[Ham-Computers] RE: Asking for help upgrading memory

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

G'day Dave (et al),

Memory is a component that is pretty much standardized these days - most all the "important" specs of "new" RAM come from a consortium that includes several major vendors like Intel.  It's not cost effective for a company to vary from the standard, and, after the RAMBUS debacle a few years ago, I doubt that anyone would want to use non-standard RAM (or try to create a new proprietary standard) - at least not in the desktop/laptop market.

So what Dave describes sounds like standard 240-pin SO-DIMM DDR2 memory modules.  The only differences in modules are speed (667MHz) and timings.  The timings aren't specified here, but are probably something like 5-5-5-15 - just make sure they meet the laptop's minimum spec (esp the first number, the CAS Latency (CL)).  You might also be able to boost the laptop's performance by using RAM with tighter specs such as 4-4-4-12 (but it's up to your system to take advantage of this - not all do).  BTW, the "PCxxxx" numbers just specify a max bandwidth - the MHz rating and timings are more important number as the PC number is affected by both the MHz speed and the timings.

Another thought (probably more important), Dave, is that most laptops only have 2 memory slots so you'll most likely need to "replace" rather than "add to" your existing memory (look for 2GB kits as "2 x 1GB" or buy 2 individual 1GB modules).  As mentioned earlier, you can use a site like Crucial's or Kingston (http://www.kingston.com) to determine what your system needs.  Not sure about the Crucial site, but Kingston also shows the "bank schema" - how many sockets are in your system.

And, a good thing about Newegg is that they have a decent return policy for most products - just check the "Returns and Rebates" section for each product (for RAM, typ 30-days refund, 90-day replacement).


73,

  - Aaron, NN6O


-----Original Message-----
From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Dave 'Doc' Corio
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2007 4:44 PM
To: ham-computers at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Asking for help upgrading memory


I'm planning to add 1G of memory to the 1G that is already in my Gateway desktop, model S-5405D

According to Gateway, whet I need is two of the following....

    512Mb  PC5300  DDR2  667 Mhz  SDRAM

What I found on newegg.com is

Corsair 1Gb  (2 X 512Mb)  240 pin  DDR2  667  (PC2 5300)

This seems to match exactly, but the number of pins on the memory I already have is unknown to me.

Can anyone tell me if this is, in fact, what I'm looking for?

Tnx es 73
Dave
KB3MOW