Do I need special RAM for my Dell Inspiron 1720?

Hi I'm going to buy 1 x 2GB DDR2 PC6400 (FSB 800MHZ) for my laptop. At the moment I have 2 sticks of DDR PC2-5300 1 GB, and since I have only 2 slots I will have to replace one slot with 2 GB RAM making it 3 GB in total. Is it ok if I have two different ram sticks in 2 slots or should it be the same kind in each slot? Secondly do I need any special ram sticks for my laptop (I mean I don't know different size or something) or can it be just generic type? Thanks in advance for you your help.

 

Should be fine, the faster 800MHz ram will downclock to the 667MHz speed of the old dimm.

 

Your Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop has an Intel PM965 chipset inside, which supports PC2-5300 aka 667MHz DDR2 SODIMM's.

You can go and install PC2-6400 aka 800MHz SODIMM's inside but they'll still downclock to 667MHz. You may find it cheaper to find PC2-6400 SODIMM's as oppose to PC2-5300 ones.

As for whether it's okay to mix different brands. Generally yes but in minor case you'll get compatability problems. If you mix a slower SODIMM with a higher speed SODIMM then you system will use the speed (frequency) of the slower one for all the memory installed.

Always try and install SODIMM's in exact pairs so not just the same type but also capacity. This allows you to run them in dual channel mode and nets you some additional memory bandwidth hence system speed. It's not earth shattering but nevertheless does offer a small boost.

If you're stuck I recommend you pay a visit at the link below:
Laptop Memory Guide

 

Well this is what crucial.com scanner told me about my ram:

Memory Type: DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 (non-ECC)
Maximum Memory: 4GB
Currently Installed Memory: 2GB
Total Memory Slots: 2
Available Memory Slots: 0

So are you sure that my Inspiron doesn't support PC2-6400?

 

To all my knowledge Intel's PM965 chipset supports up to PC2-5300 but that isn't to say you can't go and install PC2-6400 due to the SPD data written within the SODIMM. If however you do go install PC2-6400 RAM into an Intel PM965 chipset laptop it will still downclock it to PC2-5300 speeds hence you'll get an effective frequency of 667MHz and not 800MHz.

What type and how much memory does my Intel chipset based laptop support?

 

OK thanks for advice

 

Your welcome, hopefully someone else will confirm what I wrote above just so you feel more confident when buying.

 

Confirmed.