Ram in laptops (newbie-ish)

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I recently bought a 1 gig stick of ram for my Inspiron 8200 (from
Crucial). It originally had 2 sticks of 256m, each. I took one stick
out and replaced it with the 1 gig stick, and left the other 256m in.

Laptop booted and functioned perfectly (and still does).

I then read that laptop sticks should always match (ie: I "should"
have gotten two 1-gig sticks, or bought a gig total, since I have two
slots for RAM). Is this true? Are you always "supposed" to make sure
that pairs of RAM sticks are the same size/capacity? Is there a
particular reason why?

Gwen
 

Dave

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You just run the chance that they won't necessarily respond exactly the
same,
meaning that your computer COULD lock up if writing a large block of data to
RAM propogates at different speeds to each stick. Many lockup problems
relate to ever-so-slightly not compatible RAM. Just try it and see - you
won't
hurt anything. If your computer starts locking up for no reason, or has
weird
errors, that could be the reason. Chances are you're fine. If not, you'll
probably
know why.

Dave

"Gwen Morse" <goldmooneachna@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114547467.3f99c088616a7fa64acfa51b148dee20@teranews...
> I recently bought a 1 gig stick of ram for my Inspiron 8200 (from
> Crucial). It originally had 2 sticks of 256m, each. I took one stick
> out and replaced it with the 1 gig stick, and left the other 256m in.
>
> Laptop booted and functioned perfectly (and still does).
>
> I then read that laptop sticks should always match (ie: I "should"
> have gotten two 1-gig sticks, or bought a gig total, since I have two
> slots for RAM). Is this true? Are you always "supposed" to make sure
> that pairs of RAM sticks are the same size/capacity? Is there a
> particular reason why?
>
> Gwen
>
 
G

Guest

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Gwen Morse" <goldmooneachna@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114547467.3f99c088616a7fa64acfa51b148dee20@teranews...
> I recently bought a 1 gig stick of ram for my Inspiron 8200 (from
> Crucial). It originally had 2 sticks of 256m, each. I took one stick
> out and replaced it with the 1 gig stick, and left the other 256m in.
>
> Laptop booted and functioned perfectly (and still does).
>
> I then read that laptop sticks should always match (ie: I "should"
> have gotten two 1-gig sticks, or bought a gig total, since I have two
> slots for RAM). Is this true? Are you always "supposed" to make sure
> that pairs of RAM sticks are the same size/capacity? Is there a
> particular reason why?
>
> Gwen
>
Gwen:

Well, if that were the case those laptops with built in RAM would not be
very expandable. I don't think it matters in today's laptops. In fact last
time I heard it was a requirement was in the 386/486 era.

Rich
 
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Dave wrote:
> You just run the chance that they won't necessarily respond exactly the
> same,
> meaning that your computer COULD lock up if writing a large block of data to
> RAM propogates at different speeds to each stick.

Also, if your RAM is DDR2 Dual-Channel, then it needs to be in pairs in
order to run optimally (hence, dual-channel).
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Gwen Morse wrote:
> I recently bought a 1 gig stick of ram for my Inspiron 8200 (from
> Crucial). It originally had 2 sticks of 256m, each. I took one stick
> out and replaced it with the 1 gig stick, and left the other 256m in.
>
> Laptop booted and functioned perfectly (and still does).
>
> I then read that laptop sticks should always match (ie: I "should"
> have gotten two 1-gig sticks, or bought a gig total, since I have two
> slots for RAM). Is this true? Are you always "supposed" to make sure
> that pairs of RAM sticks are the same size/capacity? Is there a
> particular reason why?
>
> Gwen
>

It is not the same size that counts, it is the same TYPE that counts.
For example, 2 sticks of PC2700 CL2.5 NON-ECC Crucial RAM, whatever
their sizes, are far more likely to work well than one of the above
with, say, 1 stick of PC2100 Kingston RAM. I am not saying the latter is
doomed to failure, but it might not be as compatible.

That said, Crucial makes some of the most compatible RAM around, you
shouldn't really worry about it.

Hope this helps
Stavros
 
G

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The sticks ought to be at the correct speed for the board (and therefore the
same)- size does not matter.

Duncan.

"Gwen Morse" <goldmooneachna@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114547467.3f99c088616a7fa64acfa51b148dee20@teranews...
>I recently bought a 1 gig stick of ram for my Inspiron 8200 (from
> Crucial). It originally had 2 sticks of 256m, each. I took one stick
> out and replaced it with the 1 gig stick, and left the other 256m in.
>
> Laptop booted and functioned perfectly (and still does).
>
> I then read that laptop sticks should always match (ie: I "should"
> have gotten two 1-gig sticks, or bought a gig total, since I have two
> slots for RAM). Is this true? Are you always "supposed" to make sure
> that pairs of RAM sticks are the same size/capacity? Is there a
> particular reason why?
>
> Gwen
>
 
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