Windows 7: General Laptop Hardware Question

Good day sevenforums!

Here I am yet again for another question that I am confident enough you guys can answer.

So basically, I have this HP G42-476TX Laptop that currently has 4GB RAM DDR3 1066MHz and I'm thinking of upgrading it to 8GB RAM. It says here, HP G42-400 Notebook PC series*-* HP G42-476TX Notebook PC Product Specifications - c02673611 - HP Business Support Center that the HP G42-476TX can support up to 8GB of RAM. Now, my question is, would my computer (given the specs on the link provided) support 2 pcs 4GB RAM DDR3 1333MHz or 1600MHz and what would basically happen if I use those RAMs with those speeds. Thanks!

Hello synth could you run Speccy and post back the motherboard section opened out so we can see the chipset version please?

Speccy - Download < from Piriform

As a general rule you can put in a faster RAM stick but the speed depends on the chipset and what speed RAM it can handle. So for example if you put in 1600MHz RAM sticks and the highest speed RAM the chipset can only handle is 1333MHz RAM then the 1600MHz will be throttled back to 1333MHz - in a nutshell. My Sandy Bridge desktop is an apt example it has 16GB of 1600MHz in but can only use up to 1333MHz of the sticks speed.

You are far better off getting the same speed RAM and buy two sticks as pair then they are more likely to be evenly "matched / balanced" when in use.

My Toshiba is running 8GB of that speed yours is and it is just fine. If it is performance you want then try this
Optimize Windows 7[2]=Performance Maintenance
you lose some of the "bling" but it will run far more efficiently.
As it says in the tutorial a SSD will blaze your mind away LOL!! - if you don't store a lot on it and if you do you can always dump the extra onto an external drive which by the way you ought to use as a back up anyway for emergencies

Got it! Thanks, will try Speccy when I get back from work. I'll post what I'll find out Thanks again!

ICit2lol,

Here are the results from Speccy:

Spec Summary:




Spec Mobo:




And btw, I just have this quick question, I've noticed this for quite a while now and just didnt really paid much attention to it, but the first time I ran dxdiag when I got this laptop a while back, I noticed that the Memory on my GFX card is at 2GB when this card should only be 1GB. Heres the screenie of my dxdiag:



And here's a screenie from Speccy again:



So, what do you think? Thanks in advance mate.

Sorry late reply synth - shift work mate.



Personally I don't think you are going to get any more"go" out of the 1333MHz or the 1600MHz as I mentioned it will bethrottled back by the chipset it is the controller of what speed is supportedform what I can find in the HP and Intel sites.


For example I have a Toshiba laptop that has similar specsto your machine (i5 @2.4GHz) and I am running 8GB 1066MHz in it and it just flies.

Given you have a decent CPU there mate and it has a decent L3 cache I would stay with the same speed RAM up it by all means and if you wanted try the 1333MHz but remember what I mentioned above as I have experimented in the past only to find the faster speeds don't always work or are accepted.
One tip is to buy the sticks as pairs or if yo can a quad set as they come of the production line usually in the same production batch that meas they are more likely to be evenly matched speed and capacity wise.
Again personally I like Corsair and G Skill units but I guess it really is a personal thing. I'll PM you as well.

John

Got your PM John, thanks man, I guess I'll prolly try buying 2 pcs of 4GB RAM at 1066 or 1333 whichever is available (From where I am, Its kind of hard to get some 1066 DD3s anymore.) I think I saw some 4GB Corsair sticks yesterday, prolly gonna give them a visit later Thanks again.

Currently trying to look for a g skill ram in my country

I think the upgrade won't buy you anything - unless you plan to run virtual machines. But for a singular Windows 7 installation, 8GB will be more than half empty most of the time. See my example ==>

Well your profile shows out near me well quite near and G Skill are based in Taiwan mate so shouldn't be a problem.

But as whs says the 8GB is probably a fair bit of overkill - my Ivy Bridge uses at best 2GB out of the 8GB on board so just go with one stick 4GB and see how you go.
See my Task Manager in pic

Yeah well I forgot to mention why I was planning on upgrading. I'm planning on upgrading 'cos I might run OS X 10.7 on VirtualBox and play around xCode and try my hands on iOS App Development

And btw John, do you have any idea about this?

This has been troubling me for quite a while now, but I just didnt pay much attention to it.