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[300$ on Amazon] Asus VivoBook 14 Thin and Light 14" HD, AMD Dual Core R3-3200U, 4GB DDR4, 128GB SSD, AMD Radeon Vega 3
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- Mar 31st, 2020 12:15 am
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- tebore
- Deal Guru
- Feb 9, 2006
- 13378 posts
- 8308 upvotes
- Brampton
- Macali
- Member
- Oct 10, 2014
- 472 posts
- 443 upvotes
- Toronto, ON
I finally got my SATA connection kit in the mail (felt like forever!).
Install was simple (had to use YT to figure out the connector to the m/b), and bam, was able to leverage a 500GB SATA SSD (from a laptop that recently died) to give some decent storage to this thing.
Still haven't upgraded the RAM (it's a light duty machine), and continue to be impressed! I'm sure next time there's a killer RAM deal I'll bite.
Thanks again to OP!!
Install was simple (had to use YT to figure out the connector to the m/b), and bam, was able to leverage a 500GB SATA SSD (from a laptop that recently died) to give some decent storage to this thing.
Still haven't upgraded the RAM (it's a light duty machine), and continue to be impressed! I'm sure next time there's a killer RAM deal I'll bite.
Thanks again to OP!!
- Macali
- Member
- Oct 10, 2014
- 472 posts
- 443 upvotes
- Toronto, ON
RAM Question:
Before upgrading the RAM, it was 4GB with 3.75 Usable (according to Windows 10 Control Panel -> System).
I upgraded to 8GB of RAM, but it only shows as 5.95 usable... I was expecting it to show 7.75.
Perhaps part of it is reserved for GPU, but why did it change from 250MB to 2GB?
Also, I didn't see anything in the BIOS to adjust the amount of RAM dedicated to the GPU.
Anyone have any ideas/suggestions/tips?
Before upgrading the RAM, it was 4GB with 3.75 Usable (according to Windows 10 Control Panel -> System).
I upgraded to 8GB of RAM, but it only shows as 5.95 usable... I was expecting it to show 7.75.
Perhaps part of it is reserved for GPU, but why did it change from 250MB to 2GB?
Also, I didn't see anything in the BIOS to adjust the amount of RAM dedicated to the GPU.
Anyone have any ideas/suggestions/tips?
- tebore
- Deal Guru
- Feb 9, 2006
- 13378 posts
- 8308 upvotes
- Brampton
The APU shared is set to auto deep deep in the BIOS. Which takes 2GB once dual channel is activated(so basically when a second stick is added).Macali wrote: ↑ RAM Question:
Before upgrading the RAM, it was 4GB with 3.75 Usable (according to Windows 10 Control Panel -> System).
I upgraded to 8GB of RAM, but it only shows as 5.95 usable... I was expecting it to show 7.75.
Perhaps part of it is reserved for GPU, but why did it change from 250MB to 2GB?
Also, I didn't see anything in the BIOS to adjust the amount of RAM dedicated to the GPU.
Anyone have any ideas/suggestions/tips?
As of right now it can't be set to a different value thru the BIOS screens.
The AMD CBS binary is actually part of the BIOS but there's no way to access it.
- meepsheep
- Deal Addict
- Jul 26, 2015
- 1759 posts
- 1873 upvotes
- Toronto
can you post a link to that YouTube vid you mentioned? Just in case the rest of us need it lolMacali wrote: ↑ I finally got my SATA connection kit in the mail (felt like forever!).
Install was simple (had to use YT to figure out the connector to the m/b), and bam, was able to leverage a 500GB SATA SSD (from a laptop that recently died) to give some decent storage to this thing.
Still haven't upgraded the RAM (it's a light duty machine), and continue to be impressed! I'm sure next time there's a killer RAM deal I'll bite.
Thanks again to OP!!
I've never installed that kind of part to a laptop so I'd like the vid as a reference
- Macali
- Member
- Oct 10, 2014
- 472 posts
- 443 upvotes
- Toronto, ON
Thank you for this info!! Super helpful to understand why it's happening!tebore wrote: ↑ The APU shared is set to auto deep deep in the BIOS. Which takes 2GB once dual channel is activated(so basically when a second stick is added).
As of right now it can't be set to a different value thru the BIOS screens.
The AMD CBS binary is actually part of the BIOS but there's no way to access it.
Wish I had known that earlier, might have swayed be to spend a bit more (was looking for a "minimal" upgrade, and figured $20 to get it to 8GB total would be sufficient... now I'm stuck with 6GB lol).
I wonder if Canada Computers will take an open item to exchange for a larger stick...
- Macali
- Member
- Oct 10, 2014
- 472 posts
- 443 upvotes
- Toronto, ON
my bad for not posting it earlier...
this vid is pretty long, and I only needed to figure out how to use the connector on the m/b... which was at the 4:00 mark (I didn't realize there's a plastic piece that pops up and closes down on the ribbon).
- Macali
- Member
- Oct 10, 2014
- 472 posts
- 443 upvotes
- Toronto, ON
CC took my exchange without issue even though it was already opened! No 15% restocking fee, and they actually just processed it as a return. Ended up buying an 8GB stick instead, and now the system shows 12GB, with 9.95GB usable!
Hopefully that means it was the last time opening this thing up... those clips are annoying!!
- townie22
- Deal Fanatic
- Jan 2, 2012
- 5036 posts
- 1717 upvotes
- Charlottetown
1st time i has to use USB port on mine......... and it's bent, bottom of it is almost U shaped, don't know how i'm going to fix that, with plastic bottom can't really use needle nose pliers......
- tebore
- Deal Guru
- Feb 9, 2006
- 13378 posts
- 8308 upvotes
- Brampton
I almost to report my $5 HDD kit from Aliexpress came and it works just fine.
- kiasu
- Deal Expert
- Jan 27, 2004
- 18704 posts
- 5739 upvotes
- aasoror
- Moderator
- Dec 27, 2007
- 22706 posts
- 15194 upvotes
- Kitchener
v v v v
tebore wrote: ↑ This maybe a compatible cable
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000160683049.html
If you're gonna wait you might as well pay as little as possible.
I am chancing it for $6