Librem Mini with single RAM card - which slot to use?

Hardware
1

I have received my Librem Mini yesterday and do install the SSD and RAM now
but there is no manual available (neither shipped nor for download).

What is the recommended RAM slot to use if I install only one RAM card?

PS: This is just for testing, I know, that two RAMs are better (faster)…

Edit 1: I have used the lower RAM slot (closer to the main board) and it did work (booting Ubuntu 18.04.02 from an USB 3.0 stick). I did a first load test calculating the faculty of big numbers in parallel (80 % CPU load) and the fan started after a few minutes (not really disturbing).
My Seabios version is rev-1.13.0-1-g55d6754
All hardware was recognized without an Ubuntu update (also the wifi card).

2

If the Mini works like a normal system, it shouldn’t matter which RAM slot you use. You get single channel RAM either way.

1 Like
3

yes, to further clarify the Librem-Mini has TWO RAM slots but they run ONLY in single channel mode even if there are TWO RAM modules populating the RAM slots … hope that helps

1 Like
4

Good to know this!

How did you find out this?

5

Can SODIMMs of different sizes be used in the slots with no problems or performance degradation?

6

the fact that it’s a single channel might constitute a performance degradation factor when compared to that of a dual-channel setup …

@tovadiratum you can search the Purism forums for that … if i remember correctly it’s been answered somewhere else here …

7

Short update:

I have tried both RAM slots with a single RAM module: Both work!

sudo dmidecode

does indicate that the lower slot (next to the main board) is slot 0, the upper one slot 1.

I have also used two RAM modules but I cannot figure out for sure (to prove it) if
single or double channel mode is used.

Nevertheless: If I use two RAM modules dmidecode says in the location part that

  • slot 0 uses channel 1
  • slot 1 uses channel 2

but this may not be a prove without knowing the internals of dmidecode (how is this recognized?).

8

where did you get that information from? It’s completely incorrect.

With 2 identical RAM modules installed, the Librem Mini runs in dual channel mode with all the expected performance benefits. I verified this using CPU-Z under Windows

4 Likes
9

AWESOME ! glad to be wrong. waiting for one myself. :slight_smile: