Help with upgrading my laptop's RAM

[Kratos Aurion]

First of all, here's my laptop's specs just so if they're somehow needed:
• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• CPU: Intel i7 740QM (1.73GHz, Turbo2.93G, 6MB)
• Memory: 6GB
• Hard Drive: 640GB
• Screen: 15.6" LED 1366*768
• Chipset: Intel HM55
• Video: NVidia GT425M 1GB VRAM

So anyway, I wanted to upgrade my laptops RAM so it can handle heavy programs like Vegas Pro, Photoshop and CorelDRAW better than it does now since I have some heavy HD footage to edit. My fears come from the fact that i've never done this before in my life, so I wanna be aware of what i'm doing here before I completely screw my laptop up for good. My questions are:
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• How do you install more RAM? I know it's a little "card" that you insert in a slot inside the laptop, but is inserting it enough or do you have to change the BIOS or install it manually or something?
• How do I know how much RAM my PC can handle? (EDIT: Already found out, thanks anyway)
• Is there anyway to know if the RAM is inserted well in the slot? I want to know this before I try it for the first time...
• Is it reccommended to make use of all slots, or the less slots used the better?
• Are RAM "cards" universal, or are some of them incompatible with certain computers/laptops?

Sorry for having such doubts, it's my first time doing this and I don't want to screw it up in any way. So this is what crucial.com had to say about my PC's RAM:

So should I go with their advice of 4GBx4 on all slots, or do you reccommend me any better setup?

Thank you for your time.

 

[D3LL]

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

This operating system is fine .

• How do you install more RAM? I know it's a little "card" that you insert in a slot inside the laptop, but is inserting it enough or do you have to change the BIOS or install it manually or something?

Yep its just as simple as inserting it inside the laptop. No changes have to be made in the BIOS or operating system. Easy right?

• Is it reccommended to make use of all slots, or the less slots used the better?

It really doesn't matter how many slots you do or don't use. Either way it will work just fine.

• Are RAM "cards" universal, or are some of them incompatible with certain computers/laptops?

No RAM is not universal. I see you are using the crucial system scanner which is great and helps you buy the correct RAM. May I recommend you buy from there .

Everyone has doubts when they do things for the first time. It's good to ask around. But I am sure you will be fine.

Also..... I would go with there 16GB configuration at the very top.

 

[indianacarnie]

D3LL is correct. Adding memory is very simple, just make sure that you've grounded yourself before starting and to take your battery out. If you're still apprehensive see if theres a tutorial on youtube for your specific machine.
Remember........ RAM is a good thing, the more the better!

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it =D

I was planning on buying on my local electronics store, and resort to crucial.com if stores are no longer an option. So my question is, if you ask the guy at the store for "DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-8500, DDR3 (non-ECC)" RAM, will he know what i'm talking about? Let me remind, it's Portugal we're talking about xD

And that is the exact type of RAM for my PC right? I got that from the crucial.com report, not sure if it's soemthing else in there...

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[bobkn]

You'll also have to mention that it's a SODIMM (small outline dual memory module, 204 pins) for a laptop. Desktop DDR3 (longer, 240 pins) would not fit.

I'm not sure how easy it is to access the RAM slots on your laptop. I've worked on a couple of laptops with two slots, where one slot was easily accessible, while the other required removal of the keyboard. I doubt that yours is like that, but I suggest doing some online searching before you buy the new RAM. (4 slots. Impressive for a laptop.) It would not require superhuman skill to remove that keyboard if you had to do that, but it requires more effort than just removing a panel on the back of the machine.

 

[alphanumeric]

In regards to your question about using all the slots. Keep in mind that along with a maximum amount of supported RAM, there is also a limit on how much you can add per slot. As an example my old Acer Aspire only supports 4 gigs max. It has two slots that support a max size of 2 gigs per slot. I can't just put one 4 gig module in, I have to use two 2 gig modules. In your case it looks like its 4 4gig modules for a total of 16 gig. Before you order though I would double check that your laptop does in deed have four slots and can support 16 gigs by looking it up on the laptop manufacturers web site. I have seen sites like that get it wrong every once in a while. You know what they say, measure twice, cut once.

 

[Layback Bear]

This site maybe of some help.
Repair Guide | Installation Video

 

[Kratos Aurion]

This site maybe of some help.
Repair Guide | Installation Video

I put my model, and they gave me a ACER Aspire repair video xD

 

[Layback Bear]

If you can't find your exact model then their is not a video on that model. It was just a place to look that might help give you some idea of what is involved.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Hey guys, I think I found one that's compatible with my laptop. It follows crucial.com's reccommended RAM's specs:

KINGSTON 4 GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 CL9 ValueRAM Laptop Memory Module (KVR1333D3S9/4G)

There's only one thing that's not the same as crucial reccommends: the voltage being 1.5V instead of 1.35V. I'm guessing this is kind of important, so might as well go look for another one or is it not a big deal after all?

Thank you for all your help.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

1.35 voltage memory is optimized for low battery usage, the 1.5 is not (not a huge hit for a laptop with your specs). Performance is theoretically worse but it's hard to notice.

Your laptop should take both as standard is 1.5 Volt. If you notice, Crucial recommends some RAM banks that need 1.5 V as well for your laptop.

Unless you have a very good reason to do so (heavy music/video editing, virtual machines) you should be fine with 8 GB, you won't notice a lot of difference going up to 16 GB.
Although you may want to purchase them now as when you may need them (in the future when you want to upgrade) it will be harder and more pricey to get a hold on them.

Changing RAM is more or less model-independent unless they placed the ram slots in funky ways (if it isn't a netbook it shoud be fine), you open a panel under it (that should have a symbol looking like a RAM bank close to it), and operate the same slot SODIMM fastening springs to remove/add banks. Watch a video and you know how to do it on your own laptop as well.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

So its ok for me to put 1.5V RAM, instead of 1.35? No risk of overheating or anything, just a little slower?

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Yes it will work, but lol it is the other way around. 1.35 is the "slower", 1.5 the "standard".
The faster it goes the more power it needs, the higher the voltage. In desktops there are 1.65V "gaming" rams.

In any case you won't really notice anything. It's something that can be seen only with benchmarking software nowadays. And if you use integrated GPU, but your Geforce is "dedicated" graphics even if it is technically soldered to the motherboard since it has its own ram.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Ok guys, i just went to my local electronics store and bought 2 of these: Corsair - 4GB 1.3GHz DDR3 SoDIMM Laptop Memory.

I wanted to get Kingstons, since I have a good history with that brand, but they didn't have any

According to crucial's report, it has the same exact reccommended specs. Only thing I couldn't find out is the voltage, if it's either 1.35 or 1.5. The man at the store said it would be ok either way, but it's still kinda stuck on my mind right now...
I bought two because I want to try with 8GB first, and only if that isn't enough for what i'm trying to do then i'll get one or two more. The man at the store did his own research (because he doubted my laptop had 4 slots xD) and yeah he guarranteed me these would work on my laptop. He also reccommended me to remove the original ones and work only with these, because of the 1333mhz and if I had the other 2 inside then I wouldn't get the 1333mhz and only get the 1060 or something. So yeah, little relieved now but i'd still like to hear it from you guys too...

Now all that's left is open the laptop and put them in...which is kinda scaring me now xD I'll follow this tutorial on Youtube and hope for the best. Any tips you can give me about being careful with it, or inserting it in the slots or anything I might miss?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Bump. Can anyone give an answer to my post, please?

 

[indianacarnie]

Just make sure you ground yourself and take the battery out and you'll be fine.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Just make sure you ground yourself and take the battery out and you'll be fine.

Yeah I studied the kind of RAM i needed, and watched some tutorials on opening up my laptop.

Thank you all for the help

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Just took out the 6GB and put the new 8GB I bought (2x4GB) =D

Yet to start using Vegas and Photoshop to notice the difference, because so far I only notice a slight increase in speed. I also noticed that when you turn on the computer, the ASUS logo tales a little more time to show up. Nothing that really bothers me, but it's kinda strange...

Anyway, thanks to all this now I know how to buy and install RAM (on laptops, at least). Thank you so much for the info guys

 

[bobafetthotmail]

since you seem to be expecting more speed, I'll explain what is RAM in layman terms.
RAM is like a table you spread the stuff you are working with on.
If it is too small, you have to place some of the stuff you need on the ground, and when you need the stuff on the ground you lose time to pick it up. The "ground" in this case is the pagefile, space dedicated on the hard drive in case you run out of RAM, but is slow.

More ram means you have a bigger table, so you can place more stuff on it. This means it allows more multitasking, more tabs in browser, and you can turn some of that ram in a RAMdisk to increase snappyness of the system by storing there temporary files.

To see how much RAM is being used at any moment by what program (to see if you are really using the new ram or if you need more), you can use Resource Monitor, open Task Manager, and go in the tab where you see the CPU graphs, there you find the button to activate it.

Only thing I couldn't find out is the voltage, if it's either 1.35 or 1.5. The man at the store said it would be ok either way, but it's still kinda stuck on my mind right now...

you can go look in the BIOS options, in the system Information pages (or somewhere else where it talks about ram) you should see that.

when you turn on the laptop you should see a line of text telling you what key to press to enter bios, or setup. It's usually F2, or F12 or Del. Press it a few times just after you turned it on to access bios options.
Don't play with the options in there blindly (google the options you want to change first)

He also reccommended me to remove the original ones and work only with these, because of the 1333mhz and if I had the other 2 inside then I wouldn't get the 1333mhz and only get the 1060 or something. So yeah, little relieved now but i'd still like to hear it from you guys too...

yes, the ram banks you had were "slower" (again theoretically), and since all ram banks must be run at the same speed, everyone goes at the speed of the slower bank.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

since you seem to be expecting more speed, I'll explain what is RAM in layman terms.
RAM is like a table you spread the stuff you are working with on.
If it is too small, you have to place some of the stuff you need on the ground, and when you need the stuff on the ground you lose time to pick it up. The "ground" in this case is the pagefile, space dedicated on the hard drive in case you run out of RAM, but is slow.

More ram means you have a bigger table, so you can place more stuff on it. This means it allows more multitasking, more tabs in browser, and you can turn some of that ram in a RAMdisk to increase snappyness of the system by storing there temporary files.

To see how much RAM is being used at any moment by what program (to see if you are really using the new ram or if you need more), you can use Resource Monitor, open Task Manager, and go in the tab where you see the CPU graphs, there you find the button to activate it.

Only thing I couldn't find out is the voltage, if it's either 1.35 or 1.5. The man at the store said it would be ok either way, but it's still kinda stuck on my mind right now...

you can go look in the BIOS options, in the system Information pages (or somewhere else where it talks about ram) you should see that.

when you turn on the laptop you should see a line of text telling you what key to press to enter bios, or setup. It's usually F2, or F12 or Del. Press it a few times just after you turned it on to access bios options.
Don't play with the options in there blindly (google the options you want to change first)

He also reccommended me to remove the original ones and work only with these, because of the 1333mhz and if I had the other 2 inside then I wouldn't get the 1333mhz and only get the 1060 or something. So yeah, little relieved now but i'd still like to hear it from you guys too...

yes, the ram banks you had were "slower" (again theoretically), and since all ram banks must be run at the same speed, everyone goes at the speed of the slower bank.

Thanks for the reply

Yeah I knew RAM was metathorical for that, actually I was just giving my first impression on using the laptop with the new RAM sticks, which seemed slightly faster at first but now after 5 hours...it's just about the same, and it makes sense...

Is it reccommended to change the voltage on the BIOS to 1.5V? After checking Corsair's official specs on my RAM sticks, it says 1.5V (supported and tested). Should I change it (although the ones from the link weren't "ValueSelect", so maybe they're not the same as mine)?

I feel like i'm learning so much about this. I was scared s***less when I put the RAM sticks in xD