Upgrading Ram in Dell Laptop

mo-dragon

Prominent
Aug 19, 2017
2
0
510
I use Photoshop a lot and Task Manager shows that my memory is often at 75% or higher, I was hoping to upgrade my Ram, and did check the manual for what my laptop can handle, I'm at 6GB total right now and can go up to 16GB. I can go up to 1600MHz in speed.
My questions is, I always understood it was best to have both sticks of Ram the same, but when I checked my laptop, it came with two different brands and sizes. Would it be best to upgrade both? or would I do just as well upgrading only the 2GB?

Laptop:
Dell Inspiron 17R 5737
Has two ram slots, the ones it came with are:
1) Kingston 4GB 1Rx8 PC3l-12800S-11-12-B3
Model Number: knwm1
2) Micron 2GB 1Rx16 PC3l-12800S-11-11-C1
Model Number: mt4ktf25664hz-1g6e1
 
Solution
The mismatched size is an issue with dual channel memory. When one module is refreshing the other is handling data. They take turns. If one is 2GB and the other is 4GB only 2 GB of the bigger module is partnered for this. I would get a matching 4GB module. If your laptop doesn't support dual channel then it won't matter.

VJ_Gamer

Commendable
Aug 8, 2017
851
0
1,660
Depends on you, whether you want 16gb or 12gb. But the ram should match. you can remove just the 2gb one or if you think you need 16gb replace both the ram. But your RAM will not run dual channel if the two modules don’t match.

Good Luck.:) Peace.
 

mo-dragon

Prominent
Aug 19, 2017
2
0
510


Does this mean that my laptop isn't using the already existing Ram to its full potential because they are already mismatched?
 
The mismatched size is an issue with dual channel memory. When one module is refreshing the other is handling data. They take turns. If one is 2GB and the other is 4GB only 2 GB of the bigger module is partnered for this. I would get a matching 4GB module. If your laptop doesn't support dual channel then it won't matter.
 
Solution