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If I upgrade my Sandy Bridge i3-2300 Lenovo T520 to 16GB RAM (2 sticks) and then later upgrade to an Ivy Bridge i7 Quad Core, will only having 2 sticks of RAM affect performance? Should I also upgrade the MB to support 4 sticks like the W520?

tesmar wrote:

If I upgrade my Sandy Bridge i3-2300 Lenovo T520 to 16GB RAM (2 sticks) and then later upgrade to an Ivy Bridge i7 Quad Core, will only having 2 sticks of RAM affect performance? Should I also upgrade the MB to support 4 sticks like the W520?

Ivy Bridge uses a dual channel memory controller (just like Sandy Bridge), so you should not lose any performance.

I'm pretty sure you can't have more than 2 sticks in the T-series. I have a T420s and there is no way to make it 4-slot.

Synchromesh wrote:

I'm pretty sure you can't have more than 2 sticks in the T-series. I have a T420s and there is no way to make it 4-slot.

Oh I was thinking of putting a W520 mb in it if it would fit.

The other question is whether 16gb RAM is worth it. Seems like overkill since I only run 1 vm and don't really use photoshop. Thanks guys for the answers, it was informative.

I would say that 8GB is just fine and should be plenty for any/all uses. I recently helped a graphic designer friend purchase a new laptop, and he only utilizes 4GB in photoshop editing the biggest picture with the most layers he has. He only had photoshop open though, if you're one of those people that likes having a bunch of programs and 30+ tabs of your favorite internet browser open, you may need more than 8GB.

DPete27 wrote:

I would say that 8GB is just fine and should be plenty for any/all uses. I recently helped a graphic designer friend purchase a new laptop, and he only utilizes 4GB in photoshop editing the biggest picture with the most layers he has. He only had photoshop open though, if you're one of those people that likes having a bunch of programs and 30+ tabs of your favorite internet browser open, you may need more than 8GB.

I run a Virtual Machine that is pretty intense. Eclipse + Rubymine + sql databases + chrome + a bunch of other things. I just ordered 16 gb today, we will see.