Question:
RAM questions
Hello everyone, I have a couple'a questions about my ASUS W3J that ive been wanting to ask u,
first question is:
How can I find out how many slots for Ram are used up in my laptop? preferably without having to open the bottom up.
Ive already opened it up yesterday but couldnt tell which part the Ram was, let alone say how many slots are used up. I know the W3J has 2 slots for Ram and mine has 1G of it in total. Im planning on gettting more Ram into my laptop coming summer holiday in July.
second question may be rather newbie, but here it is anyhow:
What is the whole "DDR2 533/667 MHz DRAM" about? I mean the 533 and the 667 MHz... how can I find out which one of those I have in my laptop?
Thanks in advance
Jeremy
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
My guess is that you have 1 GB (2 x 512 MB) DDR2 667 MHz RAM. Do you know where you purchased it from? That would probably give a better clue.
533MHz is slightly slower than 667MHz but you probably wouldn't notice the difference.
Tim
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
I got my laptop in Taiwan last year round august. or did u mean the store name? in that case i have no idea.
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
Well I know this isn't the exact same laptop that you have but I think the ram should still be located in the same area. Here is the picture.
I suggest that you take off the cover again and remove a stick to see if there is another one below it. It really isn't that hard. There are two little latches that you press on the side. Then you can just pull it up at a 45 degree angle. If there is another stick below the first stick you have two 512MB sticks.
You should also be able to see if it is 533MHz or 667MHz by reading the info on the ram. My guess though is that it is 667MHz since the laptop is a core Duo.
Tim
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
Why not just use CPU-Z? That should give him a definitive answer without cracking open the case...
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
I find the Belarc Advisor tells me everything i want to know.
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
Its almost certain that your notebook has 2 slots for memory, and both are probably being occupied at the moment. That means that if you wish to upgrade, then you will need to remove at least one. Its not difficult to upgrade RAM, as Tim has mentioned.
Your notebook should be able to use both DDR2 533 MHz and 667 MHz RAM. There is practically no difference in performance. This is because the extra speed of the 667 MHz is offset by the high latency values. It causes the overall RAM performance to become the same.
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
Tim, thanks for the pic link, I am now quite certain that I have only one slot occupied. I thought i saw a space that looked as tho it was for Ram (I saw my friend add Ram into his laptop a long while ago), but i wasnt sure, and after looking at the picture I think what I saw was an empty slot.
by the way, the inside of a W3J looks very different. haha... thanks tho
Pita-bred, I downloaded the program and tried it. Under the SPD tab, I changed the "memory slot selection" from slot #1 to #2, and it said empty, which confirms that only one slot is taken up.
as for the speed, heres what i see under the "memory" tab:
Type: DDR2
Channels #: Single
Size: 1024 MBytes
Frequency: 266.0 MHz
FSB : DRAM: 5:8
CAS# Latency: 4.0 Clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 4 Clocks
RAS# Precharge: 4 Clocks
Cycle Time (Tras): 12 Clocks
Bank Cycle Time (Trc): 16 Clocks
The result dont look so impressive eh.
few questions:
1) How come the number of Channels is Single? is Single old?
2) Frequency: 266.0 MHz? That looks bad doesnt it? its not even close to 533!
3) If I was to get a new stick of Ram, could I get a 667MHz one so that Id have both a slow one (confirmation needed) and a faster 667 one? or do they need to be the same speed?
Thanks again ppl
Jeremy
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
The result dont look so impressive eh.
few questions:
1) How come the number of Channels is Single? is Single old?
2) Frequency: 266.0 MHz? That looks bad doesnt it? its not even close to 533!
3) If I was to get a new stick of Ram, could I get a 667MHz one so that Id have both a slow one (confirmation needed) and a faster 667 one? or do they need to be the same speed?
The "Single " thing is whether there is one or two modules running in the notebook. When you have two, the system will run in dual channel, which doubles the bandwidth. However, there was no performance gain from this, and it was largely disregarded. People who have one module, will always see "Single" in the channels section.
The frequency of 266 MHz is correct. Remember, that DDR stands for Double Data Rate. It completes twice the work in one cycle, when compared to SDR (Single Data Rate) RAM. Therefore, the RAM actually performs as though it is running at 533 MHz, but its actual clockspeed is 266 Mhz. The same is true for 667 MHz RAM. Their actual clockspeed is 333 Mhz.
You can mix two different speed RAM modules, however, the overall frequency of both the modules, will be reduced to match the lowest frequency of the two modules. That means, that if you already have one module, running at 533 MHz, and then you add another modules, running at 667 MHz, the second module will clock down to match the first (533 MHz).
Answer:
Re: RAM questions
Thanks mate
Imma look into the 667MHz anyway and if the price diff between it and the 533MHz aint big, i'll go for the 667MHz, cos who knows, maybe I mite be rich enough to waste money on a second 667MHz one day.
thanks again