Want To Upgrade My Ram

[sbk]

I have a new notebook running Windows Vista with 512mb RAM. it is a tad slow. I would like to add another 512mb RAM but am not quite clear on what I should buy.

According to manufacturer specs: Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300,DDR2 PC2-4200 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.* My system does not support ECC

But, when I look on Pantip.com, I see this on offer. Which one is the right one?

Kingston NoteBook 256 M SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 940

Kingston NoteBook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 1,550

Kingston NoteBook 1 G SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 3,730

Kingston Notebook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 533 , ? pin 1,100

Kingston Notebook 1 G SO-DIMM , DDR2 533 , ? pin 2,140

Kingston Notebook 256 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 667 , ? pin 890

Kingston Notebook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 667 , ? pin 1,020

And I know Kingston, are there other reputable brands out there that are good?

[cdnvic]

I have a new notebook running Windows Vista with 512mb RAM. it is a tad slow. I would like to add another 512mb RAM but am not quite clear on what I should buy.

According to manufacturer specs: Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300,DDR2 PC2-4200 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.* My system does not support ECC

But, when I look on Pantip.com, I see this on offer. Which one is the right one?

Kingston NoteBook 256 M SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 940

Kingston NoteBook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 1,550

Kingston NoteBook 1 G SO-DIMM , DDR PC3200, ? pin 3,730

Kingston Notebook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 533 , ? pin 1,100

Kingston Notebook 1 G SO-DIMM , DDR2 533 , ? pin 2,140

Kingston Notebook 256 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 667 , ? pin 890

Kingston Notebook 512 M SO-DIMM , DDR2 667 , ? pin 1,020

And I know Kingston, are there other reputable brands out there that are good?

Get the DDR2 667

Comstar is what I use, Corsair, and OCZ are also good. Avoid Kingmax which tries to make you think it's Kingston but it's crap.

If you really want to be happy, add at least 1GB for running Vista.

Edited October 12, 2007 by cdnvic

[whimsy]

SBK,

PC2-4200 is DDR2 533, PC2-5300 is DDR2 667 RAM. Which to buy depends on what is already inside. Usually there are two memory slots in a notebook. You may have one 512MB module or more likely 2 X 256MB inside now. If there are already 2 modules inside (both slots full) then you will need to replace one or both. Best to replace both and have 2 X 512MB or for Vista even better to have 2 X 1GB if you can stretch the budget that far. The reason to have two new modules the same size and brand is that modern notebooks are designed to work best that way. If you have mixed sizes or speeds they will probably still work, but will fall back to a lower performance setting.

Crucial Memory www.crucial.com have an excellent tool on their website that you can run. It queries your computer, finds out what memory is inside and recommends your upgrade options.

By the way, Kingston memory is usually considered quite good and would be a good choice of brand for your upgrade.

[onethailand]

What both cdnvic and whimsy said is sound advice. You might as well stick with the Kingston because it is reliable and the price difference isn't going to be a lot between the various brands. Plus I believe it comes with a 5 year warranty but to be dead honest once RAM is good, it is very unlikely to fail. Given a choice and selection I personally would go and buy secondhand RAM that has already been tested and found free of defect... that is, if they had the correct speeds available.

[sbk]

Thanks, I couldn't find anywhere that translated what I had been told by Crucial's excellent site (found it already, thanks!) and what I was seeing for sale.

this is my result:

# Currently Installed Memory: 512MB

# Available Memory Slots: 1

# Number of Banks: 2

# Dual Channel Support: Yes

doesn't say specifically whats in there now.

thanks for the concise answers everybody!

[DaffyDuck]

Kingston Notebook 1 G SO-DIMM , DDR2 533 , ? pin 2,140

This should do the trick for you - shouldn't be much more than 4,000 THB for the SO-DIMM module.

[george]

How about DDR2 RAM of brand 'NCP'?

Any good?

[whimsy]

OK well, dual channel support means that if you have 2 modules of the same size in place then it will use them in parallel (dual channel) and go faster.

As you have 1 X 512Mb in place then you could get 1 more 512MB to make 1 GB total or get 2 X 1GB and remove the exisiting 512MB module. If you only do email and web browsing, then 1GB with Vista is probably enough. If you work with large graphic files, open big spreadsheets or databases, have many programs running at once or do other RAM hungry things, then you would benefit from having 2GB installed.

It would probably work to have 1GB + 512MB installed as Daffy suggested, but then it won't use dual channel for the memory. I don't recommend that combo.

[Tywais]

Thanni.com has DDR2-667 1GB Corsair SO-DIMM for 1050 baht. > http://www.thanni.com/index.php?main_page=...x&cPath=291

[sbk]

You use Thanni.com alot Tywais? Are they someone you would recommend?

[onethailand]

Corsair is also excellent RAM - that price is very good. At that price I would seriously consider going to 2GB in your case, sbk. Too bad I don't see any 2GB modules otherwise I might upgrade myself...

George, never heard of NCP - but as I mentioned RAM is generally stable - if it's good after the first few weeks you have little to worry about. Problems will manifest themselves very quickly under normal usage if there's an issue with the RAM.

[Tywais]

You use Thanni.com alot Tywais? Are they someone you would recommend?

Ordered from them several times and never had any problems with their service.

[tutsiwarrior]

not wantin' to hijack BUT; what would be the advantages of adding RAM to already installed 512MB when running Windows XP?

[sniffdog]

There is only one advice .... take your notebook to Pantip (or any shop if outside BKK), let them check which kind of memory is in your laptop and then let them add the memory to avoid incompatibility between your old and new memory. If you don't want to use your old memory, then any kind of memory which is compatible with your notebook is fine.

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not wantin' to hijack BUT; what would be the advantages of adding RAM to already installed 512MB when running Windows XP?

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You can use more programs concurrently. Some games run faster (if not required) with 1 Gig. If you use one program at the time (word, office) then you'll be ok with

512mb. If you use memory hungry apps like Photoshop and 3dMaX, 1 gig will be an advantage.

Edited October 12, 2007 by sniffdog

[cdnvic]

I'd go for the DDR2 667 rather than 533 because it will always default to the slower chip, but if you want to upgrade to faster ram later you only need to replace the older chip running at 533. There's no compatibility issues running 533 and 667 together.