Upgrading RAM When One Slot is Soldered - Asus Zephyrus G15

This is a RAM upgrade guide for modern gaming laptops with one RAM stick soldered to the motherboard, specifically the Asus Zephyrus G15. This guide could also be used for other popular gaming laptops with one stick of RAM soldered to the motherboard, like the Alienware M15 and Acer Nitro.

I know mixing memory does not always increase performance, so just be aware that this may not apply to every laptop out there or every configuration (4gb +8gb, etc.)

In this video I go over the myths and misconceptions around upgrading RAM, how to upgrade your RAM on the Zephyrus G15, and performance benchmarks before and after upgrading. I hope you’ll like, comment, and subscribe for more content like this and to help the channel grow!

A couple of success stories with 40gb:

Thanks so much for watching!

[JarrodsTech]

It will be interesting to see if this is different with the newer DDR5 models, apparently those run quad channel so dual channel with a single stick is possible? I haven't spent any time looking into it yet.

[FlashAzimiz]

Thanks to your clear & detailed explanation, I've made my decision to upgrade my G14 to 24gb ram total (8gb soldered + 16gb swappable), much appreciated Josh!

[Lew.bracie]

I've optimised everything through your guide, and now added a stick of DDR4 32gb RAM thanks to you. All that's left now is an undervolting guide😉. Greatly appreciate all the information it really is invaluable. My laptop runs way better than I could ever get it on my own. This channel is sheer gold

[celstark]

I just did the same thing on a G15/3070 but used 16G single rank instead of dual-rank and that likely explains the slight difference you and I have. For me, Time Spy numbers were identical. Performance mode was 8771 vs 8739 (16 vs 24) and Turbo mode was 8957 vs 8989. GeekBench was 1072/6138 vs 1081/6627 in performance mode and 1446/7347 vs 1442/7430 in Turbo mode. So, despite the mantra that mix-and-match will hurt you, this came up with no difference whatsoever. That is, of course, on a clean boot with nothing else running. Have a few browser tabs open, your Discord or Slack up, and maybe not a clean boot so who knows what's still in the background and that extra 8G, even if that part is in single-channel is looking a whole lot nicer than swapping to the SSD. I'm not doing anything fancy now - just have my normal work apps open at the end of a day, and I'm sitting at 20G of RAM used. If I hopped on to play now, the added room I now have post upgrade would most likely reward me with a smoother experience.

So for me, the 24G is $60 well-spent. It's certainly not hurting me. Your data back that up with actual in-game FPS.

[leinaddnalkrik]

Yes! Thanks for this video Josh. My G15 should be arriving tomorrow 🥳. I'm glad there's a content creator (you) whose videos I can consult to help me get the most out of my machine.

Besides being knowledge dense, your videos and delivery style bring something extra to the table that others don't. Also, I think it's important/valuable that you're conscious of--and give reference to--what other content creators within this domain are putting out there.

[Squattheplanet]

"Almost no games available today will use 16gb of ram"

Star Citizen: Hold my beer

[Puggernuts]

OMG THANK YOU. I have been trying to get a clear answer to this for 2 years now. Finally time to upgrade.

[nikolashauzeur]

Dude changing ram is crazy how it affects performance, ran timespy today, got 10, 065 on hybrid mode, cpu set to 35 tdp and gpu clock to plus 190 mhz, cpu temp did go to 76c but i think thats still acceptable! Curious about what score id be able to attain on Dgpu mode!

[skipvj]

Thanks 👍 I'm a year late and $900 in my pocket waiting! Just purchased a year old Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 from eBay for $940. I've been using an Asus Vivobook Pro for 2yrs. I'm so hyped! I'm literally going to jump 12-13 generations of CPU/GPU technology over night! For those who don't know. The Vivobook Pro has a i7-7700 CPU and a GTX 1050. Yeah! I think I'll see a difference and I'll probably refer to your current and future videos. Very informative.

[JimothyRoss]

Thank you SO much for clearing up the misconception at the beginning. Trying to run Elden Ring while recording with Obs on the 16gb was having some issues (idk could've been the temp running too high also, I'm new with laptops), but definitely considering upgrading the ram now. Thanks!

[davidkroods]

I used Lenovo Legion 5 2021
Ryzen 7
Rtx 3070

Upgrading 2 x 8gb ram to 2 x 16gb

Now this laptop is monster since it was before also but now unstoppable

[officialabdulrehman]

Dude, you're a gem.
I was so confused about this duel channel thing.
All clear now.

Thank you!

[HLLMAU]

I thought it was BS when people said that installing 2 Rank ram would increase FPS until I upgraded my 2021 G15 G503, installed 16 GB, 2 Rank 3200MHz and I did see a 20 FPS increase in HALO infinite at max settings, I haven’t tried my other games yet but it was crazy that it actually helped a lot

[benmeier]

Picked up the g15 on sale this superbowl weekend. Very happy with it so far

[Lonertide]

Dudee... I've been badly waiting your next VIDEO!!🤩🤩
This was the only thing stopping me from buying the Zephyrus G15, but no more.
It really helped.
Thanks Josh, Seriously Thanks a lott!❤️
Appreciate your effort bro👏🏻
Though you leave a pretty long gap between your every single video, It's worth the Wait💯

[radkarbonat]

thanks a lot. Now I got a knowledge that i acquired one slot ram isnt a problem. first of all, after i found out my laptop have only one slot ram, I feel disappointed and cant sleep for 3 days. but now u gave me a hope. I appreciate that.

[chriskimbrel]

Been looking for a video like this since I bought my G14 last year. Thank you very much!

[mr.aayushyadavstudentjaipu]

Just the video i was looking for. Thanks man. Love from India

[joelconolly]

I guess there's no wrong for unbalanced RAM config but the FPS isn't too different so maybe it's not the bottleneck nor an upgrade for the system. This video is kinda good info. I should also wait for the Zephyrus M16 2022 to come out.

[richteritwan]

Productivity comparison? Probably a better, more noticeable difference as productivity isn't as reliant upon GPU/FPS.