Question Ram with 1 or 2?

[Boo2]

I have an old 64 bit i3 Toshiba Satellite with 1T hard drive running Windows 10 and 4gb memory. It's sooooo slow. I know I can't upgrade the Cpu and don't want to change the hard drive right now to SSD.
But I do want to upgrade the memory to 8gb or max allowed 16gb. There are 2 slots for memory and currently just 1 is filled with the 4gb.
My question is: do I have to fill both slots with 4 and 4 or 8 and 8 or can I just swap out the single 4gb for a single 8 or 16?

 

[scarlettm59]

You can swap with any 8 or 16, no need to match the ram 4 4 or 8 8

 

[Boo2]

Thanks for quick answer Scarlettm59.

 

[AlHuneke]

Installing a total of 8GB will make a big difference. Looking at Task Manager/performance and turning on the PF Delta column will show how much page swapping is occuring in memory. Memory utilization % is not so important. Page faults are. Take a look before and after. PF counts above about 1000 are a concern. BTW, an SSD will make a large difference in performance but you need to get to at least 8GB first.

When you open you laptop to install memory, make sure to follow ESD precautions. Get the service manual for your machine which you can usually download for free on the internet. It will tell you about ESD.

 

[Boo2]

"When you open you laptop to install memory, make sure to follow ESD precautions. Get the service manual for your machine which you can usually download for free on the internet. It will tell you about ESD."
Thanks for reply. Always good to know. I am aware of following ESD. I'm an old timer in the computer industry. My first job was hard wirering those huge room sized mainframe systems that launched our Saturn rockets back in the 1960s. 5 years for Scientific Data Systems(Los Angeles) & TRW(El Segundo) and then continued installing, maintaining and managing various systems for the next 40 years in Silicon Valley until retirement in 2008. Since then I've bought a couple "off the shelf" Dell Desktops that were fully upgraded and needed no intervention, but thought I'd give this older laptop, that a friend was tossing out, a whirl.
I know my question was basic but just wanted to verify since tech is continuing to change by the minute nowadays.
Being involved with this industry from its infancy and seeing what's been accomplished along the way, is still simply mind-boggling.

 

[scarlettm59]

Thanks for quick answer Scarlettm59.

You are welcome

 

[astra2]

I have an old 64 bit i3 Toshiba Satellite with 1T hard drive running Windows 10 and 4gb memory. It's sooooo slow. I know I can't upgrade the Cpu and don't want to change the hard drive right now to SSD.
But I do want to upgrade the memory to 8gb or max allowed 16gb. There are 2 slots for memory and currently just 1 is filled with the 4gb.
My question is: do I have to fill both slots with 4 and 4 or 8 and 8 or can I just swap out the single 4gb for a single 8 or 16?

But beware compatibility issues as described here: https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...d-ram-works-4gb-new-ram-8gb-does-not.2092834/
I recently tried to upgrade a Toshiba Satellite L675 from 2 x 2GB to 2 x 4GB and immediately got Windows start up errors with a never ending loop of failed system repairs. Both the 2GB and 4GB sticks were Samsung branded and the same spec so it's a mystery why the upgrade failed.

 

[AlHuneke]

I've had good luck in the past with www.crucial.com. See what they say about upgrades. However, more RAM may or may not make a noticeable difference depending on how you use the machine. An SSD will make a large difference in speed. With cloud storage these days you may find you don't need 1TB. I personally get by just fine with 256MB. Again, depends on how you use the machine.