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g74sx-dh71 help

440hsp
Level 9
hello everyone. I'm brand new to the site and i've been trying to find information on how to upgrade my dh71. Dont wanna sound like an idiot here with all you more experienced people on the forums but bare with this noobie. I enjoy learning how to enhance my electronics (if possible) to run better than what i could ever possibly imagine and i know that this beast i have can do waaay more than what it's capable of now. Sorry for the long write up but i'll get to the point. I want to upgrade the ram from the standard 12gb to 16 or better. Would like ome helpful info on what the best options are company wise. I know i have ddr3 1333mhz ram in there now but as i have been reading i'm hearing about 1600 mhz and 1866 mhz ram but i do not know which is viable for my setup. I would also like to learn more about raid setups and how to run this type of setup on my laptop. Like i said i am new to this so if i'm asking stupid questions just bare with me and point me in the right direction and i'll try to read and learn as much as i can. If there is a section dedicated to the g74sx laptop lmk and i'll head there.
Thanks for your patience.
G74SX-DH71, i7 2670QM(2.2GHZ)
GTX560M 3GB DDR5
24GB RAM @ 1333MHZ
1TB (1x256GB SSD/1x750GB HDD @ 7200 RPM)
17.3" LED 1920 X 1080
Intel ultimate n 6300 wlan
9,152 Views
17 REPLIES 17

Moccamanden
Level 7
Hi!

There is a dedicated forum for the G-series notebooks, it can be found here
Coffee, the finest organic suspension ever devised!
- Capt. Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager

thank you for the link.
G74SX-DH71, i7 2670QM(2.2GHZ)
GTX560M 3GB DDR5
24GB RAM @ 1333MHZ
1TB (1x256GB SSD/1x750GB HDD @ 7200 RPM)
17.3" LED 1920 X 1080
Intel ultimate n 6300 wlan

X-ROG
Level 15
You can upgrade 'officially' to 16GB, but 32GB also works (there is a large thread discussing it in this forum). There's no benefit from 1600 or 1866 memory to be honest as iirc the G74 doesn't offer memory timing options as the CPU does not support it. Hopefully someone else will confirm this, but it's not available on the G53 and initial G75 BIOS, so I assume G74 is the same.

Please see this link for an upgrade guide: http://rog.asus.com/24752011/labels/rog-exclusive/how-to-upgrade-the-g74sx-a1-gaming-laptop/

thanks for the quick replys and info. Was thinking of trying the hyper x ram. Maybe 4x4gb@1333 or 4 x8gb @1333. Was wondering also do i need ssd drives to run a raid config or could i do it off of my 2 factory 750gb hardrives? I know ssd's are better but dont even know where to get started there i.e. Manufacturers,sizes etc.etc. Would like my dh71 to be blazing fast and know that i accomplished doing it myself ( i.e. With the help of you guys of course). Thanks for any advice in advance.
G74SX-DH71, i7 2670QM(2.2GHZ)
GTX560M 3GB DDR5
24GB RAM @ 1333MHZ
1TB (1x256GB SSD/1x750GB HDD @ 7200 RPM)
17.3" LED 1920 X 1080
Intel ultimate n 6300 wlan

440hsp wrote:
thanks for the quick replys and info. Was thinking of trying the hyper x ram. Maybe 4x4gb@1333 or 4 x8gb @1333. Was wondering also do i need ssd drives to run a raid config or could i do it off of my 2 factory 750gb hardrives? I know ssd's are better but dont even know where to get started there i.e. Manufacturers,sizes etc.etc. Would like my dh71 to be blazing fast and know that i accomplished doing it myself ( i.e. With the help of you guys of course). Thanks for any advice in advance.

The G74 does not support hardware RAID.

Unless you are using specialized programs that actually need/use 32Gb RAM, there's really no reason to install more than 16Gb. The vast majority of the programs we all use won't even come close to using 16Gb, but it's such a cheap upgrade....why not, eh? As Marshall said, the G74 will run 16 or 32Gb RAM at 133MHz, no matter what rated speed you put in there.

Using an SSD for your OS drive does give a noticeable performance boot. For most users (who don't run lots of massively huge programs), something in the 120Gb is more than big enough.

One other easy, cheap upgrade that can be a good investment is replacing the existing WLAN card. For some reason, even though this is supposed to be their "flagship" gaming laptop, they ship it with basic, budget-level 150Mbps cards. The Atheros-based Azurewave card, in particular, is a bad perfdormaer for many owners.

Any suggestions on ssd options that work with my specific laptop and what is the best ram out there to run in my rig?
G74SX-DH71, i7 2670QM(2.2GHZ)
GTX560M 3GB DDR5
24GB RAM @ 1333MHZ
1TB (1x256GB SSD/1x750GB HDD @ 7200 RPM)
17.3" LED 1920 X 1080
Intel ultimate n 6300 wlan

Is this a good brand for a ram upgrade? Samsung MV-3T4G4 4GB DDR3 Laptop SDRAM (1333MHz PC3-10600). I found it on Amazon for 30.00 for a 4gb stick. I have read that samsung makes really good ssd's so i figured they would do so with ram also.
G74SX-DH71, i7 2670QM(2.2GHZ)
GTX560M 3GB DDR5
24GB RAM @ 1333MHZ
1TB (1x256GB SSD/1x750GB HDD @ 7200 RPM)
17.3" LED 1920 X 1080
Intel ultimate n 6300 wlan

RAM is RAM really...if it tests out OK with memtest86+ then whether its corsair, or kingston, or samsung it makes little difference. Avoid getting drawn into the performance RAM myth that 1600 or 1866 is significantly faster than 1333. In benchmarks it is sure enough, but in real world apps there is virtually no difference. And one way that manufacturers can rate ICs as stable at >=1600 MHz is to loosen (increase) the timings (from CAS Latency 9 to 10 or 11) which means that the RAM takes more clock cycles to accomplish the same thing as similarly clocked but tighter timed sticks (CL<=9) which you won't find at speeds of 1600. So while 1600 or 1866 MHz RAM looks faster, it comes with a hidden performance cost of timings, and the ultimate speed increase in real world apps (which respond to both timigs and clocks) is imperceptible. And as Marshall says you can't reprogram the timings to tighter values in the G74 since the BIOS functionality is gutted. Trust me, it would be one of the most disappointing upgrades you'll do. See http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/8: stick with 1333MHz, or 1600 MHz at the most.
One area where brand name RAM like Corsair is beneficial is support and warranty. If your RAM tests with even one error in memtest86+ corsair will replace it free and immediately. They are amazing.

If you want to run 32GB in the G74 then 1333MHz is the limit. You can run 16GB in the G74 at 1600MHz by choosing two 8GB SODIMMs.
--
G74SX-CST1-CBIL, i7 2630QM 2GHz
32GB DDR3 RAM @1333MHz
GTX560M 3GB DDR5 (192 bit)
17.3" LED 1920x1080
Sentelic TP, BIOS 203
Debian Linux Wheezy (Testing) Kernel 3.2, NVIDIA 295.40

440hsp wrote:
Any suggestions on ssd options that work with my specific laptop and what is the best ram out there to run in my rig?

Most SSDs should work....personally, I'm partial to Intel and Crucial. They're reliable and well-supported. RAM is pretty much a commodity these days.....any brand that doesn't have bad user ratings should be fine.

EDIT: Ditto everything fostert said! I couldn't agree more with his comments on RAM.