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    Ram question, need help asap!

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Poxiscool, Aug 24, 2006.

  1. Poxiscool

    Poxiscool Newbie

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    I bought a Lenovo 3000 N Series N100 and it runs on pc2-5300 ram, the stick i bought is a pc2-5400 ram. I know in desktops it just downgrades, but does it do the same in laptops. Or do i need to send this ram back. Thanks

    I'm scared of breaking my new laptop...


    Any help would be great..
     
    Poxiscool, Aug 24, 2006
    #1
  2. chris2pher71

    chris2pher71 Notebook Evangelist

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    Welcome to the forums.

    As far as I know, there is no clock difference between the two. However, if there is a difference, it will downclock to the speed of the slowest ram installed. Because the sodimms are not the same type, however, dual channel will not be functional. You won't break you laptop by installing that ram, but you might have less that optimal (a very small difference) performance.
     
    chris2pher71, Aug 24, 2006
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  3. Poxiscool

    Poxiscool Newbie

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    The downgrade in performance is not that big of a deal, I don't have the money to return it to newegg... They take 15% and I wont have enough to buy another stick...

    Both the sticks run at the same clock speed.
     
    Poxiscool, Aug 24, 2006
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  4. miner

    miner Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    It should run fine and you shouldnt lose any functionality unless you bought memory of a different size/capacity. Dual channel should run even if you have 2 modules which are capable of different speeds since they will synchronize with each other with the slowest one being dominant.
     
    miner, Aug 24, 2006
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  5. Poxiscool

    Poxiscool Newbie

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    Well the standard one in the laptop is 512, and the one I bought is 1gb... So it will be those two running together. This is what I'm scared of.

    And on the Lenovo site it says do not run any other ram but pc2-5300 and that adds to my angst.
     
    Poxiscool, Aug 24, 2006
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  6. miner

    miner Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    It shouldnt be a problem, but laptops can have peculiarities and can be picky with RAM. You can try using it, I dont think the laptop wuld burst into flames or anything. If it does not like the RAM, it most probably wont boot and if the RAM has errors, then you might see BSOD's. I would try running it, but pfcourse if you are uncomfortable, then try selling the RAM elsewhere instead of shipping it back to the Egg and avoid or lessen the impact of the restocking fee.
     
    miner, Aug 24, 2006
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  7. geforcewong

    geforcewong Notebook Enthusiast

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    From what I read before, PC 5400 DDR2 operates at 675 MHz and PC-5300 DDR2 operates at 667 MHZ. Unless you overclock, you probably don't need PC-5400, but it'll still work by automatically downclocking the RAM to 667MHz to support the speed the rest of your components are running at.
     
    geforcewong, Aug 24, 2006
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  8. chris2pher71

    chris2pher71 Notebook Evangelist

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    wow! 8mhz difference! lol. why did they even bother making it?
     
    chris2pher71, Aug 24, 2006
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  9. geforcewong

    geforcewong Notebook Enthusiast

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    Marketing tactics maybe?
     
    geforcewong, Aug 24, 2006
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