2 gb pc2-5300 vs 1 gb pc2-6400

[bumbleclotz]

I am upgrading my Dell Inspiron 1521 from 2 GB pc2-5300 to 4 GB pc2-5300, so I will have these two boards of memory hanging around. I have an Acer Aspire R1600 that only has 1 GB pc2-6400 in it. If I take out the 1 board out of the Aspire and put in the two boards from the Dell, would the system then run faster? I know that the speeds of the RAM make a difference, but so does the amount. Sounds dumb, but I am on a budget and I have fast machines that can be made faster.

 

[jaquith]

Welcome to Tom's Forum!

When purchasing RAM for OEM PCs use the lowest frequency listed with it's specs; since OEM's like Dell or ACER lack 'DRAM Frequency' control there's no advantages to faster frequency RAM - it defaults the RAM to only the lowest supported frequency. Further to select the best RAM choose CAS Timings that are the lowest and tightest; example {tight = 5-5-5 vs loose = 6-7-6}.

The differences between DDR2 667 MHz and DDR2 800 MHz is 1%~3% tops. The most important thing is 2GB RAM minimum for XP 32-bit, and 4GB for Windows 7. More slower RAM is considerably more important and faster than Less faster RAM.

Also, don't mix-match RAM with different: Frequency, CAS Timings and worst Voltage. To check use CPU-z and review the JEDEC timings listed for the PC's lowest supported frequency and verify that both the CAS timings and Voltage match before mixing.

CPU-z -> http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Note the CAS timings:

 

[bumbleclotz]

Best answer selected by bumbleclotz.