Thinkpads Forum

There is conflicting information "on the web" and even on the system...

My machine is currently at 2x4GB modules for 8GB total. It's a dual-core system with one slot on the back and one under the keyboard.

I've seen that the system might support 16GB and the results are inconsistent...

I got some 2x8GB DIMMs for another system and tried them.

The system started up into the BIOS and reported 16384MB.

Windows tried to start and crashed very quickly into the startup process. (Windows 7 still...) It started the Windows spinner and then crashed. My suspicion is that it did it when the memory controller was being initialized. The DIMMs were 1066MHz parts though so might have been too slow.

So does it really support 16GB and I need to get rated parts or does it really only support 8GB?

Wow youve got one of the oddball W510 with a dual core.

At issue is the dual core “Arrandale” CPUs and the quad core “Clarksfield” CPUs use different memory controllers. The Arrandale CPU shares a socket with an “older” Ironlake memory controller that can only use 8GB max RAM in 2x4GB sticks, and it’s picky about the sticks too. Whereas Clarksfield has a newer memory controller that can use up to 32GB in 4x8GB sticks.

There is no chance that the W510 with an Arrandale will ever use more than 8GB. Maybe if a Clarksfield was swapped in, the machine might magically work and then it could use up to 16GB since you only have two slots. There’s really mixed anecdotes if swapping a Clarksfield into an Arrandale ThinkPad will work, other brands were better about this compatibility. I tried it in a T510 and it failed. Other people have tried it in T510 and it worked. It simply never works in a T410. I don’t recall reading anything about a W510 swap.

Thanks, that is what some of the places say. Even the Intel site isn't clear.

I may try swapping the hard drives between 510 and 520... At least the software would move to the larger memory machine.