Should I spring for DDR2 800Mhz RAM?

Hey All.

I just bought an hp dv2700t COT with the T9300 CPU. The system is coming with 3 GB of DDR2 667Mhz RAM (I got a free upgrade from 2 to 3 GBs), but I'm thinking of ditching that RAM and putting in 4 GB of DDR2 800 MHz RAM from Crucial.

Would I see an appreciable difference going to the DDR2 800Mhz RAM? I'm not an overclocker and am a casual gamer (Neverwinter Nights, Half Life 2, etc.). Would I be wasting my money?

On a side note, if I decide to keep the 667Mhz RAM I have in there now, I'll probably ditch the 1 GB module and put in another 2 GB module. I know that Vista 32 won't report this as 4 GB of RAM, but can the system use all 4 GB even thought it doesn't report it as the full amount? Also, would I get the full dual channel benefit in moving to 4 GB in Vista 32, even though the system doesn't report it as such?

Thanks for any information and guidance you can provide. This is a great forum.

 

800MHz RAM is not supported and will downclock to 667MHz. You will also never be able to use all 4GB unless you have a 64bit OS.

 

you probably wont see any difference going from 3GB to 4GB either.

 

As posted previously no 32bit operating system can address 4gb of ram, 64 bit o/s can address upto 8 gig I believe. Also as stated earlier 800 MHz ram will just downgrade itself to 667 MHz so basically save your money.

Unless you intend to upgrade your o/s in the future to a 64bit edition then don't change anything, if you do upgrade then buy 2 identical 2gig sticks 667mhz ram, 2 sticks of the same memory allows the memory to operate in dual channel mode.

 

You don't need matching sticks to get dual channel you can mix brand and even size. Yes if you put in 2 2GB sticks you will get the full benefit of dual channel. Interleaved vs Asymmetric. Check out the Dual Channel RAM Guide. The author is an idiot but some useful info.

 

Thanks for the responses. I didn't realize I couldn't realize the full 800 MHz on the T9300 -- I actually thought that was one of the chip's selling points (an 800 Mhz FSB.) Good to know.

So there's no real need to go to 4 GBs at this point? Will the hit I take for not pairing up the RAM modules make an appreciable difference? I always thought you were supposed to pair up DDR2, and if you didn't, you took a performance hit. Is the hit really not worth going to 4 GB?

Just curious. Thanks for the great info.

 

You answered my last question before I had even posted it! Thanks again.

 

Careful! Some mods give infractions for such insults but I think that author usually speaks good sense while he is in this forum.

Regarding 800MHz RAM, I keep looking out for modules which have tighter than usual timings (eg CL=4) when running at 667MHz. In fact, that Crucial RAM has worse timings (CL=6) than most of the 800MHz units (which are CL=5 @ 800MHz but also CL=5 at 667MHz).

John

 

correct about 32 bit, WAAAY off about 64-bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit and for windows vista (this is due to microsoft limiting the operating system, not a limitation of 64 bit architecture) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

 

Nice find, repost when they come out with more than 4GB SODIMMS. I know you are correct and thanks for adding but kind of a mute point as we don't even have 4GB sticks available.

 

I think I might go ahead and pick up Vista x64 -- I've got an MSDN account, so this isn't a problem. If I go down this route, I'll probably leave the 2 GB module that comes with the system and replace the 1 GB module.

That said, do you have any idea the quality of RAM that hp ships with the dv line of laptops? John said that the CL factor is really what's important to look at, and I'm wondering what kind of RAM hp supplies? Is there a RAM supplier or vendor any of you would recommend?

Thanks again for everyone's help. My system has shipped from China and should be here early next week. I haven't had a Windows-based system in a few years, so it's exciting to go back to my roots (so to speak!).

 

Hp is going to ship their laptops with generic brand Samsung or hynix memory cards. They are extremely cheap memory cards, which is why hp and other manufacturers install them.
I would buy the aftermarket memory, and get high quality memory from trusted manufacturers such as OCZ, Kingston, Corsair, Crucial and Patriot.

CL is something you should look into. I believe at the moment, GSkill has memory with Cl4 instead of Cl5.

K-TRON

 

That is likely made with generic brand Samsung or hynix DRAM chips ( link). That GSkill does seem to have the lowest CL I have seen so a good choice but you would have to replace all RAM at a cost for a modest boost. Tough choice.

 

Hmmm...that is a tough choice.

Do you know if the RAM coming with the hp system will be at least CL5, or is it likely to be CL6? Do I need to match CL ratings (even if they are high) to get the best possible performance?

Thanks again for your help -- this is great advice.

 

CPU-Z will tell you CL but almost all is 5 I am not sure if I have even seen CL6. You can mix CL just goes to the higher of the two.

 

Sounds good -- I'll give that CPU-Z a whirl when my system gets here. You have an hp laptop, don't you? I noticed you wrote the Vista clean installation guide (great guide, BTW). Did your system come with CL2 RAM? I may just run over to Circuit City and pick up a 2GB module -- Circuit City has fairly decent prices for buying locally. I guess I just need to make sure to match CL ratings. I would assume that the generic RAM hp puts in there isn't CL4!

If money weren't a huge concern (it is, but I could swing it if it's really worth it), would you swap out your CL5 RAM for CL4 RAM? Are the speed/efficiency improvements essentially "on paper" at that point, or would there be an appreciable (read: noticeable) difference?

Thanks again for the great information. Everyone here is great, and it's made the process of getting a new PC laptop much easier.

 

I upgraded from RAM at 667mzh @ CL5 to CL4 only because I get a lot of upgrades/equipment from work. I wouldn't pay for it myself really, its not worth it unless you're increasing your RAM capacity (e.g. upgrading from 2x1gb to 2x2gb). If you have at least one 2gb stick at CL5, I wouldn't upgrade just to get CL4. The only difference is seen in (synthetic) benchmarks etc - I can't say that I can tell the difference in real life application although my mind tells me that I do I got Kingston HyperX, seems to be good memory.