5672 Memory Upgrade with benchmark results (667MHz CL4 RAM)

One of the things that truly bugged me about this laptop was that it only shipped with 533MHz RAM (PC2-4200) when the hardware supported 667MHz (PC2-5300). When I started looking to upgrade I was bugged again that the 667MHz memory I was finding had a CAS Latency of 5 where the 533MHz ran at CL4. Then I finally located some 667MHz CL4 memory and decided to pull the trigger.

I am happy with the purchase and would recommend the upgrade to anyone with this laptop. I can't say if I used the best memory benchmarking program, but at the very least I can publish my results using SiSoftware Sandra Lite:
1) Memory Bandwidth test (HIGHER is better)
2) Memory Latency test (LOWER is better for both)
3) Cache & Memory test (HIGHER is better for Combined, LOWER is better for Speed factor)

PC4200 CL4 2x1GB (Original memory)
1) Memory bandwidth 3524 MB/s
2) Memory latency 138 ns, Speed factor 66.0
3) Cache & memory Combined index 9375 MB/s, Speed factor 14.2

PC5300 CL5 2x1GB (borrowed from a friend during the upgrade for reference)
1) Memory bandwidth 3588 MB/s
2) Memory latency 122 ns, Speed factor 63.7
3) Cache & memory Combined index 9645 MB/s, Speed factor 13.3

PC5300 CL4 2x1GB
1) Memory Bandwidth: 3663 MB/s
2) Memory Latency: 114 ns, Speed factor 55.2
3) Cache & Memory: Combined index 9910 MB/s, Speed factor 12.6

NOTE: I performed this upgrade NOV 2007, sorry it took me so long to post! There may be more CL4 memory options available now, at the time I could only find one manufacturer:

G.Skill announces the new DDR2-800 CL5 and DDR2-667 CL4 SO-DIMM (12 Jun, 2007)
(I can't post URL's yet.)

Part #'s
- F2-5300CL4S-1GBSA (1GB SO-DIMM)
- F2-5300CL4D-2GBSA (Two 1GB SO-DIMM's) $39.99+6.99 s/h @ Newegg (I paid ~$70!)
- F2-5300CL4S-2GBSQ (2GB SO-DIMM)
- F2-5300CL4D-4GBSQ (Two 2GB SO-DIMM's)

 

Nice post, no links are available or working though

Better luck next time.

 

Apparently you aren't allowed to post links until you have made 15 posts... I'm at 2. When I get there I'll edit my original post to provide links.

 

Definite +1 for the test results! I was wondering how well CL4 RAM would run in my system - if I ever upgrade to 4GB, I might spring for the lower latencies.

BTW, Kingston HyperX SO-DIMMs come in CL4 DDR2-667 and CL5 DDR2-800 now. They've also got a CL4 DDR2-800 ultra-low-latency set which run DDR2-667 at 3-4-4-10. They should be releasing a DDR2-667-only set soon.

EDIT: Oh, and Mushkin makes low-latency stuff too now.

 

Great to know about the newer memory choices than I had available when I went for the upgrade. I must admit that at a good price I am highly intrigued by the idea of 3-4-4-10 DDR2-667MHz!