NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Notebook Forums › Dell Legacy (single-core notebooks) › Looking to update memory on Inspiron 6000.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Looking to update memory on Inspiron 6000.

post #1 of 6
7/29/06 at 4:27pm
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking about updating my memory on my Inspiron 6000 notebook to 1GB. I currently am working with 512MB, and the computer lags a bit; it's pretty annoying.

However, my current memory has 2 slots of 256 and I was wondering if I do decide to update to 1GB, do I need to fill up both slots? Or can I take both of 256 out and just use one slot for 1GB?

I'm sorry if that sounds kind of confusing.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 6
7/30/06 at 9:49pm
You can put a 1 gig stick in there to replace one of the 256 sticks, which would give you 1.25 gigs, or you could get two 512 sticks and replace both of the 256 sticks.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 6
7/31/06 at 4:23am
2x512mb sticks will keep the computer in Dual Channel mode. If you put in 1gb stick and leave one 256mb (or leave the 1gb by itself) it'll only run in Single Channel mode, and will be slower then it should be.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 6
7/31/06 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raduque
2x512mb sticks will keep the computer in Dual Channel mode. If you put in 1gb stick and leave one 256mb (or leave the 1gb by itself) it'll only run in Single Channel mode, and will be slower then it should be.
Not nessicarily slower. Consider the fact that the FSB only runs at 533 MHz, and so will the RAM. Running in dual channel effectly is like running RAM at 1066MHz, because it uses the bandwidth of both of the RAM channels. However, the CPU can still only have 533MHz worth of data streaming in and out, thus leaving it as the bottleneck. In other words, it would not be faster nor slower, due to the FSB bottleneck, thus I would suggest that you just get a full 1GB stick and replace one of the 256 sticks.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 6
7/31/06 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by amazin asian
Not nessicarily slower. Consider the fact that the FSB only runs at 533 MHz, and so will the RAM. Running in dual channel effectly is like running RAM at 1066MHz, because it uses the bandwidth of both of the RAM channels. However, the CPU can still only have 533MHz worth of data streaming in and out, thus leaving it as the bottleneck. In other words, it would not be faster nor slower, due to the FSB bottleneck, thus I would suggest that you just get a full 1GB stick and replace one of the 256 sticks.

Hmmm, have you actually used a single channel to dual channel before? Single channel IS slower then dual channel. I bought one 1gb stick to upgrade my ram, but it was slower then it is now with 2x512. Read up on dual channel and find you some benchmarks. OP, If you've got the cash, get paired ram sticks: 2x512 for 1gb total, or 2x1GB for 2GB total.

Oh yea, mismatched speeds will cause fallback to single-channel modes.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 6
10/10/06 at 6:07am
when did laptops have dual channel mode? cant find any info mb uses it, since dell laptop come from malaysia or china, which laptop manufacturer makes for them
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Notebook Forums › Dell Legacy (single-core notebooks) › Looking to update memory on Inspiron 6000.