Speed of DDR2 Ram for Laptop

PZH

Hi all

Here is a general question on DDR2 RAM

I said that I would look at getting a RAM upgrade for my ex's laptop (an ACER) At the moment she is running Vista with 1GB (2 x 512 MB) of DDR2 667MHz RAM. (667MHz is the spec of the machine as far as I can tell)

My question is - can I fit 800MHz modules? I appreciate that it won't run to that speed due to the machine, but would it run stable, would it crash or would it just not run at all?

victor2

Money would be better spent ditching Vista and going for Windows 7 IMO.

On the memory, I would suspect it would work with faster memory, but with no benefit from that. However, I would defer to someone else's better knowledge and experience on that.

PZH

victor2 wrote: »

Money would be better spent ditching Vista and going for Windows 7 IMO.

On the memory, I would suspect it would work with faster memory, but with no benefit from that. However, I would defer to someone else's better knowledge and experience on that.

Yes, I agree over the Operating System - but I think it would still need more memory anyway - 1GB is not enough IMO

And 4GB of DDR2 is approx £20 (eBay) to £30 - £40 new. So still a cheaper option than Windows 7

John_Gray

Best check on the Crucial website what the maximum RAM capacity of that model of Acer, and how many memory slots are available (and already used!)...

PZH

John_Gray wrote: »

Best check on the Crucial website what the maximum RAM capacity of that model of Acer, and how many memory slots are available (and already used!)...

Both slot's in use with 1 x 512MB DDR2 667Mhz (1GB total). I'm sure that it would take 4GB RAM (Even is Vista will not use it all)

So would take out existing RAM and fit either 2 x 2GB or 1 x 4GB

spannerzone

Another vote for Crucial... use their scanner software and you'll probably have to either by 1x1Gb ram and use with one of your existing 512mb giving 1.5gb which whill help a bit, but better still ditch both existing sticks and get at least 2Gb ram.

Don't assume each slot can take 2Gb sticks, many PC's can't so check before buying and buy decent ram not cheaper unknown stuff on ebay otherwise we'll next be answering your questions about why the new ebay ram won't be recognised properly or bluescreens with 4Gb etc

GunJack

some points:-

1. 2GB is sufficient even for vista

2. 800MHz RAM will run at whatever speed the mobo will support, so if it'll only support 667MHz, the 800 will run at 667MMHz. You won't notice any difference in all honesty.

3. crucial scanner is good but not 100% accurate. Double-check it's results with crucial's memory finder tool (select make & model from dropdowns) and then with CPU-Z, speccy or SIW.

4. If it's a 32-bit operating system, it'll only "see" and use around 3.25GB if you put 4GB in it.

fwor

GunJack wrote: »

2. 800MHz RAM will run at whatever speed the mobo will support, so if it'll only support 667MHz, the 800 will run at 667MMHz.

Theoretically this is completely true, and yet on one motherboard that I've tried this on it simply would not work. I never figured out for sure why, and the only explanation I could think of is that the BIOS was checking the RAM's spec via SPD and was refusing to pass it because it was too strict about how good a match it required.

One other point: 2 * 2GB should potentially give better performance than 1 * 4GB, because of dual channel access - though I believe the effect is relatively small.

GunJack

interesting....so much for backwards-compatability

John_Gray

GunJack wrote: »

interesting....so much for backwards-compatibility

The faster RAM usually works with slower stuff, but some motherboards are very picky - and you don't usually find out until after you've tried it... Hence my suggestion of Crucial for a fairly authoritative opinion!

Hammyman

OP:

Go on to Ebay. Buy any Hynix or Samsung branded laptop RAM. Doesn't matter what speed. It'll work. I have been paying no more than £7 inc delivery for 1GB sticks of DDR2.

No point getting 4GB for home use and yes, the laptop will support it if you decide to.