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Thread ID: 105301 2009-11-26 13:53:00 Laptop Memory Upgrade learning (5137) Press F1
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833880 2009-11-26 13:53:00 I have a Sony VGN-FE15GP laptop with 512MB DDR2 SDRAM . The memory bus is 533Mhz .

It has 2 SO-DIMM slots upgradeable to 2GB .

I am planing on buying 2 1Gb sticks . I was looking online and the specs for the following 3 i am looking at buying are:

Crucial DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) CAS Latency 6
Crucial DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) CAS Latency 5
Crucial DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) CAS Latency 4 Timing 4-4-4-12


They all are roughly the same price . I am guessing that since my original Spec is at 533Mhz buying a higher clocked memory is not going to make any difference and will be backwards compatible?

which one should i go for out of the three ?




The other 2 above didnt have timing listed so i dont know how important is timing . Shoould I pay attention to CAS latency with all things being equal ?

Any other tips will be appreciated
learning (5137)
833881 2009-11-26 17:37:00 Technically the lower the cas number the faster the RAM but in real life I doubt you would notice its not noticeable except maybe in some real high end stuff. I tend to go with what's already installed as the new stuff will under clock to match it gary67 (56)
833882 2009-11-26 19:21:00 Technically the lower the cas number the faster the RAM but in real life I doubt you would notice its not noticeable except maybe in some real high end stuff. I tend to go with what's already installed as the new stuff will under clock to match it Not always - seen many times you have to use the same speed if existing is going to be used as well.

SOME laptops can be fussy buggers - not all SO-DIMM RAM works in every laptop - what ever you buy make sure you can exchange it if it doesn't work.
wainuitech (129)
833883 2009-11-26 20:32:00 Not always - seen many times you have to use the same speed if existing is going to be used as well.

SOME laptops can be fussy buggers - not all SO-DIMM RAM works in every laptop - what ever you buy make sure you can exchange it if it doesn't work.


Thanks

I have a existing 512MB stick in one slot and other is empty. It can be upgraded to maximum of 2GB by utilising 2 slots together.

In order to upgrade to maximum 2Gb i will have to throw out 512MB stick buy 2 1GB sticks and i take it that CAS is more important here since the new memory with higher speed will fall back to 533Mhz
learning (5137)
833884 2009-11-26 20:52:00 What "should" happen and what does happen can sometimes be different, as mentioned in previous post, not all memory will work - Eg: speed drops back.

I had that a few weeks ago the faster speed memory didn't work, just lucky I ordered the slower as well from my supplier, it was going into my laptop, as I know my Laptop IS fussy about RAM, but ended up in the customers.
wainuitech (129)
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