolous but the price difference between 2x8 and 2x4 is not very large ($25-35)... I was wondering if 16GB is at all more usefull with an APU, due to the lack of dedicated graphics memory, or if it would make no difference. If i were to get 16GB would there be anything i could do with it? I assume setting up a ram cache would be redundent with an SSD.

2) I don't believe the A10 supports faster ram than 1600, if i were to purchase 1866 so i could reuse the ram in a future laptop a few years down the road would there be an issue or would the laptop in question just use it at the lower frequency?

3) Regarding CAS latency - I saw this had a minor impact on Llano APU performance (FPS) in the following thread -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...g-benchmarked-various-ram-configurations.html

Am i correct in assuming that a similar marginal effect would be experienced with the trinity chips, that is, a couple FPS variance between say a CL 9 or 10 and a CL 11? Basically, is this that important of a factor with respect to in game performance.

4) Assymetric memory configuration - without knowing anything other than the frequency of the stock 4GB stick, would it be unwise to upgrade by adding a single stick of 8 or 4 GB 1600 ram? would it be an issue if the CL was different between sticks?

Sorry for the long post... thanks to anyone who takes the time to read it and respond.

 

1. It won't be the amount of RAM so much as the speed that would affect the APU. You will want at least 8gb though.
2. You could certainly buy the higher clocked RAM, it will downclock to where it needs to as well as lower the ram timings in the process. 1866 RAM is probably pretty expensive for notebooks though, I would stay with the max your system can do.
3. From looking at that graph, it looks as if the deciding factor was if you had 2x4gb so-dimms as opposed to 2x2gb or 1x2gb+1x4gb. Go with 2x8gb with a speed of 1600 if you can, as you said the price difference isn't too substantial. The latency seemed to have a minor affect, but were talking 1 or 2 fps in the 30-50 fps range, so any marginal increase like that will help.
4. I would buy a 2x8gb kit and just remove that other 4gb. This way you will have matched RAM. I doubt there would be any issues using unmatched RAM, but to guarantee stability and performance you usually want a matched pair.

 

So, going based on your suggestion, I've identified two solid options. Both are 1600mhz, 2x8gb, 1.5 V etc. Only difference is CL (10 vs 11), a $10 price difference because of this, and the fact that the Kingston offering is confirmed to be compatable with this laptop by Toshiba.

My question now is, should I be concerned about the GSkill set not working with the laptop? The only models I found that were confirmed to function in this model of the Satellite were the Kingston memory below and a Crucial set which also had a CL of 11. Furthermore, the only negative (1 egg) review for the Gskill RAM on newegg had a response from the manufacturing saying that the customer should have bought Gskill's CL 11 version of RAM for their laptop, not the CL 10.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model F3-1600C10D-16GSQ

vs.

Newegg.com - Kingston 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 Laptop Memory Model KVR16S11K2/16

 

Im buying the EXACT same RAM for my unit which comes in next week. That issue the one user had was in regards to a specific MB for a Dell laptop, I cannot confirm if your laptop will have the same issue.

Just making sure you have at least 2x4gb and 1600mhz was the most important part, should see next to no difference between CL10/11. I would go with the Kingston if it confirmed working for your unit.