Upgrade RAM for ASUS U30JC

Will I notice improvements if I upgrade from 4GB to 8GB in my ASUS U30JC-X3K? I will use it for things like some photoshop, very light gaming, maybe try some CAD programs if it handles them ok and all the other basic stuff. Will the upgrade improve basic usage or only demanding programs?

DDR3 1066Mhz PC3-8500, 204Pin, 1.5V, Low Density, 256x8/16chips, Unbuffered. Is what I looked at for like $80 (2x 4GB SODIMM's).

Since so many laptops have 3-4GB these days, would be hard to sell my old 4GB or should I keep it just in case it needs warranty work?

Thanks

 

$80 is pretty cheap for 8 gigs. What I would do is run your most ram intensive program and see how much memory your using. If you getting up into the 3.5GB range then I'd upgrade.

I'd sell the old 4GB's, you can get around $40 for it.

 

Windows shows 4GB installed but says (3.79GB usable) why is that? I have a 64 bit OS. I can put 8GB in the U30JC, correct?

Thanks for the fast reply.

 

The upgrade will allow you to run more programs simultaneously, and may improve performance of photoshop and CAD apps, especially with large images and effects and such. But it won't be anything like "this is a completely different computer!" type change. Just a general improvement in performance and task switching.

I am surprised that you are only seeing 3.79GB usable... perhaps some memory is going bad, or perhaps one of your device drivers isn't allocating memory correctly. But the system itself should support 8GB.

 

How do i find out about the memory, this PC is only a month old. I did some sort of memory test Windows 7 has built in that it did after reboot and it didnt find anything that I know of.

Here is where it shows this: (is there anything else I should check or test)
I havnt shipped the other laptop I had back yet, just checked it too. Same model and it says the same thing as the one I'm on now does....



The ASUS website shows up to 4GB SDRAM. Hmm I somehow thought I heard or read I could go to 8GB when I bought this laptop. http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=IZfJRyRqVpStMi76

 

Computer memory upgrades for ASUS U30Jc Laptop/Notebook from Crucial.com

You can go 8 GB DDR3. The Core i3 does not support 1333 RAM. More RAM > Faster RAM.

By the way PitaBred nice picture of Bruce Campbell.

 

What about its saying 3.79GB usable? Why does it say this?

 

The 310M Video card is reserving the 250MB of RAM.

I have 1333 RAM (down clocked automatically to 1066, btw) - 8GB installed, but shows 7.79GB 'available' too in my U30Jc.

 

Thanks. Why does the 310m use any system RAM if it has its own 512MB I thought.

Here is the memory I was looking at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190442912299

or the Crucial directly for like $96 plus shipping. I'm thinking I might be better off to pay a little more and order from Crucial with the link Tsunade_Hime posted.

 

Actually, I should have said the Intel integrated gpu instead (sorry!).

I have the Corsair PC3-10700 myself - as long as it is matched modules (my preference, based on first hand experience with mix 'n matched RAM) I would go for the cheapest RAM you can find with a lifetime warranty.

 

Does that machine have switchable graphics? If so, then I'll agree with tilleroftheearth. It's the Intel GPU reserving some system memory which is why it's unusable. Even more reason to get more RAM

 

Yeah it has nvidia optimus with the nVidia 310m & Intel HD graphics both.

Thanks

 

i'd get any RAM but crucial , Cosair and Kingston are reliable brands... Kingston's Hyper X RAM is recommendable.. runs very stable even when overclocked for me but seriously any RAM will do.

Panther214

 

On the resource Monitor it shows
4096MB Installed.
Hardware Reserved: 212MB (must be the Intel HD vram like mentioned)
In Use: 2073MB (couple browsers with many tabs open, resource monitor..)
Modified: 58MB
Standby 1655MB
Free: 98MB

Above that it says 2074 in use and 1753 available. I don't understand what standby means though, have to look that up. I don't have the programs I want to test it with on this notebook yet so I haven't got to test it that way. I may just upgrade anyway.

Thanks everyone ;-)

 

Standby is the Cached (1713 MB) minus the Modified (58 MB).

The Available (1753 MB) is the Standby plus the Free.

Does this help?

 

I just upgraded my Asus N73JQ from 6GB of RAM to 12GB of RAM and it did make Win7 feel a bit more responsive, i realize 12GB of RAM is overkill but the upgrade only set me back $75 after selling my oem RAM.

 

Well isn't standby really free memory?

 

It's even better than free memory:

it is memory that is free if the next data set/app is not in the cache,

but, if the next app you need is in this cache, then the load time will be even faster than with an SSD. It will effectively be at the speed of the RAM/CPU limit actually.

There is a distinction.