Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

Using RAM of a higher bus speed to replace the old RAM?

Tags:
  • Windows 7
  • RAM
  • Bus Speed
  • Memory
Last response: in Memory
Share
September 13, 2014 4:37:22 PM

I have a system that reports in Piriform's Speccy as having 2 GB PC2-5300 RAM...with a 332.5 MHZ bus speed (which, I assume, for all intents and purposes, would be fine to say is 333 MHZ). Could I safely replace all the RAM with 4 GB of newer PC2-5300 666 MHZ bus speed? I'm running 32 bit Windows 7 Pro, but I'm probably going to wipe soon and replace with 64 bit Windows 7 Pro.

More about : ram higher bus speed replace ram

a b $ Windows 7
a b } Memory
September 13, 2014 4:42:32 PM

Your motherboard's specs will tell you what ram is compatible. Furthermore on the motherboard website you should also be able to find the Qualified Vendors List (QVL) that gives a list of compatible ram by maker and model number.
m
1
l

Best solution

September 13, 2014 4:47:23 PM

333 Mhz is the correct clock rate for PC2-5300. RAM speed (data rate) are often mistakenly written as "Mhz" when the correct term would be "MT", which stand for Mega Transfer (per second).

DDR stands for "double data rate", which means that the effective data rate is twice its frequency, hence 333 Mhz.

So both your current RAM and the one you are looking at are in fact 666MT RAM, clocked at 333Mhz (the same).

A more detailed explanation is available on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_data_rate
Share
!