MORE than 1Gb of ram on my VGN-S1XP

[nutman]

I own a VGN-S1XP and have already installed a Hitachi 7.2k RPM 8MB 60GB hdd and the "maximum suggested" ammount of ram (1 GB) but since I work mainly in the field of 3D Animation and SFX Photoshop etc. I need as much ram as possible. I have found over the internet a 1GB module (DDR 333 SO-DIMM 300$) and I am thinking of buyng two but I am affraid it won't work. Any of you have tried that with your VAIOs?
By the way, if you are willing to sew a bit off your vaio casing you can fit in there a Lacie DVD-+RW Dual Layer (talking about the external slim version) It works for me 🙂
Oh, and why is it that when I right-click My Computer and select Properties I get something around 600Mhz instead of 1.7Ghz? My settings are set to Performance... Go figure.
Thank you all, any assistance is welcome.

[kee-lo_]

Thats a touch expensive really......

As for the RAM, it should be in a small bay under the notebook.
Anyone with an S series can confirm this?

[joesmi]

Hi,

I just upgraded my S1XP to 1gb today. Crucial don't supply Micro-DIMMs so, unfortunately, you won't be able to buy from them.

I had a real problem finding compatible, good quality MicroDIMMs from a reliable supplier so I bit the bullet and bought Sony's upgrade instead (VGP-MM512I). It cost me about 200 quid from unbeatable.co.uk, 3-4 quid more than SonyStyle's shop, but I know and trust unbeatable.

Installing the RAM is quite easy. Underneath the laptop is a small rectangular panel held by two little screws. Just use a precision/jeweller's screwdriver to unscrew them and pop off the panel. You'll see the Intel wireless network card, the existing 512mb and an empty slot above it. Just slide in your new upgrade until it clicks into place, making sure the notched side lines up with the little picture. Of course, make sure you're grounded, got your anti-static wrist strap on, etc.

Then screw the panel back on (duh!) and boot up. BIOS should register 1GB, in XP 'System Properties' will say the same. You can also check with Sandra, cpu-z, etc

I ran Memtest+ 1.26 for 1 complete pass just to quickly check if there were any errors, but luckily there were none. I'll run it for a full 35-50 passes later this week. If it passes that, the system should be pretty stable.

FYI the sony upgrade I got uses Samsung chips, PC2700/DDR333, CL2.5. The existing RAM was Infineon also at CL2.5.

Hope this helps.

Incidentally, Memtest+ reports the memory bus is running at approx 200mhz, while cpu-z says 166mhz (fsb is running asynchronously with ram 3:5). Does anyone have any idea which is telling the truth? Obviously I'd prefer the ram to be running at PC2700/DDR333 not PC1600/DDR200. If the memory bus is running 1:1 with fsb (100mhz) that would really suck.

Joe

P.S. Is the club-vaio website always this slow?

[kee-lo_]

Thank you for that valuable info Joe
This is IS slow......

[magrpe]

Yeah thanks, Joe. Please post back when youve finished testing and are confident of the stability of the upgrade. Although as its Sony's official upgrade one would hope this would be almost for certain...

Cheers,
Pete

[kee-lo_]

I would stick to Sony specified specs under warranty.

[nutman]

People!
I got it figured-out!
Check out the intel site to see:
http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/mobile/855_fam.htm
They mention the chipset (either of the 855's) can take up to 2GB Ram!!!
And as for people wanting to upg to 1GB, I got my 512 SO-DIMM from microanvika (if you visit the store you can bargain) for 149GBP

Also do a google-froogle search with the following::
KINGMAX 200-Pin 1GB DDR SODIMM PC-2700, Model MSAD42D-KI

Hope this helps.

[joesmi]

@ nutman, are you sure about your S1XP ram upgrade being a SODIMM as my S1XP only accepts MicroDIMMs! Crucial emailed me and specifically stated they didn't support S1XP RAM upgrades as they require MicroDIMMs. I'd have thought a SODIMM would be too big to fit in the S1XPs slot.

Also as far as i855 chipset supporting > 1gb memory, check the Dell US forums. There's a longish thread by some people trying to do the same thing with Inspiron laptops. I just scanned it but it seems like only the 855PM supports RAM sizes > 1gb and only if the board manufacturer has chosen to design their boards that way (something to do with trace lengths). The link is http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=126590&view=b...

Also, I agree with Kee-Lo, if your machine is still under warranty it might be prudent to go with a Sony-friendly solution. That way at least, if anything does go wrong and you return your laptop for repair, Sony can't turn around and say your dodgy RAM caused the problem and refuse to repair your machine under warranty. I'm not saying that they would do that of course...

@magrpe/Pete my S1XP has been running Memtest86+ for almost 12 hours (running the standard tests) now and has done 11 and a bit passes with no errors at all. I' m pretty sure the RAM will be fine as it's Samsung (PCB and chips) and not some cheap no-name stuff. I'll leave Memtest running until it's finished at least 35 passes, so all the patterns are tested, but to be honest if the RAM was flaky, I'd have seen an error by now.

Ok, sleepy time!

[nutman]

sorry, my bad I meant micro dimm but anyway the rest is still right..
I have always tested things such as installing the Lacie DVD+-RW Dual Layer 2.4x and all I had to do was swap the front covers (of the sony and lacie) so as to look the part with the rest of the laptop and saw a bit of the top and bottom of the plastic rim of the vaio outer shell. the connectors are the same, but just so as to have the same (and a bit longer) battery life you gotta use the extended battery. I don't mind about the waranty as if everything works fine in the beginning it will so a long while later. So why restrain ones self from achieving the truest potential of ones laptop?

[kee-lo_]

I think a lot of people don't want to destroy their VAIO by mistake really.

[joesmi]

@magrpe/Pete my S1XP successfully ran Memtest86+ for almost 48 hours and completed almost 50 passes without a single error. I've also been benchmarking it pretty heavily for about 8 hours now using the usual suspects (Prime95, 3dMark, Sandra, etc) and it's been rock solid.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my S1XP memory upgrade so far and hope it (and the laptop in general) continue to perform so reliably. Sure the official upgrade was a rip-off imho, but it's Samsung, it's stable and I only have to do it once so what the hey!

@nutman I understand your desire to mod your laptop to it's full potential as I do the same to my desktops. All I can say is you have more guts (and money) than me modding a 1600 quid laptop. Plus your nickname is most appropriate! (joke!) :smileygrin: