How to get my RAM to run at advertised speed

[User85]

Hello. I own an HP 3125 laptop (upgraded to Win 10) - specs can be found here - https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03624610#:~:text=Power%20specifications%20%20%20Specification....

Parts for it can be found here: https://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?type=PROD&SearchText=D3H54UT.

HP has the RAM listed as DDR3 1600Mhz, PC3L-12800. But, when I downloaded CPU-Z to see how fast my RAM is clocking at it says 676MHz - which isn't the 1600MHz advertised by HP. When I use Crucial's RAM selector it also lists DDR3 PC3-12800 as HP does. But, Kingston's memory selector lists the RAM as DDR3 1333MHz, PC3-10600. That seemed to line up with the RAM listed here for the CPU - https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bobcat/AMD-E2-Series%20E2-2000.html.

I ordered the 1333MHz ram but when I installed both modules it was still clocking at 676MHz.

Any ideas for what RAM to purchase to get it faster than 676MHz? Is my motherboard maxed out at that speed?

Also, I read online that you may need to enable faster RAM speeds via a BIOS profile - but I don't see any options in my BIOS for this.

Thanks for your time.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi;

If you look at chapter 1, page 1 of the service manual, even if you install two matching memory modules, they run in single channel mode.  The manual also tells you the max speed the memory will run at.

c03632801 (hp.com)

DDR3-1333-MHz single channel support (downgrade to DDR3-1066-MHz for the
E300 APU and E1-1500 APU

So the report is correct...DDR3L-1600 memory running at a max of 1333 MHz in single channel mode (676 MHz).

[User85]

Paul,

Thank you for that info - I appreciate it.  Do some motherboards run in single channel mode while others run in double or more channel modes?

Will two RAM modules, each running in single channel mode, result in the laptop running faster than having one RAM module running in single channel mode?  Will two modules running at 676MHz cumulatively add up to roughly to 1333Mhz performance?

Thanks for your time.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

More memory is always better up to a point where too much is just a waste of money.

Since your notebook only supports a max of 2 x 4 GB of memory, it was a good idea to max it out.

With today's increasingly complex operating systems (W10), more memory is a must.

IMHO, 8 GB would be the minimum amount of memory to have a decent experience with W10.

So yes, more memory = better performance in your particular situation.

The memory is only going to run at 1/2 of the 1333 MHz speed.  That is the dual channel speed.

Since your notebook's motherboard/processor can only run the memory in single channel mode it is 1/2 no matter what.

So they don't add up to the 1333 MHz speed, but having two memory modules running in single channel mode is better than having half the amount of memory in one slot running in single channel mode.

Have you replaced the 2.5" mechanical hard drive with a 2.5" solid state drive (SSD)?

Such an upgrade would also help performance considerably, and it is not that expensive.