Ram question

[razgriz]

Hello people,

A friend asked me to find him extra ram for his laptop but i have come to a stanstill.

He only sended me the ram type which is hynix 512mb 2rx16 pc2-5300s-555-12 .
He got an old laptop running xp and i proposed to get 1g extra ram since it's been running slow lately while browsing.

I had opened the laptop myself and the laptop does have 2 slots for ram of which only one is taken by then 512mb one.

I have been looking to get a Apacer 1GB DDR2-667MHz PC5300 SODIMM and i was pretty sure that it should work normaly.
Except the fact that the small ram will drag down the bigger ram due to the difference in mhz, one being 667 and other 555? ( or are those timings ? )

I read from a random post that someone had same ram like my friend's and when he tried to put a new 1g SO-dimm module it was actualy of different size ( very small difference but still there )

Is there something special about hynix rams ? Do i have to get same brand ? I thought that every single laptop had same physical size rams.

My knowledge around ram modules is not that good so i would appreciate any help i could get.

 

[alvine]

the faster ram will clock itself down to the slower ram speeds

 

[willard]

Unfortunately, it's not a very clear cut answer here. Instead, I'll give you some guidelines.

1. You need to look up how much memory the laptop supports. 2GB limits are common, but older laptops may be lower. You can find this information on the manufacturer's data sheet about the laptop.

2. DDR2-XXX or PCXXXX is the frequency the memory runs at. Those two numbers are different ways of representing the same thing. Timings will look like 5-5-5-9 1T.

3. Your fast memory will downclock to the slower memory to keep everything in sync. If you're keeping a 533 MHz module around, no need to get anything faster than that.

4. Generally a good idea to do a google search with your laptop's model number and "memory upgrade" to see what issues people have run into, if any.

 

[razgriz]

Alright,

I asked him the model and got all the info i need http/support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/TravelMate2490/TravelMate2490sp2.shtml

So it's safe to say that any DDR2- 533mhz ram module will do ? ( aiming for 1g + the 512mb already in it )

 

[JKatwyopc]

Just get him a pair of any of these: http/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007609%20600000437%20600006176%20600000407&IsNodeId=1&name=1GB

You can take out the old 512MB stickk and just put in two 1GB DDR2 533 sticks for about $30.

 

[razgriz]

Thank you both for your help.

Got what i wanted x)