Upgrading to 8GB ram on Lenovo ThinkCentre M70e - 0843 SFF (Small Form Factor)

[Clyde Martin]

Hi, 

I need help regarding the ram upgrade, I am so confused about the maximum ram capacity of a G41 Chipset. Some people says that their computer same as mine can use 8GB of Ram DDR3 although on the Lenovo website it says 4GB DDR3 max. By the way I already changed my CPU to Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad from Intel Core 2 duo E8400. The specs will be attached on this post. I am just a simple computer user with little knowledge on some aspects of computer parts and upgrades. If it's possible to upgrade to 8GB what are the compatible ram based on the specs? Please help. Thank you! 

[Johnston]

Hello, i believe that it can support up to 8 gig. I believe when they say it supports only four, they mean per dimm

[Clyde Martin]

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd000897-detailed-specifications-thinkcentre-m70e-type-0806-0810-0821-0823-0827-0829-0832-0835-0842-0844-0846-0848-0851-and-4089

[jaslion]

Board only supports 2gb dimms. So 4gb is max.

[8tg]

The M70E supports 8gb of ram, you’d want to look for similar age DDR3, 800 or 1066mhz kits. It likely won’t play nice with later 1600/1866mhz ddr3.

 

 

[Clyde Martin]

2 minutes ago, 8tg said:

The M70E supports 8gb of ram, you’d want to look for similar age DDR3, 800 or 1066mhz kits. It likely won’t play nice with later 1600/1866mhz ddr3.

 

 

You mean to say that if I can get a 2x4GB DDR3 1066 kit that will do? Right. 

[8tg]

1 minute ago, Clyde Martin said:

You mean to say that if I can get a 2x4GB DDR3 1066 kit that will do? Right. 

Yes, Lenovo listed the limitations of that machine for its time, it can handle what any G41 chipset can. The limitation was that at the time DDR3 in higher capacity was extremely expensive and in low supply.

There are multiple accounts online of people upgrading these machines like any other G41 business desktop with 8gb of ram and even later core2quads with a bios update.

[Clyde Martin]

1 minute ago, 8tg said:

Yes, Lenovo listed the limitations of that machine for its time, it can handle what any G41 chipset can. The limitation was that at the time DDR3 in higher capacity was extremely expensive and in low supply.

There are multiple accounts online of people upgrading these machines like any other G41 business desktop with 8gb of ram and even later core2quads with a bios update.

Before I upgrade my RAM should I be updating my BIOS as well?

[8tg]

Just now, Clyde Martin said:

Before I upgrade my RAM should I be updating my BIOS as well?

Doesn’t hurt to do anyway since I think if it’s an early bios revision, a later update on a lot of G41/45 boards actually helps a lot with memory performance anyway.

That was the dawn of DDR3, G41 is basically just G31 with x4500 igpu and hacked together ddr3 support.

Lenovo probably has the update on their website somewhere, they tend to hide these things.

[Clyde Martin]

15 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Doesn’t hurt to do anyway since I think if it’s an early bios revision, a later update on a lot of G41/45 boards actually helps a lot with memory performance anyway.

That was the dawn of DDR3, G41 is basically just G31 with x4500 igpu and hacked together ddr3 support.

Lenovo probably has the update on their website somewhere, they tend to hide these things.

I will post an update about this once I have the 2x4GB ram 1066mhz and BIOS update as well. Thank you everyone for the help. 

[Clyde Martin]

Update
Flash BIOS update - Flash from Operating System version - https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/thinkcentre_bios/90jy17usa.txt

Just updated the BIOS from 90KT16AUS to 90KT17AUS.