RAM upgrade help

Slammer said:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 (more info in my specs) and I'd like to upgrade my current 4 gigs of RAM to 8, because it'll greatly improve performance in my movie editing projects, and because who wouldn't just want more RAM? Anyway, I looked up the type of memory my computer needs and found this very helpful page: Computer memory upgrades for Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop/Notebook with the 8GB kit as a reference for the specs I need.

But I don't feel like paying $175 for it. So I started looking around on eBay, but I honestly don't know enough about the technical specs of RAM stick to know what I'm searching for. It says the compatible RAM specs are:

Part Number: CT1646540

• Module Size: 8GB Kit (4GBx2)
• Package: 200-pin SODIMM
• Feature: DDR2 PC2-6400
• Specs: DDR2 PC2-6400 • CL=6 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • 1.8V • 512Meg x 64 •

But out of all that, all I understand is that it needs to have 200 pins, and not 240. Of the rest, I don't know which specs are required for compatibility and which ones are just quality-related.

So I found this one on eBay, (at less than half the cost of the set on that other page!) which has the right number of pins, but I don't know about the rest of the specs. If someone could tell me if that set would be compatible, and/or tell me exactly what specs I need to be looking for, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks :)

Different speeds

Crucial PC6400
Ebay PC4200

There may also be other differences. As to its possible performance increase your cpu is the limiting factor. When you are editing how much free memory is listed in task manager?


As a total aside:

I have an insprion as well, and the additional ram WILL require additional cooling of some sort.

Slammer said:

So the PC- number is just speed? And how much better is 6400 compared to 4200? Is it worth payer more for a higher number? And do I need to worry about any of the other specs, besides just the 200-pin layout?

I don't check task manager, I have a CPU meter gadget (which I've compared to task manager info; it's accurate). It's never less than 75% memory used, usually peaking around 95% during intense editing, or just after I've been using it for a few hours (at which time I get so much lag I have to close the program and reopen it to do anything properly). My CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo (which I'm pretty sure is just fancy speak for dual core; I never really understood how they name these things)

How would I cool it more? I don't know of any ways to upgrade cooling systems on a laptop like mine.

Since the gadget has to poll the cpu constantly it uses memory and cpu cycles. A better determinant is how the page file is being used.

The name is confusing.

There are relatively inexpensive cooling pads that make about a 10-15 degree difference.

My inspiron came with 1 gig (ludicrous) and when I upgraded the HD, and ram to 4gigs it ran close to the danger zone. Eight gigs would do increase it more I suspect. I also reapllied the thermal paste which made a huge difference.

Slammer said:

Ok that makes sense. I'd say my CPU remains at about 50% usage (average, since it constantly fluctuates) when I'm doing this stuff, so I think it should be able to handle that fairly well.

But I'm still confused about the individual specs for RAM cards. Could you explain to me what each one means, and maybe why they're important? Or point me to a good link where I can read about them :)

• Specs: DDR2 PC2-6400
• CL=6
• Unbuffered
• NON-ECC
• DDR2-800
• 1.8V
• 512Meg x 64

Any of the terms can be googled. Wikipedia has links to any of them. Random-access memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All I can tell is that dynamic random access memory and I think it has two RAM parts instead of one, I've heard a 32-bit operating system can only take up to 4GB RAM.