Is my laptop able to use this RAM?

[ryanjp89]

Will the RAM in the image above work on my current laptop? It's a Dell Inspiron 3521, it has two memory sticks at the moment. One is a 4GB, and the other is 2GB, I wanted to see if I could replace the 2GB with another 4GB stick.

Here are the specs for the laptop.

Motherboard

• 
  Product 033MX4
  Chipset Intel PCH HM76

BIOS

• 
  
  Vendor Dell Inc.
  Release Date 07/31/2015
  BIOS Version String A14
  ROM Size 4.50 MB

• 
  Memory
  System Memory
  Total Physical Memory 6.00 GB
  Maximum Supported Memory 16.00 GB
  Page Files
  Total Size 1.84 GB
  Page File c:\pagefile.sys
  Location c:\pagefile.sys
  Size 1.85 GB
  
  
  2048 MB DDR3 (1600 MHz)
  Source SMBIOS
  Memory Size 2.00 GB
  Memory Type DDR3 (1600 MHz)
  Memory Manufacturer Hynix/Hyundai
  Memory Part Number HMT325S6CFR8C-PB
  
  4096 MB DDR3 (1600 MHz)
  Source SMBIOS
  Memory Size 4.00 GB
  Memory Type DDR3 (1600 MHz)
  Memory Manufacturer Hynix/Hyundai
  Memory Part Number HMT351S6EFR8A-PB

I am not very familiar with how RAM works, and I didn't want to try it without asking if it's compatible, incase it might damage my laptop for being the wrong type.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Lutfij]

1| It's not good practice to mix and match ram's. In fact you should go for a 2x4GB DDR3L kit. The stick of ram you've shown as an image is rated for 1.35v operation. Some sticks/kits of ram that can operate at both 1.35v and 1.5v like that from G.Skill's lineup.

2| Provided you're on the 3rd generation of Intel processors you should look at DD3L kits, which are low voltage 1.35v kits. The regular DDR3 kits are rated for 1.5v operation.

3| You could consequently just sell all the rams you have and buy a 2x8GB kit. I repaired+upgraded an HP G6-2305tx and found out the HM76 chipset/motherboard can support 16GB of ram.

 

[ryanjp89]

1| It's not good practice to mix and match ram's. In fact you should go for a 2x4GB DDR3L kit. The stick of ram you've shown as an image is rated for 1.35v operation. Some sticks/kits of ram that can operate at both 1.35v and 1.5v like that from G.Skill's lineup.

2| Provided you're on the 3rd generation of Intel processors you should look at DD3L kits, which are low voltage 1.35v kits. The regular DDR3 kits are rated for 1.5v operation.

3| You could consequently just sell all the rams you have and buy a 2x8GB kit. I repaired+upgraded an HP G6-2305tx and found out the HM76 chipset/motherboard can support 16GB of ram.

Does that mean it won't work on my laptop? Sorry, I am very out of touch with hardware these days.
I never really planned on upgrading this laptop due to the age of it, I was just wondering if I could get 2 more GB of RAM using that memory stick.

The laptop model is a Inspiron 15 3521, the full specs are shown in this PDF Manual Dell inspiron 15 3521

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

It will either work or it won't, so just try it - - - it won't damage anything.

If laptop won't boot with it, or it does boot but still shows only 4GB in Windows System Properties, then you know it's not compatible, so remove it and buy a new matched pair of 4GB sticks with the appropriate spec for your laptop model. (Crucial.com is a good site to use if you want to know what RAM is compatible with a particular laptop or system).

 

[ryanjp89]

It is working =D I was afraid that it might have damaged my laptop if like the voltage or something else wasn't compatible. Someone had told me it could damage my motherboard, so that is why I was hesitant to just put it in without knowing beforehand.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post and help me, Lutfij, and Phillip Corcoran. This older laptop now runs slightly better, but I only use it mainly for Photoshop, and 3DS Max. Having 2 more GB of RAM really improved the performance for them, since I enjoy multi-tasking while using them.

Thank you very much again =D