5680 Ram question

yea, im fairly positive that it would work, i think you can even up the ram specs. like put in pc3500 and it will still work, just run at the slower speed.

just make sure that it is 200 pin

im sorry but I was under the impression that these new processors need dual memory sticks to make use of the faster fsb. Correct me if im wrong, but i thought the memory must operate in equal pairs (just like in the old days)

Dual-Channel is what you are referring too. The advantage is that it increases speed, but not associated directly with the FSB as you suggest. The only requirement is that the board in general supports Dual-Channel, and that you have the two sticks. The downside is you do need two sticks, but it seems thats a standard anyway.

There is a PDF article about the 865pe chipset that explains about all compatible memory configurations. This is supposed to be the chipset that the 5680 and 8890 is utilizing. According to this article 266mhz(pc2100) is compatible.

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...ots/253036.htm

As for dual channel memory 400mhz(pc3200), it is recommended by intel for best performance......requires two dual channel modules. Its best for maximizing the capabilities of HT.

By the way.... i am really anxious about these new sagers ......i want to get one.......

If im not mistaken, alienware's new A-51m is coming out with a SIS chipset. So HT capabilities will be limited. On that note, i would like mention that HT will only perform at its best with HT compatible software, otherwise performance with HT will be greatly decreased. So dont go getting the 400mhz (pc3200) mem modules, until you have a better understanding of the benefits, uses, and operational parameters of HT.........

Hyperthreading will help any multithreaded application (which includes all video games where you can move in real-time - i.e. RTS, FPS, MMORPG, etc., as well as most sophisticated business, productivity, or graphics software - i.e. Word, Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Photoshop, etc.). HT will also help whenever you have multiple applications running at once, which is generally almost all the time, since little managers and monitors of the type that appear in your system tray are usually seperate applications (even if they aren't very active). Also note that your OS is multithreaded, so it helps OS operation, and helps applications run during OS operation.

So Hyperthreading will probably help the typical user in 90 to 99% of the situations they find themselves in on a day-to-day basis.

Memory type has nothing to do with HT, and HT will work just fine whatever memory you use (so long as the memory is compatible with the rest of the system). For a discussion of memory types, speeds, and benefits, see my post in this thread.

-phubar

Thanks for the elaboration.......

This laptop is going to be absolutely crazy. I just upgraded my desktops and this will blow it away!

Any games that use 1gig of memory at the moment or in the future? I'm in MMOGS quite a bit, but I have everything pretty much.

I would assume the increase in memory bandwidth and cpu will help games such as Morrowind greatly.

Not to be cynical... well, ok, being cynical:

Most games out there, particularly new ones, have memory leaks. Performance degrades over time until you have to reboot. The more memory you have, the slower the degradation, and the longer you can go between reboots...


In terms of dealing with games themselves, rather than their bugs, the single most important item is the graphics card. The 9600P in the 5680 and 8890 will blow away anything else in a laptop (except a GeForce FX Go 5600, nVidia's equivalent card). Why?
1) 8x AGP instad of 4X doubles the data transfer rate between the chipset and gfx card.
2) DX9 hardware support optimizes a lot of operations.
3) Maximum onboard memory to be found in a mobile gfx card (128 Mb).
4) more optimization technology than you can shake a stick at.

ATI 9600 PRO specs & features
nVidia GeForce FX GO specs & features

Note that 8x AGP and DX9 are exclusive to the 9600 and FX GO lines of cards in a mobile gfx card.


Getting back to the topic, increases in memory transfer rate and CPU speed always help, although often not by very much. Depends on the program and the platform it was designed for. If the program is designed to run under 128 MB memory (such as Morrowind), then moving from 512MB to 1 Gig may not do a lot. On the other hand, it may enable greater screen resolution and nifty memory-intensive graphics features like increased texture detail - but only if your graphics card is able to handle such things first (the gfx card is usually the bottleneck).


-phubar

Just a little note Phubar:

1) 8x does not double the bandwith of 4x AGP, although the name implies it, the bandwith is not doubled.

2)The equivalent of the m10Pro is not the GeForceFX 5600, it is equivalent to the 9600, at least on paper and current benchmarks.

Thats all.

i thought the m10 was the 9600. the 5600 is a separate chip. Are you saying that it has no equivalent. nevermind, tyhis has been debated too many times. just release the darn laptop already!

Dirty Lies??

In this article from nVidia's webiste, I got there using the link posted by phubar, it says that


http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_agp8x.html

this website says bandwidth is doubled too. from 1066 to 2133.
http://www.aopen.com/tech/techinside/agp8x.htm

So either these are dirty lies or I may have just owned Zachquiel.

At least in the quote, the overall improvements they've done from one card to the other may increase the bus by double, but that doesn't mean that they only made the card 8x AGP compatible and it doubled the speed.

Just an observation.

-Joe

yea, thewy made more than just the 4x :::::> 8x improvement to double the bandwidth. But you are both kinda right.

good call. I see what he was saying now.

The GeForce FX 5600 is a desktop card, not a laptop card, and comparing it to the ATI 9600 line is comparing apples to oranges. Or at least apples to pears. So I assume you meant FX GO 5600.

For ryanniedz: "m10" does mean the ATI 9600 family of video cards, and is used synonymously with "ATI Radeon Mobility 9600". "m10p" means "9600 PRO". Zachquiel was saying that the FX 5600 (an nVidia card) is performance-wise equivalent to the 9600, not the 9600 PRO, even though, gramatically, it does say that the m10p is equivalent to the 9600 if you want to be an English-grammar nit.

I was actually talking product positioning from a business/marketing prospective when I said 'equivalent'. So what I meant was that the archrivals ATI and nVidia each brought two 8x AGP DX9 graphics cards to market, a low-end and a high-end one. As the respective high-end models, the Radeon 9600 PRO and the GeForce FX GO 5600 compete for an identical market niche and so are, business/marketing wise 'equivalent' products.

-phubar

missed the m10"p" part got you now tho. thanks for the clarification.

Man are you guys CONFUSED about dual channel and HT... First, dual channel has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RAM ITSELF, this is a function of the MOTHERBOARD. There is no such thing as 'dual channel ram', any DDR ram can be dual channel if used in a dual channel MOBO. Some Mfgrs. claim their ram is 'dual channel optimized' but this is just marketing fluff.

HT and dual channel are 2 TOTALLY SEPERATE things... they are not dependant on each other.

Another point, DDR 2100 will work in a 200FSB mobo IF THERE ARE PROPER RAM DIVIDERS. I doubt (I could be wrong) that the Laptops will have such ram dividers. If not, there is not a chance in hell 2100 will run in the new Sager's.

Doesn't the RAM for each channel have to be matched? In other words, you essentially need to use two (SO)DIMMs with the exact same specs, usually two copies of the same product from the same manufacturer, which is why retailers sell "matched sets" of RAM sticks for dual-channel use.

Which means the RAM does have something to do with dual-channel - just not much, since you can always buy two copies of whatever (SO)DIMM you want to use.

-phubar