RAM Placement and Performance

[supafly1703]

Hey people,

Heard somewhere that placing the bigger DIMM of RAM in the upper slot of a machine would make it perform better. I have a 1.67gHz powerbook with 1.5gb of ram and don't think it is really utilizing it. Is there any merit to this?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Heard somewhere that placing the bigger DIMM of RAM in the upper slot of a machine would make it perform better. I have a 1.67gHz powerbook with 1.5gb of ram and don't think it is really utilizing it. Is there any merit to this?

No.

How do you draw the conclusion that the machine isn't utilizing the installed RAM?

If the Apple System Profiler is reporting both modules, then they are being used. There is a (relatively rare) syndrome in some Powerbooks where the lower socket is damaged, and fails to register any RAM -- that would result in the System Profiler showing it as Empty even though it were full.

If the lower socket failure turns out to be related to heat (some have reported overheating on the underside of the machine concurrent with failure) then there may be a slight reason to put your largest module in the top socket, because a larger module generated more heat.

 

[supafly1703]

Well...

I do not do anything outrageous with my computer, but i have so many pageouts, long app loading times, and occasional spinning beach balls that I think should not happen when I have so much ram. Am I just being unreasonable?