Newbie question - RAM upgrade

T

ted

New Member
Hi there,

My mate gave me his old laptop but its only got 512mb of ram which holds it back because its got a 3.2ghz processor. I want to upgrade the RAM by adding another 1gb module - does anyone know how i should go about this? I saw there are some good prices on ebuyer. Someone told me that the modules need to run at the same speed.. something about CPU-Z... is this true? Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance.

The laptop is a Toshiba SP20-504.
 
You can put any speed you want in as long as it's the same interface (DDR, DDR2, etc). As long as it supports 1GB modules it should be as simple as removing a little panel on the bottom and putting in the new RAM. You might have to take one old module out, I'm not sure if it shiped with 2 256MB sticks or 1 512MB. You'll have to check with toshiba to see if it suports 1GB sticks or not, do you know model line (ie Satellite A20)?
 
Thanks, yeh its a Satellite P20 series - looks like this one

00097500.jpg


I've also noticed that they can come with different pin numbers, so is there an easy way for me to find this out or should i unscrew the panel and count them? (or is that the easy way.....)

Thanks again
 
The only models I see on Toshiba's site that have 512MB installed use PC2100 SODIMMs. All models can take 1GB modules but one comes with 1x512MB the other comes with 2x256MB so there's a 50/50 chance you'll have to remove some memory, not a problem but instead of 1.5GB you'll only have 1.25GB
 
I opened it up and had a look - two 256mb DDR PC2100 running at 266MHz according to the stickers, so i'll have to stick with 1.25Gb RAM in total. The only thing is that one of the modules is Samsung and the other is Hynix. I can't think why they'd do this, but anyway which one should i take out or is it completely irrelevant? I'd be inclined to keep the samsung based on their name...

Also does anyone know a good place to buy RAM online that will ship to Portugal? I was originally thinking of ebuyer but they only do the UK.

Thanks again.
 
All sorted - ordered from a US company who will post it; so much cheaper than anywhere else. Thanks for your help.
 
You can take out either it shouldn't make a difference. My Dell laptop has the same deal, they shipped it with 512MB of Hynix and 512MB of Infineon.
 
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