A6J HDD upgrade to 7200RPM and RAM to 667Mhz

Hi,

Im thinking of buying A6J model but upgrading its HDD to faster drive. Would it be compatible with 7200 RPM SATA HDD?

Also faster RAM to 2GB 667MHz? is it worth going for faster RAM?

is it possible?

I know that warranty will be an issue so I'm asking only about hardware compatibility or anyone has done it.

 

I'm not sure about the Sata hard drive...someone else will have to answer that one...you're all good with a 7200 RPM PATA drive for sure...I'm going to lean on the no side for Sata though, seeing as most of the other models aren't from what I've heard. I'd really like to know If the W3J is Sata COMPATIBLE myself.

2GB 667Mhz of RAM is definitely possible...As far as If It's worth it...If you're going to be getting an A6J with the 1X1024MB DDR2 533 spec...you're going to have to s-c-r-a-p that stock 1GB 533 stick for 2X1024MB 667Mhz sticks and If that's the case I definetely don't think It's worth it unless you have an ample amount of money to throw around. I really don't think you're going to notice a whole lotta difference between 2Gigs at 533 and 2Gigs at 667, especially for the cost of buying 2 new sticks and wasting the old one compared to only having to buy one new 533 stick. And you won't want to sell your stock 533 stick to help out with the cost because you'll want to keep it for warranty issues.

I say stick with the 533Mhz option and save your money.

 

seems that some online stores let you configure 7200 RPM SATA drives into A6Js

http://www.laptopchoice.com.au

 

I checked that site, and it doesn't seem to clearly show a 7200 RPM SATA hard drive option??? It says "Select a SATA drive (if available) for the best performance", but the options don't seem to specify any 7200 RPM SATA drives as an option. A few do say IDE, but that doesn't mean that the one's that don't are SATA by default.

Like I said, someone else will be able to give you a definitive answer...but I'm still leaning on the side of no. If that company does offer SATA as an option, then that would mean that It's SATA compatible, but not necessarily SATA ready...meaning they may be able to offer the connection somehow through modification, but I don't think It's just sitting there already for anyone to make the choice and use. Like I said, I'd also really like to know If the newer Asus ensemble systems are Sata compatible...but until someone states otherwise, (Speak up people) I don't think they are. Good luck

 

woops.. SATA option was for A7J

 

You can not use SATA harddisks on the A6, as far as I know. Ofcourse, there are options of using SATA harddisk when a laptop needs IDE100, but it's best just to get an IDE100 harddisk, like the Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 7200rpm. In a test I read recently, it does not produce a lot of heat, less than other harddisks with those specifications...

 

A6J uses PATA ... yes you can still use 7200rpm PATA drive...

2GB with 533Mhz is ok .. i read in some websites that you will not notice any improvement on 667Mhz because the of the CAS latency of the memory..

 

Can you monitor temps before and after the HD upgrade?

The default HD i have is a 4200rpm fujistsu and it already runs hot 52-54C most of the time. I dont want it going beyond that but i ave heard that segates run cooler than than these fujitsu HD's.

If you could give before and after idle and load temps then that would be awsome.

Also, A6J uses PATA/IDE100/UATA drives but not SATA. Either 533 or 667 RAM will be fine but if you are upgrading IMO you might as well get the best, so i would get 667 MHz.

 

Yes, mobmeter can show you the temps for cpu and harddrive.
Cheers

 

hi,

as a6jm owner i had the same problem before buying my laptop; i wasn't sure what type of ram my notebook is going to have because specification on reseller's site wasn't clear on that matter so when i found out that it's in fact 553 mhz i just bought another 1gb stick of 553 mhz memory and forgot about whole case; i'm happy with that and even though i could buy two sticks of 1gb 667 mhz ram i don't think it's worth it;

as for hdd, you definetely want to buy 7200 rpm or at least 5400 rpm drive; my unit has seagate momentus 4200 and it's just so slow... i'm going to buy 7200rpm drive as soon as possible - i haven't decided yet which one but rather hitachi than seagate as they a little bit cheaper and even though i had great experience with seagate drives the last one i bought (momentus 7200.1) was broken and i had to return it to the store and now i'm stuck with that sloooow 4200 drive;

 

You need a PATA drive. Get the Hitachi if you want the best performance but the Seagate will do as well. Dont think about a 5400. The difference between 4200 and 5400 is minimal. 533 memory is just fine. 667 memory runs at higher latencies. Differences of 5% are barely noticable.

 

the default HDD for my A6JA was the 100GB Hitachi 5400rpm drive... temp is 51-55C .... if on heavy harddisk use.. temp can go to 60C