Pocket PC Techs' 128MB RAM Upgrade for the Axim X51v

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~Dell_Axim_X51v-509~area~upgrades~item~D51-064-128RAM.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~u...-064-128RAM.htm</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050907-PPCTechs.gif" /><br /><i>"We are pleased to announce that we have developed and released a 64MB to 128MB upgrade for the Dell Axim X51v Series Pocket PC. This unit uses low voltage hi-speed BGA memory, so stacking is not available and 128MB will be the maximum capacity. During the upgrade process we remove the existing 64MB and install 128MB. This memory upgrade does NOT require our proprietary driver and is fully recognized by the WM5 OS."</i><br /><br />Pocket PC Techs has just announced a 64MB to 128MB RAM upgrade for the Axim X51v. For $169, you can increase the user-available RAM from 49.47MB to 113.45MB. :)

[netboy]

y just upgrade the rams only?? i'm willing to pay a resonable price to upgrade my verizon vx6600 pocketPhone to VGA screen!

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Considering how much it costs to replace a VGA screen (and this only the screen mind), you're probably better off buying a new PDA with a VGA screen. PPCTechs is quoting $229 for a screen replacement for the Loox720, and that's for a screen replacement rather than a retrofit. Fujitsu-Siemens support in UK (IIRC) was quoting something like GBP300 for the same thing.

[PetiteFlower]

I'm confused as to why anyone would want this. Now my info may be outdated, but last I checked a PPCT RAM upgrade could be used for storage but couldn't be accessed as program memory. So now with WM5 RAM can't be used for storage either. So what good will the extra RAM do anyone? Especially considering it takes twice as much battery power to keep that much RAM powered....

[surur]

This is hilarious. I thought WM5 was supposed to sort out all our RAM problems. I know of one device (HTC Universal with only 30 MB RAM free after soft reset) which much more desperately needs this service.

I'm not going to consider a WM5 device as my main PDA until it comes with 128 MB RAM right out of the box.

Surur

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm confused as to why anyone would want this. Now my info may be outdated, but last I checked a PPCT RAM upgrade could be used for storage but couldn't be accessed as program memory. So now with WM5 RAM can't be used for storage either. So what good will the extra RAM do anyone? Especially considering it takes twice as much battery power to keep that much RAM powered....

It's dependent on the type of RAM and the ability of the OS to recognize it. My 4155 upgrade was indeed only an internal 'storage' increase but allowed me to load a significant number of apps that normally would have taken system RAM but couldn't be loaded on an SD for various reasons. It amounted to a very fast RAM Disk, if you recall those things.

Other PPCs like the X51v will accept the RAM as native and will see it as actual RAM increase. My X50v is that way. When I open the memory applet I see 128M RAM divided into Program and Storage. On the X51 I would expect to see something close to 128M of RAM with some of it used by the OS on reset. My upgrade on the X50 was certainly worth it, I expect the X51 would be as well in increased performance and multitasking ability.

As far as battery power, I didn't really see any appreciable difference in battery life.

[kozak]

I just sent my X50v with WM5 to get upgraded. There are plenty of apps that require more the 24MB of RAM but WM5 on the X50v only gives you 24MB accessable RAM? where is the rest of the 64MB? This upgrade will sure come in handy. Things like game ports and GPS software will run much smoother (OCN5 and Quake III Arean for example).

[Jason Dunn]

I'm confused as to why anyone would want this. Now my info may be outdated, but last I checked a PPCT RAM upgrade could be used for storage but couldn't be accessed as program memory.

I'm trying to get more information about this, because I don't want to pass on false information, but on my Jasjar I have 64 MB of RAM. In the memory control panel, it says I have 50 MB. After a soft reset with nothing running, I have about 29 MB free. Presumably, just like how on Windows XP you have 512 MB of RAM and the OS uses up 256 MB of it upon boot, the 64 MB of RAM that comes on the device is about 50% used up. This was quite a shock to me the first time I saw it, because I wasn't expecting it. I somehow thought there would be the full 64 MB of RAM available, but that doesn't make much sense now that I think about it. The sheer amount of RAM used up after a soft reset is very dismaying though... :? I'll front page this once I find out more - I really want to know why the Jasjar shows 50 MB for RAM when I know it has 64 MB.

[kozak]

I'll front page this once I find out more - I really want to know why the Jasjar shows 50 MB for RAM when I know it has 64 MB.

You're not the only one. The Dell X50v with WM5 shows 49MB and 24MB available after reset. It was 64 with almost 40 available in 2003SE. I would like to know aswell.

**long quote snipped by mod JD**

[alex_kac]

One thing I've personally found to be very useful to free up more RAM - look at the \WINDOWS\Startup folder and create a \WINDOWS\Startup Disabled folder. Move all the shortcuts from the first to the second and reboot. See what's really necessary. A lot of memory can be freed that way.

[Paragon]

As far as battery power, I didn't really see any appreciable difference in battery life.

Remember the 72 hour rule, Sven?

Even with WM5.0 devices when you turn them off RAM is still using power, unless you have a device that has a feature to turn the device completely off. So, now consider this: If your device only lasted 6 days when turned off...not completely off but off like it normally is, now with double the RAM it will only last 3 days. Increased RAM has only a minor effect on daily battery life. It has a huge effect on standby battery life. Think about it for a minute...when a device is off the only thing being powered is RAM. If 64mb of RAM has 6 days, then 128mb of RAM (twice the RAM) will have half the battery life. This is exactly why we never saw many devices previous to WM5.0 with more than 128mb of RAM. The batteries would have to be huge to give the device acceptable standby time.

Standby time may not be an important factor for many people, plus as mentioned, many WM5.0 devices have a feature to completely shut the device off, giving infinite standby time.

Dave

[Darius Wey]

y just upgrade the rams only?? i'm willing to pay a resonable price to upgrade my verizon vx6600 pocketPhone to VGA screen!

I'm no electrical engineer, but I believe there are complications associated with upgrading the Flash ROM as opposed to the RAM. That's why Pocket PC Techs don't really offer a ROM upgrade service.

[Ed Hansberry]

Standby time may not be an important factor for many people, plus as mentioned, many WM5.0 devices have a feature to completely shut the device off, giving infinite standby time.

Dave
that is not a WM5 feature. be sure to save everything first. otherwise it could act as a soft reset.

[Paragon]

Standby time may not be an important factor for many people, plus as mentioned, many WM5.0 devices have a feature to completely shut the device off, giving infinite standby time.

Dave
that is not a WM5 feature. be sure to save everything first. otherwise it could act as a soft reset.

As I said, Ed, on some WM5.0 devices it IS. On the Wizard (K-JAM, Qtek 9100 and so on) if you push the power button it turns the device off like any non-persistent storage device...RAM is still powered. If you hold the button down for a few seconds it turns off power to RAM. There is a pop up that warns of memory loss if not saved first.

Dave

[ctmagnus]

Standby time may not be an important factor for many people, plus as mentioned, many WM5.0 devices have a feature to completely shut the device off, giving infinite standby time.

Dave
that is not a WM5 feature. be sure to save everything first. otherwise it could act as a soft reset.

As I said, Ed, on some WM5.0 devices it IS. On the Wizard (K-JAM, Qtek 9100 and so on) if you push the power button it turns the device off like any non-persistent storage device...RAM is still powered. If you hold the button down for a few seconds it turns off power to RAM. There is a pop up that warns of memory loss if not saved first.

Dave

So how do you turn off the backlight on these devices?

[Ed Hansberry]

As I said, Ed, on some WM5.0 devices it IS.
No it ISN'T. It is an OEM feature, operating outside of WM. WM5 does NOT support "off" on the PPC. It does on the Smartphone.

[Paragon]

As I said, Ed, on some WM5.0 devices it IS.
No it ISN'T. It is an OEM feature, operating outside of WM. WM5 does NOT support "off" on the PPC. It does on the Smartphone.

Oh, that's what you are arguing about...weather or not it is a WM5.0 feature. :roll:

Read my quote Ed, I said it is a feature on some WM5.0 devices...I fail to see the need for the hair splitting, anyway. surely we can find better things to argue about.......Sony....DRM.....;)

Dave

[Ed Hansberry]

As I said, Ed, on some WM5.0 devices it IS.
No it ISN'T. It is an OEM feature, operating outside of WM. WM5 does NOT support "off" on the PPC. It does on the Smartphone.

Oh, that's what you are arguing about...weather or not it is a WM5.0 feature. :roll:
Because it does make a difference Dave. Is the OEM going into the bowels of the system and ensuring that all registry changes from any settings committed to the flash ROM? Are all file handles properly closed? This to me is reminiscent of the SUSPEND feature that was bolted on to NT4 laptops in the late 90's. It worked pretty good most of the time but it wasn't near as reliable - both to work and for data integrity - as the OS supported power saving modes that were built into Windows 2000.

If it were my WM5 device, the only way I would use it would be to soft reset, let the device come back, then turn it OFF. That way there is nothing that could possibly be lost. YMMV. :)

[Paragon]

Is the OEM going into the bowels of the system and ensuring that all registry changes from any settings committed to the flash ROM? Are all file handles properly closed?



NO. ED.....THAT'S WHY THERE IS THIS BIG BOLD MESSAGE THAT COMES UP ASKING IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE, BECAUSE DATA COULD BE LOST IF NOT SAVED PROPERLY.


BTW....this *OEM* HTC isn't exactly known for their shabby development....I'm sorry Ed, I just don't see what the big deal is? This feature is a good one....&lt;shrugs> I'm going back to work for the day....see ya. :)

Dave

[Sven Johannsen]

If it were my WM5 device, the only way I would use it would be to soft reset, let the device come back, then turn it OFF. That way there is nothing that could possibly be lost. YMMV. :)

I don't think a soft reset has any facility to save work in progress. I just started a new note and left it open. Reset, it's gone. New Note, switched to today, reset, it's gone. Until I left the note for the notes list, a soft reset lost the work in progress. I think there is some auto save function periodically, but soft reset is kind of like a reset on your desktop. I wouldn't use it to cleanly close open work. A Task Manager (whichever one) Close all, befor power off should be safe.

[PetiteFlower]

To my understanding, turning the device completely off is effectivly the same as a soft reset, since when you turn it back on it reboots. So I don't see how soft resetting BEFORE turning it off could be anything other then redundant.

I think it's a nice feature; I wish the X50 had it on upgraded models. I don't see using it a ton, but I do use my PPC on camping trips(mostly for reading) where I don't have access to a charger for a week at a time so it would be nice to be able to do a total shutdown to save battery in that situation.