Ram upgrade: Are those numbers important?

I'm buying some RAM to upgrade wife's old mac book. However on the current ram chip it says "07-10-B1" (see picture). I've seen similar markings before but wondering what they meant. I think it had something to do with the latency but not sure.

So when replacing the ram is it critical that I get some that had the exact same numbers? I've seen other ram chips that have the first two pairs exactly the same but the last pair of numbers are different. For example...07-10-B1 and 07-10- F2. Are the last pair of numbers critical with regard to upgrade compatibility?

 

Instead of trying to find a needle in a haystack, just buy two identical modules that are known to work in your old mac book. Then, after testing them appropriately... just sell off the original.

 

You're right, however I was using eBay to save some money rather than buy brand new. And because of this I still had to do some of the leg work to find memory kit with the exact same number markings as the ones I was taking out... I found one eventually on eBay so all is good.

https://superuser.com/questions/102...odule-pc3-10600s-9-11-f3-what-does-11-f3-mean

It seems the last two pairs of figure relate to something called "SPD" and "Gerber Revision". Although my research got more information, I still never got a definite answer regarding if those numbers and letter/number pairs are critical with regard to memory matching.

 

I'm sure you learned a lot, but how much did you actually save?

In any case, unless the RAM has been validated to run as a kit (either 2x, 3x, 4x or more...), then the memory isn't 'matched' - even if it happens to work in a specific setup.

I've seen single sticks of RAM added in computers with slower performance afterwards... ('performance' here = system responsiveness...).

I've also seen matched RAM kits in platforms increase the responsiveness of the systems they're put in - even as the total capacity was lower (in some cases).

I hope you get a system that is faster, overall with the RAM module you located. If not; you'll be selling two 'old' modules of your own soon.

 

Thanks for reply, well hopefully I saved some money, I managed to get the exact same memory with the same specifications but bigger size. I got two sticks 4gb kit which is an upgrade from the 2gb that came with the computer. The original 2gb mem sticks kit showed the markings "07-10-B1" and I managed to find larger memory stick kit by the same manufacturer with the same markings so hopefully fingers crossed it should work. As for money saved, i definately saved quite a littke bit of money on eBay...The cheapest deal I could find for new 4gb kit was $37 excluding shipping and import taxes (I live in Canada). Whereas I found an eBay seller selling a used kit in Canada selling for $24 with free shipping and no taxes.

My computer is apple MacBook 5,1 model A1278 -2254


I hear what your saying about being sceptical about perfomance expectancies, but even though it is second hand sourced from eBay, I feel confident this should be right as it is advertised as matched pair pulled from another MacBook. Having the exact same markings gives me confidence that it should work...Otherwise as you suggested I will probably end up as an eBay seller lol...I wish companies made it easier to end user to understand those "engineering tecticacl markings" so that people like me can try to save money sourcing their own memory...Yes you can easily get compatible memory brand new, but if you're on a tighter budget then eBay is your best friend...

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

SPD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_presence_detect
Gerber: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_format

 

$24 all in sounds great for 4GB of RAM for that old notebook. But even $37 + Shipping + GST for a brand new kit is tempting just for the peace of mind, imo.

Here's to hoping they'll work as expected! Cheers.