Help with my dinosaur laptop RAM

[JSUSoutherner]

So I have a laptop I got 4 or so years ago my junior year of high school that has been my main PC for school and stuff for a while. It's a Toshiba Satellite C855-S5306 which is currently running Windows 10. (Yes I know it's a terrible Wal-Mart computer, I'm building a new rig after my tax refund comes in. so there.) 

 

ANYWAY, It was running like garbage so I reset it last week. Still wasn't running too hot so I opened it up and found out that my idiot self from 3 years ago (before I knew how computers worked) decided two  non-matching RAM sticks was ok. 

 

I'm not even sure if they're the same speed but they are both 4GB DDR3 sticks but one is a Kingston stick and the other is from a company whose logo I do not recognize. 

 

 

Anyway, since I'm throwing down money on a new system soon I don't want to have to go buy a new memory kit or anything.

 

My question is if there a program where I can see how these sticks work together? Like can I test them and see their speed and if they somehow are running in dual channel and where I can test each stick to see which is faster should I have to take one stick out. What should I do with these things? 

 

I'm pretty much using this computer for light online class work (MS Office stuff) and  I'm going to see if I can do light AutoCAD (we have to draw a house for our final so that's the heaviest project I'll need it to do) work with it for my engineering class to hold me over until I get something better. 

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks

[TheRandomness]

CPU-z with the memory tab.

[tomaatvk]

Different ram sticks work together just like a kit would, however, they default to the speed of the lowest stick. Just make sure they are the same type, so don't combine, for example, DDR3 and DDR3L (the latter runs at a lower voltage than the first).

You could even run different capacity sticks together, I ran my desktop with 1 8GB stick and 2 4GB sticks for about 1.5 years with no issues before I moved to DDR4.

 

Looking at the names of the sticks, non-brand stick is a PC3-10600 stick, thus it's a 1333MHz stick and the kingston one is a PC3-12800 stick, thus capable of running at 1600MHz.

However, as you are combining the 1600MHz stick with a 1333MHz stick, they will both run at 1333MHz.

 

You should be fine running programs like office or autoCAD (as long as the CPU/GPU are fast enough to handle the workload).

[kenji772]

12 minutes ago, JSUSoutherner said:

So I have a laptop I got 4 or so years ago my junior year of high school that has been my main PC for school and stuff for a while. It's a Toshiba Satellite C855-S5306 which is currently running Windows 10. (Yes I know it's a terrible Wal-Mart computer, I'm building a new rig after my tax refund comes in. so there.) 

 

ANYWAY, It was running like garbage so I reset it last week. Still wasn't running too hot so I opened it up and found out that my idiot self from 3 years ago (before I knew how computers worked) decided two  non-matching RAM sticks was ok. 

 

I'm not even sure if they're the same speed but they are both 4GB DDR3 sticks but one is a Kingston stick and the other is from a company whose logo I do not recognize. 

 

 

Anyway, since I'm throwing down money on a new system soon I don't want to have to go buy a new memory kit or anything.

 

My question is if there a program where I can see how these sticks work together? Like can I test them and see their speed and if they somehow are running in dual channel and where I can test each stick to see which is faster should I have to take one stick out. What should I do with these things? 

 

I'm pretty much using this computer for light online class work (MS Office stuff) and  I'm going to see if I can do light AutoCAD (we have to draw a house for our final so that's the heaviest project I'll need it to do) work with it for my engineering class to hold me over until I get something better. 

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks

Theoretically, their transfer speeds if running on dual channel will be equal on each stick. 10600 stick is about 1333 MHz I guess. Why don't you buy 2 new RAM modules? DDR3-1600 2x 8GB should suffice in almost all workflow/applications.

 

[JSUSoutherner]

 

With both sticks. 

 

The offbrand stick

 

The Kingston stick 

 

Where to from here?

[JSUSoutherner]

15 minutes ago, kenji772 said:

Theoretically, their transfer speeds if running on dual channel will be equal on each stick. 10600 stick is about 1333 MHz I guess. Why don't you buy 2 new RAM modules? DDR3-1600 2x 8GB should suffice in almost all workflow/applications.

 

Cause like I said, I'm cheap and I'm only looking for a band-aid solution until I get my new rig up and running in a couple months. It's not worth dumping money into. 

[bjenk4]

On 1/22/2017 at 2:15 AM, JSUSoutherner said:

So I have a laptop I got 4 or so years ago my junior year of high school that has been my main PC for school and stuff for a while. It's a Toshiba Satellite C855-S5306 which is currently running Windows 10. (Yes I know it's a terrible Wal-Mart computer, I'm building a new rig after my tax refund comes in. so there.) 

 

ANYWAY, It was running like garbage so I reset it last week. Still wasn't running too hot so I opened it up and found out that my idiot self from 3 years ago (before I knew how computers worked) decided two  non-matching RAM sticks was ok. 

 

I'm not even sure if they're the same speed but they are both 4GB DDR3 sticks but one is a Kingston stick and the other is from a company whose logo I do not recognize. 

 

 

Anyway, since I'm throwing down money on a new system soon I don't want to have to go buy a new memory kit or anything.

 

My question is if there a program where I can see how these sticks work together? Like can I test them and see their speed and if they somehow are running in dual channel and where I can test each stick to see which is faster should I have to take one stick out. What should I do with these things? 

 

I'm pretty much using this computer for light online class work (MS Office stuff) and  I'm going to see if I can do light AutoCAD (we have to draw a house for our final so that's the heaviest project I'll need it to do) work with it for my engineering class to hold me over until I get something better. 

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks

I know this is an old post but the brand is Micron