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SOLVED DDR3L vs DDR3

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Domino

Member
Joined
May 8, 2011
Hey:

I just ordered the Lenovo Y40 and remember that it had only 1 stick of 8 GB DDR3L 1600 memory installed. I can take 2x4 GB DDR3 1600 out of my other laptop (currently has 4x4 GB sticks that the bios is reading as 1333) as 16 GB is a bit overkill given the use of it. I'm assuming the single stick of DDR3L is running in single channel, so would dual channel DDR3 perform better? Would there also be a slight performance increase in my other laptop from the higher clocked memory? For the Lenovo, battery life should not be hindered much, should it?

I'm also giving my other laptop to my fiancee in exchange of her older one where she does not do any sort of CAD work nor massive photo editing that would require such quantity of memory. We'll run a minecraft server off her old laptop. The keyboard and what not does not work but for a small group of people (mainly 2) we shouldn't run into any performance issues. I'm also wondering, since she only had 4 GB of DDR3 1333 in hers, would the 8 GB DDR3L stick, in single channel, be better? We'll be putting Windows 7 64 on it (currently 32 bit).

Cheers for the input. I can't find any benchmarks anywhere.
 
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What's your use case? L is just lower voltage. Depending on the rest of the specs, it will determine the corresponding performance.

That said, 8GB will be better than 4 to be sure. As for performance between the two, I doubt you'll notice a difference beyond the increase in quantity.
 
I might have worded my questions badly. Sorry about that.

I'm wondering:
- the difference between single channel 8 GB DDR3L vs dual channel 8 GB DDR3.
-- Wattage difference (would my battery life be effected)
- performance difference between dual channel 8 GB DDR3 vs dual channel 16 GB DDR3 (1600 vs 1333)
- 8 GB DDR3L vs 4 GB DDR3 for a minecraft server (but you answered that already, thank you!)

All regarding gaming performance.
 
1. depends on the application. Though if you have dual channel you will want to use it.
2. negligible at best. Ram uses VERY little power.
3. depends on the application really... I would go 1600 though
4. yes, answered...
 
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