I want to upgrade my laptop RAM and need help to make sure that I'm buying the right one

Question

I already do some research but just want to make sure so that I can make the right choice of buying a good and compatible RAM for my budget.

My laptop specification:

• HP Model 14-ck0004TX
• Intel Core i3-7020U @2.30 GHz
• Mainboard Model 849B (I assume this is the motherboard model?)
• SK Hynix 4GB 1Rx16 PC4-2400T-SCO-11 HMA851S6AFR6N-UH NO AC (it's a SODIMM single-rank)

So, what I want to do is buying 2 dual-channel DRAM (V-Gen DDR4 4GB 17000/2133MHz SODIMM Platinum). Reason:

• On Intel website for product specifications, it says that the processor "Max # of Memory Channels" is 2 so I assume it can support dual-channel RAM and I guess it's better to go for it than single-channel RAM
• Supported memory type is DDR4-2133

At first I thought about buying a 2400MHz RAM since I thought my Hynix is 2400MHz as labeled. I do search about this on some articles said that it better be the same although little difference would still be fine. Then, in CPU-Z it shows "DDR4-2400 (1200MHz)". So, I'm not really sure which one to pick.

Here's some description in CPU-Z: Memory SPD

Is it fine or am I missing something? Any ideas please?

Answer 1

DDR4-2133 will be sufficient for your system. Since DDR stands for double data rate, you'll have to take the "DRAM Frequency" from CPU-Z by two - yielding 2133 MHz, which is what your PC is currently running at.

You may want to check if you can increase the clock speed in your BIOS.

Instead of buying two new sticks of 4 GB RAM, I'd recommend to buy another "SK Hynix 4GB 1Rx16 PC4-2400T-SCO-11" module and install this alongside your current one. You'll still get dual-channel memory access with that approach.

If you want more than 8 GB of RAM - likely not necessary for your system as you'll be bottlenecked elsewhere - you'll want to buy 8 GB modules of course.