[aklug] Re: Translating RAM requirements

Tim,

Usually you need to go to the horse's mouth for what info you can find: In
this case a quick google search for the model number turns up this page on
the manufacturer's website:
http://www.asus.com/us/ASUS_VivoPC/VivoPC_VM40B/specifications/

Under memory there it shows:
4 GB Up to 16 GB
DDR3 at 1600MHz
2 x SO-DIMM

The last 2 lines tell you the answer to #1

It has room for 2 sticks of memory of the type DDR3 in the SO-DIMM physical
format (i.e. "laptop memory"). Now, what it doesn't tell you is whether the
4GB it comes with is 1x4GB or 2x2GB. It's probably 1x4GB, but sometimes
they cut costs by using smaller sticks, or at least use to in the old days.
You can find the user's manual for this machine under the 'Support' tab on
that same website.

You aren't going to find answers to #2 anywhere; The quick answer is
'probably, but it might cause some issues'.

The long answer is that most motherboards will handle that fine, but
sometimes 2 specific sticks won't place nice together. Additionally, using
2 identical sticks also tend to speed up the access times, because the
memory controller cause put it into dual-channel mode, where it interleaves
the two sticks, rather that putting them end-to-end in the logical
addressing space. Again, mixing brands and models of memory here can
occasionally cause problems, but in practice is 'fine until it isn't.'.

- James Gibson.

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Tim Johnson <tim@akwebsoft.com> wrote:

> I'm not much of a hardware person, so I'm soliciting edification and
> enlightenment here.
>
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivopc-desktop-computer-intel-celeron-1007u-1-50-ghz-mini-pc-silver/1311198776.p?id=mp1311198776&skuId=1311198776
>
> From the link above can a hardware person answer the followings questions?
>
> 1) How many RAM sticks does this unit use?
>
> 2) Can RAM sticks of unequal capacity be mixed in this unit?
> Example: add 8 GB RAM stick to 4 GB RAM stick for 12 GB
>
> 3) What are the keywords about RAM that would help me to answer this
> question myself.
>
> I.E. for terms like "DDR3 SDRAM" or " DDR3-1600/PC3-12800" - what
> specs would help me to answer my questions?
>
> Thanks
> --
> Tim
> tim at tee jay forty nine dot com or akwebsoft dot com
> http://www.akwebsoft.com, http://www.tj49.com
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Received on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 16:15:07 -0500