Thinkpads Forum

X61T Performance: Do Memory Upgrade 4 > 8GB OR HDD > SSD?

I am now on 2x2=4GB on Win7x64, so wondering if putting in an SSD would boost the performance more than the 4 > 8GB upgrade?

Which would give a better overall performance improvement? I know booting would get faster with SSD but overall usage?

I know that with Middleton BIOS it will CAP the throughput to SATA II speeds, but I am fine with that. If I get a 200+ GB SSD, I might choose a SATA III one (with low price & decent reviews) so that it could facilitate when "High Resolution Retinas reach the Thinkpad/Windows 8" world

Recent fall in SSD prices over last 1 week (120 & 240 GB drives going < 1$/GB ) is making me want to get one.

One of the usage scenarios I am in a lot:
- Chrome with Extensions and lots of TABS (LOTS) and Windows. Lots of reading & research (Typically always open)
- Office App(s): Word, Excel, PPT, OneNote (1/2 of them in conjunction with above, especially Onenote)
- Outlook + WLmail (Windows Live Mail) (Usually, one of the two, sometimes both)

PS:
Someone have a decent set that they would hand down for a decent price. Please let me know in my marketplace thread or PM me.
WTB: 2x4GB = 8GB DDR2 PC2-4200/5300/6400 Memory for X61T

HDD to SSD hands down in my opinion and experience.

8GB is nice, but you'll always have the bottleneck of CPU/GPU for serious work.

Make it fly. Get an SSD.

Backup your stuff often once you do, though...

Happy shopping.

Greetings! I always read but never contribute!

Personally, I wouldn't waste time with 8GB, I used to have 8GB in a Thinkstation and it made no real difference to 4GB, regardless of Linux/Win/x64. The only time I have witnessed 4GB+ make a noticeable dent in desktop/laptop performance is in the management of large files (i.e. 2GB+) and thats on a bloated Win installation, which makes perfect sense.

The rotating hard disk was always the Achilles heel of performance... but the SSD is no silver bullet!

Without a doubt, install the Middleton BIOS and get an SSD. I have installed different SSD's in a X60 tablet and two X61 tablets. On the X61 tablets with 4GB RAM, Windows 7 64bit, and a good SSD, the overall performance is exceptional. Everything that I do on the tablet is almost instantaneous-programs open within a second, there is no lag while browsing, using Office 2010 apps, etc. I have absolutely no want or use for a newer or faster laptop as these show no limitations in everyday use.

With or without a Middleton BIOS, a proper SSD shall bring you a more noticeable improvement over the RAM upgrade.

However, the cost of the SSD is much higher than the RAM upgrade.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Well depending on the amount of space you require, you can get a 64gb Crucial M4 for around $80, whereas 8gb (2x4gb) runs for $140-160+. I like to run a lot of tabs in my browser and it frequently lead to me running out of memory in combination of other applications so... I caved and just bought both.

Or replace only one of the 2GB module with a 4GB (i.e. total 6GB). It doesn't has to go in pair like in the old days.

Cheers.

Interesting thoughts.

I am thinking either a 256 GB SSD (prices < $1/GB) or a Seagate Momentus XT? Or should I just insert my WD 750GB Black that is currently external... and get the RAM?

Would the 2+4 GB work well? Doesnt the pairing enhance/ improve performance? Thoughts?

Symmetric dual channel will be faster than asymmetric dual channel.

See this (http://blog.xorn.org/2010/12/02/old-thi ... l-channel/) and this (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/PAR ... 05-11.html).

Cheers.

crashnburn wrote:I am thinking either a 256 GB SSD (prices < $1/GB)

I would do this, and in fact just did it. This morning I ordered a Crucial 256GB SSD from buy.com. It was on sale for $220 shipped, but because I applied 862 Super Points from a previous purchase (equivalent to $8.62), and I went to buy.com through Discover Card's site for 5% cashback, and buy.com awarded 2,200 Super Points (=$22) for this purchase, it was almost like paying only $179 for this drive! I will use this drive in my Toughbook CF-Y7.

I recently compared running 64-bit Vista on my Latitude E4200 with 1GB RAM versus 2GB, and the difference was far from dramatic. The difference between 4GB and 8GB would be even harder to perceive. RAM upgrades used to be the most effective and economical way to improve computer performance a decade ago, but is no longer the case.

If you find your page file usage going up, then increasing the RAM would make sense, to eliminate/reduce the page file usage.
The disk has always been the slowest link in the system. So any improvement there will help. But you have to determine if the cost/benefit makes sense for you.

In my X61s+Win7 32bit combination, switching from 1gb to 2gb made some perceivable difference but going from 2 to 4 gb had really minimal difference at user level.
No doubt benchmarks will show huge differences from 2 to 4gb ram, but user experience is not so much different.
In fact with 4gb ram in X61s+Win7 32bit I even had some stability issues so I switched to Win7 64bit. Thus I highly doubt that 4 to 8 gb ram will make serious difference

Instead, a mere 30Gb OCZ Vertex2 ssd made a huge difference in performance and on top of that, upgrading to a somewhat larger Vertex3 improved further and significantly the user-perceived performance. The effect was so clear that I consider further upgrading the SSD.

Thus, in my case (office/internet use, statistics and scientific graphs) bigger and faster SSD improve performance clearly more than RAM upgrades above the 2-4gb range.

mrj47 wrote:...I caved and just bought both.

I did both in my X61 Tablet too, X61 runs great with Middleton BIOS, SSD, and 8GB. SSD was by far the biggest speed improvement, but the 8GB let me turn off pagefile without the fear of running out of RAM, which helps lessen the wear/stress on the SSD to prolong its life.

X61t current: 2gb memory, 70+gb drive. xp os.

Interested in improving app; programs performance. As well as a faster os. (best linux os suggestions? or alternative? eg. solaris)

Can get a 4gb memory. (upping to 6gb). Better performance with SSD as alternative, as well as BIOS upgrade? best current deals (manufacturers) on SSD drives? Specific manufacturers that work best on x61?

I've ran Mint on X61T and loved it. YMMV.

As for the SSD...Crucial M4 (Micron C400 as Lenovo calls it for their version of the drive), Samsung 830 or 840 Pro, Intel 320 series, even pre-SandForce OCZ drives. It's really about what you're looking to spend and how much space is required, but any of these will do fine.

To follow up on this thread.

Have had a Crucial SSD 256 for more than an year. Made the machine fast. Zippy!

But then i always had more stuff open 50+ Chrome Tabs in Windows. So RAM would eventually run out so upped to 8G

I got a pair of Kingston DIMMs from China through a friend from Taobao. Decent price lower than US.
Been using it for more than 6 months now.

Even now I run out sometimes. So next machine will have support 16G RAM.

PS: But best bang for buck on performance. SSD - Get the best SALE PRICE model - Certain Brands are ranked as more reliable - Crucial, Samsung and others (cant remember).

Crucials work so much better than others IMHO, I use a OCZ 240gb.

Have a crucial 64gb which seems a touch snappier.

On X61 2.4GHz (and on X61T 1.8GHz) I went with Crucial 8Gb RAM, Seagate 750Gb 7200 rpm Solid State Hybrid Drive (formerly Momentus XT Hybrid), and an AGN wireless card, running W7 64-bit and am very happy with the performance. Now upgrading wireless card to Intel 622ANXHMW based on recommendations on this forum for reducing heat.

rwallmow wrote:

mrj47 wrote:...I caved and just bought both.

I did both in my X61 Tablet too, X61 runs great with Middleton BIOS, SSD, and 8GB. SSD was by far the biggest speed improvement, but the 8GB let me turn off pagefile without the fear of running out of RAM, which helps lessen the wear/stress on the SSD to prolong its life.

If you get a chance would you please explain how to turn page file off?

Or point to a place where I can get that info. Thanks.

ajkula66 wrote:I've ran Mint on X61T and loved it. YMMV.

As for the SSD...Crucial M4 (Micron C400 as Lenovo calls it for their version of the drive), Samsung 830 or 840 Pro, Intel 320 series, even pre-SandForce OCZ drives. It's really about what you're looking to spend and how much space is required, but any of these will do fine.

Thread hijacking.

I ran Ubuntu 9 on my X41T and the only thing I could find for hand writing recognition was cell writer. How did you fare with using the pen in Mint?

Temetka wrote:

ajkula66 wrote:I've ran Mint on X61T and loved it. YMMV.

As for the SSD...Crucial M4 (Micron C400 as Lenovo calls it for their version of the drive), Samsung 830 or 840 Pro, Intel 320 series, even pre-SandForce OCZ drives. It's really about what you're looking to spend and how much space is required, but any of these will do fine.

Thread hijacking.

I ran Ubuntu 9 on my X41T and the only thing I could find for hand writing recognition was cell writer. How did you fare with using the pen in Mint?

Installing debian squeeze/wheezy always gave me Wacom software. Since this exists for debian, I would imagine there would be one for ubuntu as well.