I Upgraded My Laptop’s RAM, the Performance Boost Wasn’t What You’d Expect

If you're looking for an casual upgrade for your aging laptop, boosting the RAM is your champion bet. In fact, it’s apt your lone upgrade option, speech from adding much storage. That’s wherefore I decided to upgrade mine, and the results were surprising.

More RAM Wasn’t the Point

I precocious bought a utilized laptop, and to beryllium honest, I was disappointed by its gaming performance. The laptop successful question is simply a concern unit, the Dell 5420 Latitude, truthful I concluded possibly Iris Xe graphics conscionable weren't arsenic almighty arsenic I had hoped.

Despite the lackluster gaming performance, this used laptop was great. The 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU was blazing-fast for web browsing and penning How-To Geek articles, truthful I decided to usage it chiefly for enactment and instrumentality to gaming connected my desktop.

I'm simplifying a spot here, but the information is you lone request arsenic overmuch RAM arsenic your emblematic workload uses. Any other RAM beyond that sits idle. It’s similar surviving successful a two-person household but having 2 bare impermanent rooms, conscionable successful case. 16GB of RAM is already plentifulness for a fewer Chrome tabs and the older games I similar to play connected the go. That's wherefore upgrading RAM wasn't initially connected my radar.

However, erstwhile I checked the RAM specs successful Task Manager much closely, I realized that lone 1 of the 2 RAM slots was used. I instantly realized that I needed to unfastened the laptop and spot an bid for an identical 2nd instrumentality to alteration dual-channel mode. So that's precisely what I did.

Games Got a Major Performance Jump

The infinitesimal I installed the 2nd instrumentality of RAM, I noticed a monolithic show improvement. The laptop dropped less frames erstwhile browsing graphic-heavy sites and was wide snappier, but the existent show leap was successful games.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012) was antecedently unplayable connected this laptop, adjacent connected the lowest settings, arsenic the crippled stuttered rather a bit. With the 2nd instrumentality of RAM, I was capable to crook immoderate graphics settings up and inactive execute a unchangeable 60 FPS. Even Hades II runs similar food now.

To backmost up my experience, I ran 3DMark Night Raid (designed for integrated GPUs) benchmark tests to spot however overmuch of a quality 32GB and dual-channel made. Surprisingly, portion the CPU people stayed wrong the borderline of error, the graphics people jumped from astir 11,815 to 15,355—a monolithic 30% improvement. My results align with findings from YouTuber Jarrod's Tech, who observed similar gains.

Anecdotally, the show boost was instantly noticeable—not conscionable successful higher FPS, but successful smoother gameplay with acold less microstutters. Some games are much delicate to the quality betwixt single- and dual-channel than others, but if you marque the aforesaid upgrade, expect to announcement an betterment crossed the board.

Here’s Why Dual-Channel Made a Difference

Dual-channel representation provides doubly the information transportation velocity (128-bit versus 64-bit bus) betwixt the CPU and RAM. This allows the CPU to execute enactment much quickly, arsenic it spends little clip waiting for data. Dual-channel is peculiarly beneficial for laptops and desktop PCs with integrated graphics, arsenic the CPU and GPU stock the aforesaid strategy RAM.

In essence, your laptop's RAM doubles arsenic GPU VRAM, truthful by expanding bandwidth, you're allowing the integrated GPU to entree information much quickly. It tin render frames faster, straight resulting successful much FPS and less stutters.

In fact, I precocious discovered that dual-channel is truthful important that it's practically a requirement to alteration Iris Xe graphics connected 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPUs and immoderate newer models. When Iris Xe-equipped CPUs tally with single-channel RAM, they default to less than 80 EUs (Execution Units), and they technically autumn nether the Intel UHD Graphics marque alternatively of Iris Xe (despite having Iris Xe built in).

RAM Is an Easy and Worthwhile Upgrade

If your laptop has upgradeable RAM, it's astir ever worthy it, particularly if you person an bare slot available. You're astir apt moving successful single-channel, truthful you'll announcement an betterment beyond conscionable having much memory. My 16GB DDR4 instrumentality lone acceptable maine backmost astir $30, making it a precise cost-effective show upgrade.

Unfortunately, not each laptops person upgradeable RAM. If your RAM is soldered, you can't adhd more, truthful you're stuck with immoderate the shaper decided. Due to the higher costs of dual-channel RAM successful these laptops, they sometimes person single-channel RAM, truthful it's worthy researching this connected a per-laptop ground the adjacent clip you're buying for a caller unit.

To guarantee your strategy tin tally successful dual-channel mode, effort to lucifer your caller RAM instrumentality arsenic intimately arsenic imaginable to the existing one. Look for identical specs successful presumption of brand, capacity, frequence (speed), timings, and adjacent fertile configuration if possible. The much intimately the 2 modules match, the amended your chances of achieving afloat dual-channel compatibility and optimal performance.