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Toshiba M40 JM300E - Ram Expansion

post #1 of 13
7/11/05 at 5:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys,

I have the M40 JM300E and I think it's a great machine. However, it kind of lags on high ram requirement games like Battlefield 2. My room mate runs it at a much lower res (800x600) on a much crapier machine. Athalon XP 1.5 Ghz, Radeon 9500 but with 1 gig of ram and a 7200 rpm harddrive. He gets a steadier frame rate than I do.

I'm guess that part of the problem is the harddrive (4200 vs. 7200 RPM) and the fact that he has twice the ram that I do.

Now I'm starting to look into upgrading my ram and I've started to find some prices but I wanted to know if anyone has ALREADY upgraded their ram, what price they paid and if they did the install themselves. I have a warranty through Staples that I got for a pretty good price, 2 years extended. If I install the RAM myself, will my warranty go void?

Also, is it bad if I go with a 1 gig expansion to bring the total to 1.5 gigs. I've heard that mixing amounts of ram causes problems. People recommend going with two sticks of the same capacity. Is this true? Or is the performance setback minor if anything?

And the major questions is: will the increase in ram really help my gaming performance and overall performance? Most people say while watching their system performance during runtime on a dual monitor that BF2 takes about 1 gig of ram during run-time. I'm guessing that the extra memory will help in that case. But could the problem be the fact that my hard drive is so slow?

So in summary, here are my main questions:

1) Have you upgraded your ram on the Toshiba M40?
2) How much did you pay for the RAM? I'm looking at either 512 megs or the 1 gig expansion.
3) Is the install difficult to do? I always work on desktops, but I've never done any repairs on laptops.
4) Will it void my warranty if I replace it? How about my staples extended warranty? Or should I call up Staples and ask them
5) Is it okay to mix ram capacity sizes between sticks? 1 512 + 1 1 gig sticks?
6) Will I really see a performance/game performance increase with another 1 gig of ram? Or is the slow hard-drive the bottleneck here? I mean if my HD is too slow to transfer data to the ram, it's kind of pointless, right?

Thanks in advance!
Sim
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post #2 of 13
7/11/05 at 5:27pm
i cant answer all your questions, i dont have an m40 but i have used them.

the hdd is a factor, as is the amount of ram. personally i would do the ram first. it is the easiest to do, just opening the cover and sliding in the new module since your machine only has one module in it now it would not even need you to take one out. personally i would get as much as i could afford, but likely a higher number. 512 is what i would concider to be essential for just windows xp.

BF2 is one of the most ram intensive games i have ever seen, it needs really a machine with more than 1gb of ram. so i would say if BF2 is your game get at least a 1gb module and install that with your current 512 if you are on a tighter budget, or if you have some extra money go all the way and get two of the modules for a total of 2gb of ram.

the toshiba warranty wont be affected but your staples one may be, so check up with them before you do it. they also might have some way to still install it without it voiding such as letting them do it, so best bet is to ask. make sure you talk to a manager about it too because ultimately they have the power not some low level sales person who may not be fully informed.

the hdd is a slower 4200rpm model and you would see improvement if you were to go up to a 5400rpm or even a 7200rpm drive. that said it will void your warranty if it is not a toshiba drive and approved by them so call toshiba before doing anything with the hdd.
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post #3 of 13
7/12/05 at 10:29pm
continuing on ram, what is a good price for 512mb ?
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post #4 of 13
7/13/05 at 12:46am
Since you have the Canadian M40, I'm assuming you are in Canada.

I got the ram for my M40 at Vibe Computers. It only cost me $158 CAD for 1GB of KVR Ram, excluding taxes and shipping. Came to about $190 after everything. That is a great deal. The 512 MB modules there are even cheaper, going for about $75 to $80 at the moment.

I would recommend Vibe due to their low prices and quick shipping.

Good luck!

EDIT: Just checked Vibe's site and they have lowered their prices even further. You can now get a stick of 512 for $68 + taxes + shipping or a stick of 1024 for $154 + taxes + shipping!
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post #5 of 13
7/13/05 at 3:10am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Univercity for the info!

Yes I am in Canada and that store looks good, however, I can't find the ram I'm looking for. Can you possibly post a link to the 512 and 1 gig sticks that would work in our laptops?

How did you like the performance increase? Was it noticable?

Also, does this store have a physical location? I tried to find it on their website but I couldn't.

Thanks!
sim
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post #6 of 13
7/13/05 at 3:43am
you should see a pretty good jump between 512mb and 1gb... less between 1gb and 2gb unless you are in hardcore games like BF2 then you will use every bit of the ram and it will be a noticable performance jump.
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post #7 of 13
7/13/05 at 4:41am
Just installed a 512 to bump my system up to 1gb... Gunna install BF2 later on and tell u the results (=
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post #8 of 13
7/13/05 at 4:45am
I bought a 512MB PC2700 stick of Kingston RAM at Future Shop for about $200CAD (after taxes and a mail-in rebate) at the same time as I bought my M40 SF3 a week ago. Seems like I could've gotten it for MUCH cheaper according to some of these posts so I'm considering returning it.

I did the installation myself, though, and it was super easy. Just open up the centre flap on the bottom and you have direct access to the RAM (nice design, Toshiba). You have to push the stick in with a little more force than you'd think, but it then easily rotates down and snaps into place. They make it so straightforward that I highly doubt that it would affect the warranty.

It's fine to mix ram capacities but I don't know about mixing RAM speed (i.e. it comes with PC2700 RAM, not sure if adding a PC3200 stick would cause any problems -- not sure if the motherboard can even take advantage of PC3200 RAM, actually).

I definitely saw an improvement with an extra 512MB but I haven't tested it out with any hardcore games yet. I've noticed that bootup can be pretty slow on this machine, though. I paid extra for a 7200RPM drive on my old laptop and I definitely noticed that the drive with this machine is muuuuuuch slower. From what I've heard, a slower drive mainly affects bootup time and not much else, though.

Anyway, I would probably go for another 1GB of RAM if you're a big gamer. Good luck!



BTW, does anybody know how KVR RAM compares with Kingston RAM?
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post #9 of 13
7/13/05 at 2:17pm
if you mix speeds it will clock the higher speed one down to match the speed of the slower module thus eliminating the reason that you purchased the faster one and paid more for it. slower drive will affect boot times and load times for things that are running off the hdd. if you have a slow drive then your maps will load slower in games and that sort of thing as well. i have heard of them going from like a 3minute wait down to about a minute. so it can have some pretty good differences between 4200rpm and 7200rpm.
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post #10 of 13
7/13/05 at 11:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sim
Thanks Univercity for the info!

Yes I am in Canada and that store looks good, however, I can't find the ram I'm looking for. Can you possibly post a link to the 512 and 1 gig sticks that would work in our laptops?


How did you like the performance increase? Was it noticable?

Also, does this store have a physical location? I tried to find it on their website but I couldn't.

Thanks!
sim
Hey Sim, here is the memory link you are looking for. All of those modules should work in the M40. I believe they are located in Richmond, BC, but I cannot find the page that says this either (even though I remember finding it before). I'm not sure if they allow pickup though.

I can't really comment on the performance increase too much, as I popped the new module in as soon as I got my notebook. I also disabled the paging file, and the system seems perfectly stable. Applications load quickly, and the system on the whole is quite smooth.

All I have to do now is updgrade to XP Professional!
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post #11 of 13
7/14/05 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Univercity.

What is the difference between all those ram sticks at the link provided? Just size? And how does Kingston Value Ram differ from normal Kingston Ram? Or is it just a branding issue? The 1 gig there looks enticing! There are no size, quality or anything issues?

Thanks,
sim
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post #12 of 13
7/14/05 at 1:37am
I'm using a 512 PC 2700 Kingston Value RAM in my M40 that I had originally bought for my previous laptop, and it works well.It hasn't had any problems getting along with the other RAM stick that came along with the M40. I also play a fair amount of BF2, and have had no problems. The difference in perfomance , especially load times for maps is noticable.
I called Kingston support before installing it, and although they wouldn't guarantee it works, they said that in all likelyhood it would.
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post #13 of 13
7/14/05 at 3:58am
very true, it would be a noticeable difference....

there is not much difference other than the price. besides which they both offer lifetime warranty on the ram and kingston is a huge manufacturer of ram so there should be no problem with any ram you purchase through them.
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