PC2 4200 vx. PC2 5300

I have an IBM/Lenovo Z60t 2511, and I want to upgrade the memory. I can get a PC2 5300 DDR2 SDRAM So-DIMM 1GB at an attractive price. Will it work with my system that specifies a 4200 with no problems? And, in installing it, do I just put it in one of the available slots, or do I have to remove the 256 memory that's there now.

Many thanks for any help! Not too sophisticated here, as you can tell.

 

It should work, but it will actually run slower than the 4200 due to higher latency. As long as you have an empty slot you should be able to add ram. I'd just check with the manual for your lappy, should be available online through the ibm website.

 

Thank you, sir. I think I will hold out for the exact specification (4200) rather than try to save a few bucks.

 

--> unless i am misunderstanding the concept... isnt PC2 5300 running at a higher clockspeed than PC2 4200? As a result, wouldnt the higher clock speeds negate the higher latency?

--> is it, b/c the mobo cannot run at that higher clock, the performance gain would, in this respect be lost?

 

I don't think the MOBO is a bottleneck in this situation, presumably the MOBO selected would work with the FSB of the CPU. Unfortunately the higher clock speed does not sufficiently compensate for the increase in latency with the 667 Mhz ram, although the difference is not huge. Stepping up to the PC6400 800 Mhz ram does however, as it is still CAS 5. There was a big discussion about this on this board a little while back, and several sites that tested this. I'd hunt them down but I'm being a bit lazy at the moment. If you purchased lower latency PC5300 (CAS 4) then it would certainly be quicker, but that is quite pricey.

Virginia Gent -

You are a polite gentleman, aren't you. I've never met anyone from Virginia, but I'm picturing a very specific drawl I've only ever heard in movies.

You should hopefully be able to find PC4200 for only slightly more. However unless you're all about the peak performance or use memory intensive programs, it probably won't make a huge difference for most things. You can find PC4200 value ram for about the same price as PC5300 (e.g. crucial value select, or Kingston value ram). Just make certain your notebook is okay with these, use the Kingston or Crucial websites to see what ram they recommened.

Good luck!

Chef

 

I don't think so because if he is already running one stick of PC2 4200 the new RAM will automatically downclock to the lowest speed RAM and have high latency as well. It would probably be best just to get a matching stick, unless the price difference is huge.

 

My impression is his FSB is only 533 Mhz anyway, so there is no benefit at all to 5300 even if the latency wasn't an issue.

 

Yup, this is true. I guess I was talking independent of bus speed (well, assuming that if PC2 5300 was supported, it would still only run at PC2 4200 speed if there was a stick of that in the lappy as well).

 

I'm looking to upgrade ram on the 2 Z61ts I have. Both came with 1 module of 1gb. I don't plan on getting the Lenovo branded $150+ ram, but some $60 stuff from newegg. Looks compatible, same speed and all. Now here's my question, is it better to match up the two lenovo branded rams and put them in one laptop, and then put the other 2 new ones that I buy, pairing those up? Or does it not matter at all, and just install one new one into each laptop?

 

I don't think it should matter, but I'd probably do that just in case. Hey, a fun experiment would be to try it both ways an let us know if there are any issues. At worst it probably won't recognise the ram.

 

I have a question related to the same matter.

I have an Acer Travelmate 8215WLMi which have 1 GB DDR2 ram. Know i like to upgrade my memory so can run Vista better. I have checked my manual and it just says that its upgradable to 2GB soDIMM(dual channel) modules. and thats it.....
There is no info about what type of memory i should use. After googling alot i found a program that could tell me what memory i have.
So this is what i know now so far:
My machine have 1GB of PC2-4300 soDIMM. All the spec can be seen on the screenshots.

Now i dont know much about ram, so i have a few questions.

1. Do i have to use the same type of memorys?
Problem is that in my country PC2-5300 are more available and PC2-4300 are alot more expensives.
I have just found out that PC2-4300 runs at 266Mhz and PC2-5300 runs at 333Mhz. Which leads to my 2. question

2. Can i run in 1 slot 1GB of PC2-4300 and in the other 1GB of PC2-5300??? or is that going to be a problem??

3. Is there any speed gain from upgrading from PC2-4300 to PC2-5300??
Is it some thing that can be felt in everydays use in Vista? if so maybe i should take out my 1GB PC2-4300 modul and just upgrading with 2 x 1 GB PC2-5300.

PLz..can anyone advise me on this?

 

Most notebooks will allow you to mix RAM of different speeds. The system looks for the lowest common values, so the PC2-5300 will be running at the speed of the PC2-4300 RAM. However, that is not a big drawback, almost all the PC2-5300 RAM is rated as CL=4 at 266MHz.

These are the timing details of my two modules :

DIMM #1

General
Memory type DDR2
Manufacturer (ID) Transcend Information (7F4F000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-4300 (266 MHz)
Part number TS128MSQ64V5J
Serial number 0001BC5D
Manufacturing date Week 05/Year 13

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 266
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 4
RAS# Precharge 3 4 4
TRAS 8 11 11
TRC 11 15 15


DIMM #2

General
Memory type DDR2
Manufacturer (ID) Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
Part number VS1GSDS667D2
Manufacturing date Week 06/Year 06

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 333
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 5
RAS# Precharge 3 4 5
TRAS 9 12 15
TRC 12 16 20

They are running at :

Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 266.0 MHz (5:8)
CAS# 4.0
RAS# to CAS# 4
RAS# Precharge 4
Cycle Time (tRAS) 12
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 16

I hope you can work out the relationship: The corsair RAM has to run at 266MHz to match the Transcend module, but the Transcend module is also running below potential since the TRAS and TRC timings have to match the Crucial RAM. By itself, at 266MHz, the older (?- the date code is year 13!) Transcend module is slightly faster.

John

 

Well thank you for ur advise John, but its all a little confusing for me. I do get that the fastest module have to be downclocked to meet the slower modules speed, which the system takes care of.

What i dont understand is all ur timing tables. U said "almost all the PC2-5300 RAM is rated as CL=4 at 266MHz"
I dont know what CL=4 means....
I have not seen any shop or any salesman talk about the importans of timing. Nor do they tell about it or write any specification. Acer didnt even write in the manual.
I have checked Corsair's website and they dont even tell it nor do they tell what speed they are running. Which makes it all more confusing.

So my question now is, what is the best thing to do her?
I know Vista needs alot of memory and the fastest. Should i keep the 1GB PC2-4300 and just buy the PC2-5300???
or should i take out PC2-4300 and only go with PC2-5300??

1. Does dual channel makes any difference??
my memory is single channel, but many of the PC2-5300 are dual channel

 

Timing is not usually discussed because most modules come at a particular timing, and lower latency dimms are uncommon and expensive. Most Pc4200/4300 come with a latnecy rating of 4-4-4-12, generally abbreviated as CL=4. Some value pc4200 modules come with a timing of CL=5, meaning it has a longer latency period, and is therefore slower. PC5300 ram typically has a timing of CL=5, which is why it is actually slower than 4200 despite having a faster frequency.

Anyway, is would probably good for you to do a bit of research on the topic then, and if you have specific questions we can help you out better. There is at least one other open thread discussing this topic at the moment.

Good luck,

Chef

 

i'm confused. then why make the pc5300 with faster frequency if it's actually slower? is it marketing like megapixels with digital cameras where more megapixels on the same sensor actually degrades picture quality?

i feel conned because i just bought 2 sticks of 1gb pc5300 667 ram for pretty cheap and gave away my pc4200 1gb and 512mb.

 

In reality there is very little difference in performance, and the only way you'd probably ever distinguish between the pc4200 and pc5300 is in benchmarks. PLus, the pc5300 seems to sell for less anyway, so overall buying the pc5300 is just fine as long as your CPU has a FSB of 667 Mhz. My FSB is 533, so while I could run PC5300 ram, it will onyl clock at 533 Mhz due to my FSB.

I really wouldn't worry to much about it, didn't mean to cause a panic!