D430.. will faster memory help?

Hi does anyone know if a lower lat memory module will help in a D430? Normaly I think it would but seeing that you can't upgrade the 1G of onboard memory, I wonder if it would help at all?

And lastly, does anyone know if you can swap in a LED screen from a newer E4200 into a D420/430?

Thanks
Ken

 

Higher clocked memory and lower latency does not significantly affect day to day performance. You'll see differences in benchmarks, but you won't notice anything in practice. This applies to just about all laptops, not just the D430.

I don't think you can use an E4200 display in a D430 either.

 

Yeah, I kinda had a feeling.. My D430 (which was a D420 at one time) is now fast enough to run my DJ software (serato) and for all case and purposes I'm hoping a $40 memory module will get me some extra points on the benchmarks. =)

Frys has a CAS 3 memory for cheap and I need an excuse to go there and pick it up.. But if its not going to make any difference, then forget it.. Damn that on board memory..

Thanks
Ken

 

The memory controller is going to run both chips at the highest common speed rating between the two chips. So there is no point in trying to put in a RAM module that has better timings or ratings compared to the D430's onboard RAM...it wouldn't make a lick of difference.

As for the LED screen....I have no idea. But I doubt it.

 

Please take notice of the fact that the 945GSE chipset in the D430 will NOT support more than 2GB of RAM

 

You know from older recommendations by the commander up there, I went ahead and got a SSD for my D430. And with win7 although not the fastest thing on the market it makes it much quicker in its use. That could be an option with an external drive for all the music.

 

I picked up a SSD 32 GB Mtron for my D430 last month and it dropped my boot times to less than half (about 30s to start now vs over a min with the old 1.8 HD) and then I swapped out the mother board for a d430 1.33 (from my D420 1.2) and now that little sucker can hold its own..

Yeah, not the fastest thing out there but it def can hold its own.. I love my D430 as its the one of the few ultra portables that can dock and one of even fewer dells that look good..

Now they would only fix the looks of the new E4200.. or all the E series dells that matter (except maybe the Z but that one won't dock, I think)..

 

Are the memory chips identical? You need to identical chips for Dual Channel to work that might give you an extra 5% to 10% increase in performance. You have to be careful when selecting the memory chips as you have to watch the voltages so they are compatible with the motherboard.

 

The memory chips don't need to be identical for dual channel operation... for that matter, dual channel operation is not going to give you a five to ten percent increase in performance.

EDIT:

Yes! Good job! SSD ftw