Dominique wrote:
Hello, is there someone who ever tried to put 8 gig of RAM in an Acer
TravelMate 7720 or similar "notebook"?
I'm actually running Win7 32bits with 4 gig of RAM, I'd like to go 64bits
and it would be great to go 8 gig.
All the documentation I've found (old) says 4 gig RAM maximum. It uses DDR2
sodimm RAM (I know, it's expensive); but I am curious to know if someone
actually tried it? I could go to a computer shop and try it but I doubt I
would find someone who has 2 x 4gig DDR2 sodimm lying around.
It's a Core2Duo 2.00 ghz.
Here's the hardware report from Belarc:
ATA Channel 0 [Controller]
ATA Channel 1 [Controller]
Contrôleurs de stockage Ultra ATA Intel(R) ICH8M - 2850 [Controller]
Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter] (2x)
Seiko Epson 17,2 [Monitor] (17,2"vis)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Firewi Contrôleur Texas Instruments PCI-8x12/7x12/6x12 CardBus
ISO Mounter
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2830
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2831
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2832
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2834
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2835
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 2836
Contrôleur hôte universel Intel(R) gamme ICH8 USB - 283A
EDIROL FA-101 (Firewire)
Périphérique High Definition Audio (onboard)
UM-3G (USB)
Yamaha USB-MIDI Driver (WDM)
TIA
Dominique
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/316273.pdf
Page 12 Section 1.1.2
"Maximum Memory Supported: 4GB"
The GM965 would be the PM965, but with the internal
GPU turned on. The memory limit should be the same.
The GL960 is limited to 2GB, and has a separate line
to that effect in the document.
The desktop version of the same chipset (which drives
up to four sticks of RAM), has an 8GB limit. The laptop
on the other hand, only has two slots defined for memory,
and using the maximum density chips, gives a 2x2GB = 4GB limit.
The chip has a 36 bit FSB, so is not artificially limited in
that way. And it has memory remapping support. If the processor
supports 64 bit instructions, and you install a 64 bit OS,
the entire 4GB of RAM should be mapped in, with the video
address space also assigned some room. With a 64 bit OS, I
would expect to see 4095MB (or so) free, versus the 3.25GB
I see on my current setup with a 32 bit OS.
And just to make you feel better, that high RAM hardly ever
gets used. I have an 8GB machine, with 32 bit and 64 bit OSes,
and don't have my virtual machines set up in the 64 bit OS.
And as a result, it would be a strange day, to have all the memory
used in Windows 8 x64. I would need to load up a few VMs to get
there. The newer Windows does like to waste memory when running
CHKDSK, and that may be the most amusement you can get from
having a lot of RAM. (These comments are for an "average" user.
If you're designing silicon chips and doing Verilog simulations,
then you use all the memory, all day long. But for more common
activities, even using GIMP on large photos, the machine would
likely feel too slow, if you actually attempted to manipulate
7GB objects. You need a lot more memory speed, than a DDR2
DIMM can manage, to help the thing scale a bit. This is one of
the weaknesses of current design, is memory can be very large
now, but it's still about as slow (in mega-transactions per second).
The cycle time to do a cache line burst, really isn't speeding up
all that much. And if you, say, buy a desktop today and put
64GB in it, you;ll be sitting on your hands if the machine
ever uses it. Having that RAM could add another 20 to 30 seconds
to your BIOS startup time (and that doesn't even constitute a
decent test either, just a fill operation).
If you're going to put a lot of memory in a modern machine,
there had better be a justification for doing so. Having
64GB as a "hood ornament" on the computer, the thrill will
soon wear off.
Paul