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laptop memory question

Old 03-21-2009, 11:39 AM
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Hi guys

Question is will a DDR2 PC2-5300 1-gig card and a DDR2 PC2-4200 1-gig card work together?

I have one of each sitting around and was wondering if they are compatible to be put in my wifes laptop.
Her'* has (2) DDR2 PC2 4200s 512 in it now. I did a 'crucial scan' and found that her'* can run with 2gb total.

Thanks in advance

Last edited by Toddster; 03-21-2009 at 11:43 AM.
Old 03-21-2009, 11:52 AM
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Todd;

As I understand it, no they wont. The 5300 is for bus speeds of 667Mhz and the 4200 is for 533Mhz.
Old 03-22-2009, 01:59 PM
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I don't see why it will not work,the only drawback is the machine will run the slower 533mhz.

I have a 1 x 1gb DDR2667 here if you are looking..
Old 03-22-2009, 10:08 PM
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I would think it would work as well, at the lower speed. If it'* just a general purpose machine, just use the higher one alone. Unless you have need for more than a gig memory commit,( and I doubt it unless she into some serious processing or gaming.) 2 gigs isnt going to make anything work better unless you use up the gig and start writing back to VM. Memory in a computer isnt like HP in a car. To litle slows, but more doesnt mean faster unless you make use of it.
Old 03-22-2009, 11:21 PM
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Bad software link, nevermind.
Old 03-22-2009, 11:25 PM
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Both will work, but you really need the one to match the bus speed of the PC to take advantage of the chip speed/ram and you can't mix them. It has to be one or the other.

So Toddster...two 1GB 2Rx8 PC2-5300S memory modules will be heading your way!
Old 03-22-2009, 11:39 PM
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<--- A+ IT Cert... yes they will work together... IF... the laptop can support both 533 and 667... which being ddr2 ram it SHOULD... havent seen one yet that wont but hey... it could happen... hehe

the only thing is that as said previously... it WILL slow the 667 down to 533 and match them that way so it wont be as fast as two sticks of 667... but the slightly lower speed you wouldnt notice anyways
Old 03-23-2009, 01:05 AM
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Originally Posted by tlsheff
<--- A+ IT Cert... yes they will work together... IF... the laptop can support both 533 and 667... which being ddr2 ram it SHOULD... havent seen one yet that wont but hey... it could happen... hehe

the only thing is that as said previously... it WILL slow the 667 down to 533 and match them that way so it wont be as fast as two sticks of 667... but the slightly lower speed you wouldnt notice anyways
Can't argue with a Tech. That'* was what I was trying to say to take advantage of the chip speed/ram and you can't mix them. It has to be one or the other..to match the speed.

So TL....I think the only time I've seen a real problem when mix matching is when the video card is swapping with the ram and vice versa. Does that sound right?
Old 03-23-2009, 02:38 AM
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shouldnt make a difference with the video card, it will use its own ram built into the card. if its "on board" video then the board allocates a certain amount of the ram in the computer to put towards the video...
for example - i have 2 1gb corsair ddr2 667 sticks in my laptop, but it allocates 256mb'* of that 2gbs of ram for the video, but i fix the difference with upping the paging files from the harddrive so my old school single core 1.73 p4 out benchs my friends 2.2 dual core p4 with the same ram and video... hehe
Computers are like cars, speed is 80% tuning, 20%parts
my 3 favorite things to mess with, girls, computers and cars... usually in that order lol

Last edited by tlsheff; 03-23-2009 at 02:41 AM.
Old 03-23-2009, 11:11 AM
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1.73 is now old school? I'm a gonna cry. 4 years and my $1000 laptop is a dinosaur.
Hey, a question and ya, I'm hijacking,..... Is a celeron, a celeron,.... is a celeron. I have a celeron 566 in my den. Usually It suffers along when I rarely use it. My living room is a newer Dell 513s. Can I buy a faster celeron chip and just swap? I mainly use it for text documents when I want quiet setting, but having loaded XP upgrade from 98 has made it turtle slow for internet. Having a 1/4 gig chip doesnt help, but I can take it to a half. Worth buying say a $100 chip from new egg?

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