Laptop memory - is timing and latency important?

Like the title says. Are these important factors to consider for laptop memory? I am not planning on overclocking my T61. Most people say that you should just buy any one that is cheap. Does this matter?

 

CAS latency basically refers to the delay of the data fetch time to the availability. so the shorter or lesser of this is better. bus speed is really most important when it comes to fast memory but as far as latency goes you want the first number to be the lowest. (ie 4-4-4-12) the first 4 is the most important as far as speed goes. i believe a problem with getting mismatched ram is that you are only as fast as the slowest stick you have, so if you have a lenovo stick and a fast aftermarket, it will only be as fast as the factory lenovo.

will you see the difference between the Skill fast ram and some kingston or crucial? IMO no, I got the fast ram just because i wanted the most i could get. do i have a better benchmark score, maybe by a small amount but not enough to make a huge difference.

ram speeds are more important in overclocked machines and desktops that are trying to tweak every last frame out of Call of Duty or Crysis. Laptops for the most part dont have all that ability as of yet.(heat, power, ect.)

the best part of this whole long overdrawn reply is that the most laptop memory is close in price which allows you to buy whatever you want at close the the price of the "slower" memory.

 

In other words: buy the cheapest memory you can find

 

agreed, but at least make sure its namebrand and carries a lifetime warranty.

 

Well I am having some buyers remorse.
I bought this

should I have bought this instead?

This was before I looked into the latency and other specs. I thought they were only important in overclocking. What other specs should I look for in memory?

 

The benefits of better memory for a Core 2 Duo are negligible. If you were to spend money buying memory, you should go for MORE memory, not higher speed/lower latency memory. I really don't think you will notice "faster" memory and you'll be disappointed later on since benchmark improvements don't always translate to better performance in the real world.

 

I agree with zoogle spend you money on more memory not on the latency

 

i read somewhere here thinkpad rams are all CL6, is that true?
so even if one were to switch to CL4 rams, there wont be much of a diff?

oh sorry for OT but i do have another ram qn
is buying rams with heatsink recommended?

 

My Thinkpad RAM runs at CL5 (5-5-5-15). Like I said before, I really don't think you would notice any difference. Latency only really mattered back in Socket A/Athlon XP days.

To answer your second question, it's been shown that heatsinks (the old fashioned aluminum attached by thermal tape) are TERRIBLE at keeping memory cool because it stifles airflow. Laptop airflow is bad enough as it is, so I would recommend against the heatsink, unless they've starting selling open air design heatsinks.

And it's not like you get any bling factor from heatsinks.... In other words, heatsinks aren't really that helpful. You can't even overclock the memory anyway.

 

Fire, i chuckled when i saw your buyers remorse statement. only because i do it so often myself even though my advice to others is never to worry about it.

the Gskill is faster, but you will never notice. i dont even think you could notice in most benchmarking. i saw a benchmark once that was memory bus speed over latency tests. the bus speed took it by a longshot. your correct in the overclocking issues, you want the tightest timing possible which also aids in stability. but for a laptop at least right now its all close enough not to matter.

i bought the skill cause it was the same price as everything else when i bought it.

 

That's what I got.

You know IMO spending $10-$20 more for faster RAM isn't that much money to spend. The prices on RAM have came way down in the last year.

The 4-4-4-12 latency RAM is somthing that is only appreciated by those who buy it.

The 4-4-4-12 gSkill RAM has great reviews.


I've read that the actual material used to make RAM varies in quality. I've read that SAMSUNG makes high quality RAM.
Some RAM doesn't heat up as much.

I like Newegg because they have all the review information. That helps.

 

Thanks folks. Amount of memory is not an issue here. I am buying memory for my laptop which can handle 4 GB of RAM. I want to max it out so I am buying 4 GB of ram. So its not like I am debating whether to get 3GB fast ram vs 4 GB slower.

I can get the GSkill memory, that I posted a link to, for $25 to $30 more than the ADATA. Should I spend the extra money and go for it? Is it worth it?

 

Well Firesnake, the question you have to ask yourself is if you're going for a performance gaming machine like what SonDa has or if you're wanting a more ordinary laptop. I know it sounds stingy but why spend an extra $15-20 if you're never going to really notice the performance increase? Basically, you're looking at marginal performance gains. If you want marginal performance gains, by all means I encourage you to get the faster memory. I just hope you aren't expecting the faster memory to do wonders for you.

I hope SonDa doesn't take offense to these comments but they are just my personal thoughts and experiences with high performance memory.

 

These G-Skills should work like a bliss with T61 and Vista x64 right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...g=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&Page=4

 

your better off just getting the Gskill. for $20-25, youll kick yourself purely for statistical purposes in the future. its the fastest available so you might as well just get it and feel good about it. either way 4GB is the way to roll.

 

I've heard a lot about Crucial, Corsair, and Kingston. How do they stack up against G-Skill and each other?

 

If it's high quality chips, it's a good chance that the G. Skill and Corsair are using Crucial/Micron chips inside. Kingston will use chips from various vendors, maybe Samsung, Nanya, Micron, etc. Basically, they're roughly the same if they're on the upper end. You'll see varying stories regarding company customer service of course.

 

Yes, I think you might be right. I am leaning towards getting the GSKILL. I bought the ADATA ram from Newegg. Are they open to me returning the ram and going for the GSKILL without a restocking fee? The RAM is unopened.

 

Newegg is pretty open to returns. Sometimes you need to talk Geek to them and they fold. Unopened and within 7 days should be no problem. Sorry to create conflict, but i think your making the right decision. At minimal, you'll feel better about it.

 

this RAM question has more psychological effects than anything else lol.

 

Thanks for the info, Zoogle. Is there any way that I can tell if I'm getting a high quality stick before purchasing it? Are there any numbers or specs or anything that would indicate what is high quality material versus low quality material?

 

If you're buying from Newegg, you can always check through the reviews. Some people may have read the chip identification and found out what type of chip it is. Otherwise, I have found this website to be indispensable when looking for RAM but I'm not sure if laptop memory is on the list. I've never bothered checking into laptop memory much so I'm not sure if the same memory that is currently popular in desktop platforms (Micron D9GMH) is also used in laptop memory. ProMOS chips are also quite popular. Both of these chips are directed towards overclocking so they should be excellent quality...but manufacturing mistakes can always happen.

 

If you could make your brain work faster wouldn't you try it?