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    W3j Ram

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by ledzepp14, May 18, 2006.

  1. ledzepp14

    ledzepp14 Notebook Evangelist

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    Just wondering what PC2# does the W3J take? I know that it's DDR2 667, but is it PC2 5300 or 5400? Thanks. :)
     
    ledzepp14, May 18, 2006
    #1
  2. Geared2play.com

    Geared2play.com Company Representative

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    Doent matter it will take both. Downward compatible and upward compatible means it will default it its maximum compatible speed.
     
    Geared2play.com, May 18, 2006
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  3. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Hmmm, good question, it seems like both works...
     
    coriolis, May 18, 2006
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  4. jstucker

    jstucker Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

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    I had the same question, but I was unsure as to what these numbers even mean. Could anyone shed some light?
     
    jstucker, May 18, 2006
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  5. ledzepp14

    ledzepp14 Notebook Evangelist

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    I was looking through Newegg and all the DDR2 667 RAMs have a CAS latency of 5.. seems pretty high, or is there something I'm missing?
     
    ledzepp14, May 18, 2006
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  6. Geared2play.com

    Geared2play.com Company Representative

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    All the same crap. they are all cas 5. Generic or name brand the diff is warranty not speed now a days
     
    Geared2play.com, May 18, 2006
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  7. bupp2

    bupp2 Notebook Guru

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    DDR667 = Pc5300
    DDR533 = Pc4200
     
    bupp2, May 18, 2006
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  8. Arvin

    Arvin Notebook Evangelist

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    Arvin, May 18, 2006
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  9. ledzepp14

    ledzepp14 Notebook Evangelist

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    Cool.. thanks for the replies guys.. Now since it is backwards compatible.. which would be faster in the W3J... DDR2 533 with a CAS 4 or DDR2 667 CAS 5 ?
     
    ledzepp14, May 18, 2006
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  10. rookie06

    rookie06 Notebook Geek

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    PC2-xxxx refers to a particular (theoretical) bandwidth. DDR2 is 64 bits wide, so this number is calculated by multiplying clockspeed by 8 (64/8, 8 bits per byte). So PC2-5300 is a 333 MHz clock, double-pumped to 667 MHz, which results in a 5333 MB/s bandwidth (rounded to 5300). There is no PC2-5400, so that probably referred to PC2-6400, which would be a 400 MHz clock.
     
    rookie06, May 18, 2006
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  11. rookie06

    rookie06 Notebook Geek

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    Considering that a CAS of 5 means 5 cycles of a 667 MHz clock, compare that to 4 cycles of a clock at 533 MHz. Doing the math, the faster memory (7.496 nanoseconds) JUST edges out the lower latency memory (7.504 ns). Another reason why the bandwidth in the nomenclature isn't terribly helpful.

    EDIT: The other timings are important as well, so they would also be involved in response time. CAS is just the time required to address the particular cell within the row that's already been addressed (RAS being the time required to address the row).
     
    rookie06, May 18, 2006
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  12. BuddieGuy

    BuddieGuy Notebook Geek

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    It's kinda funny that they don't rate ram by its bandwidth... I mean in the end that's all that matters, not the clock cycle speed.
     
    BuddieGuy, May 18, 2006
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  13. Pacer5000

    Pacer5000 Newbie

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    So for all of us who are considering upgrading to 2 gigs of ram, which ram are you gonna go for?

    I also looked at Newegg and for once, I'm not impressed with their selection of DDR2 667.

    Anyone have any other recommendations?
     
    Pacer5000, May 18, 2006
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  14. BuddieGuy

    BuddieGuy Notebook Geek

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    My logic is that if you're going to buy a high end graphics card/processor, your probably gaming with the latest games. It's pretty widely known I think that the latest generation of games play much smoother with faster load times than when compared to only 1 gigabyte of RAM. I think if you're going to invest in a high end gaming system, you should complete the system by buying the RAM to back it up. Besides, the upgrade is only $120 canadian at milestonepc.com so it's not like your blowing your budget to get the upgrade. Granted, I'm not sure if it will still be that cheap to upgrade the RAM if you live outside of Canada.
     
    BuddieGuy, May 18, 2006
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  15. rookie06

    rookie06 Notebook Geek

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    Keep in mind that the W3J is coming with 2x512 so you'd have to replace both memory sticks to upgrade to 2GB. I'm not sure what price that is, but if you can do it for $120 canadian, do it!! :)

    As for the bandwidth thing, the latency and clock rate are very important. If you buy into the DDR2 being better than DDR thing, that's entirely based on clock speed. And latency also significantly affects performance, as my earlier post showed.
     
    rookie06, May 18, 2006
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  16. Pacer5000

    Pacer5000 Newbie

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    Pacer5000, May 18, 2006
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  17. TheUndertow

    TheUndertow Notebook Deity

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    That's usually it - I don't know how much "better" Patriot is than Crucial, but RAM is a fairly important thing to go w/ the quality over low price since cheap RAM usually fails more often.
     
    TheUndertow, May 18, 2006
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  18. yuck

    yuck Notebook Guru

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    yuck, Apr 27, 2007
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