PC2-4200 vs PC2-5300

I'm looking to upgrade the ram in my Compaq V3000z. I've seen that it supports up to pc2-5300 but the cas latency at that level is 5 compared to 4 on the PC2-4200 sticks. Any noticible performance difference or recommendations?

Just to clarify, it's an AMD mobile Sempron

 

For intels, cas latency is quite important because of the lack of integrated mem controller. So for an intel, its gonna have an effect on performance, but nothing u will see in windows or regular programs. The only place ull notice is in benchmarks, so if u care about those stick with the lower latency.

As for amds (i forgot if urs is a turion or core duo) latency doesnt really matter due to the imc, so get whichever is cheaper.

 

The Compaq V3000Z has an AMD Turion X2; the V3000 t has the Intel chips.

It won't make a difference whether you get PC4200 (533MHz) or PC5300 (667MHz) RAM. PC5300 is faster theoretically, but it has higher CAS latencies and thus negates the higher bandwidth.

 

Well, the answer should be Yes. There is noticable difference in benchmarkers. Although CAS latency is one tick longer in 5300, the burst mode will surely buy this latency back. Normally the burst lasts 4 DLWords(64 bits) with one more 667MHz clock tick but 4 shorter continuous data transmission. Generally, 5300 is faster unless you use single beat read/write which is very rare in today.

But you won't feel the 5~10% improvement, will you?

 

Like I said before, only in benchmarks. Its hard to see 5% improvement when sending emails and surfing the web.

 

Yep, system will mostly waiting for your typing. We pay 80% percent of money to achieve the performance 10% of the using time on daily bases.

That's the way it is, people need that insurance, and Microsoft OS will bite this insurance chunck by chunck.

 

Thanks for all the input. I just went ahead and got the cheapest 256mb stick I could find on eBay ($8) for PC2-5300. Not bad...