[SOLVED] Maximum RAM Limitation?

[kep55]

Is the maximum RAM for a computer based on the BIOS or something else? I have small netbook that is "maxed" out at 2GB of 800MHz DDR2-800 PC2-6400, 200p SODIMM RAM. I'd like to increase it to 4GB. Possible?

 

[kanewolf]

Is the maximum RAM for a computer based on the BIOS or something else? I have small netbook that is "maxed" out at 2GB of 800MHz DDR2-800 PC2-6400, 200p SODIMM RAM. I'd like to increase it to 4GB. Possible?

Maybe. A netbook may not have any ram slots, just soldered RAM.
Some old hardware like this have limited number of address lines mapped to the memory slots. The cost of two 2GB SODIMMs can't be very much. Ebay has them for around $5. If you have slots, you can try it.

 

[Karadjgne]

If your notebook has a USB port, you can use a USB stick and enable ReadyBoost. This will use the SuperFetch files off the USB, freeing up space in your ram. A USB is slightly slower than ram (not sure how much considering you are looking at DDR2 800), which might affect some programs, but the other side of the coin is the freed up space inside the system ram itself, which will be used more effectively, especially in small file transitions.

 

[kep55]

Thank goodness I have a tiny 256GB USB.

 

[lordmogul]

For the technical aspects:
DDR2-800 has a bandwith of about 6400 MiB/s (12,800 in dual channel)
USB 2.0 sits at 480 mbps/60 MiB/s (but thumbdrives realistically reach about half that)
So the RAM in this case is about 200-500 times faster than a typical usb drive.
The usb drive is also slower than a normal mechanical hard drive, which sit around 60-120 MiB/s
But what the flash memory on the thumbdrive can do is low latencies, so small files will be accessed faster than from your hard drive.
ReadyBoost basically puts part of the page file onto the thumbdrive and uses that to access smaller files that have been swapped out of RAM

It can be faster, and might be noticable if the machine has to swap out stuff into the page file, but won't be a replacement for more actual RAM. Only way to see if it helps in your case is trying it out.