# Tivo Premiere RAM upgrade?



## cringe (Mar 19, 2006)

I seems as though some additional RAM (Not HD) may help speed up some of the application level functionality (menus, netflix, hulu, etc). Has anyone upgraded the memory in a Premiere? tbqh, I don't even know how much it currently has, but unless its 32-bit and already has 2GB there should be some improvement. Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! :up:


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## consumedsoul (Jan 13, 2013)

cringe said:


> I seems as though some additional RAM (Not HD) may help speed up some of the application level functionality (menus, netflix, hulu, etc). Has anyone upgraded the memory in a Premiere? tbqh, I don't even know how much it currently has, but unless its 32-bit and already has 2GB there should be some improvement. Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! :up:


Is that even possible or is it soldered in etc.?


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## cringe (Mar 19, 2006)

Interesting thought. I haven't opened it and from the internet results of the tivo premiere inside I see too many possibilities. Is there the other option of upgrading the CPU?


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## IWLSR5 (Apr 2, 2013)

cringe said:


> I seems as though some additional RAM (Not HD) may help speed up some of the application level functionality (menus, netflix, hulu, etc). Has anyone upgraded the memory in a Premiere? tbqh, I don't even know how much it currently has, but unless its 32-bit and already has 2GB there should be some improvement. Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! :up:


The upgrades that you are asking about are ill advised. The majority of people that tried to upgrade their RAM end up ruining their motherboard. If premieres are like all over TiVos then there are no extra sockets to soldier additional RAM to. To even attempt this you would need some type of reworking station and some serious soldiering skills.

If you want to speed up your menus, just turn off HD menus.


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## cringe (Mar 19, 2006)

I'm not sure I agree. It still seems like the best answer is to upgrade to an SSD drive replacement. I have a few large ones sitting around so its not too big of a deal, I was just hoping for some additional options. Thanks to all for the replies! :up:


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

search on SSD. That will not provide the net benefit you think it will.


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

Don't forget you'll have to rewrite the bootloader and such to handle the new RAM as well. Embedded devices don't often have stuff like RAM detection routines and the like because they're not designed to. 

It's not just a matter of soldering in more and expecting it to work - most likely it won't work anymore because the memory timings are incorrect.


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## Juggs64 (Nov 25, 2013)

So a RAM upgrade possible or not?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

The best upgrade is to get a Roamio. 

Ram=no


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Juggs64 said:


> So a RAM upgrade possible or not?


The Series 1 TiVos had a place on the motherboard where you could solder two more RAM chips if you had SMD experience, but I don't recall seeing any extra places on S2 and S3 mobos, so I'm guessing there aren't any on S4 boards either.

That would mean having to unsolder what's there and replace it with something exactly the same but with more capacity, and then you have the problem of whether the TiVo will recognize and work with the extra bytes assuming that the chips are electronically compatible with the motherboard.

I assume you already know what SMD stands for and have experience and equipment to handle SMD chips.

If not, this is not the appliance on which to learn.

And for anyone contemplating a CPU upgrade in a TiVo, it's a custom chip with extra stuff that was outboard on the older models until the S3 HD and HD XL, including the part that holds the TiVo Service Number unique to that individual motherboard, and to which your subscription and recordings are tied, and it's a BGA mount, compared to which SMD is a piece of cake.

I won't say a RAM upgrade is absolutely impossible (because TiVo doesn't let enough information out for anybody to determine that in advance), just hideously impractical at best.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

unitron said:


> The Series 1 TiVos had a place on the motherboard where you could solder two more RAM chips if you had SMD experience, but I don't recall seeing any extra places on S2 and S3 mobos, so I'm guessing there aren't any on S4 boards either.


I miss the good old days when RAM expansion was as easy as piggybacking a new DIP chip on the old one with the enable pin bent out and wired to the MOBO.


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