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How to select RAM to buy? 2

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xlu21

Technical User
Sep 5, 2007
23
US
I have a HP Compaq nx7400. It has 1GB of ram (Two 512's).
I want to upgrade to 2GB. I was thinking getting a 2GB stick and leave one 512. Can this be ok? Also do I have to match MHZ speed exactly? Any tips would help...Thanks
 
Searching "nx7400 2gb ram ddr2 laptop" in google gave some results. Ebay was one of them.
 
You can always visit crucial.com or kingston.com

Follow the process entering your Brand, model and either site will give you accurate (guaranteed to work) memory listings with prices.

Crucial usually beats kingston.
 
Crucial is who I use. Very good ram.

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon
 
xlu21
Your laptop is based around the fairly new Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset with 667-MHz front side bus, this laptop uses DDR2 memory running at 667MHZ

This laptop range originally came with two memory configurations: 512-MB or 1024-MB of 667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM SODIMMs;
The mainboard has two SODIMM slots supporting dual channel memory (matched pair of modules)
And Supports up to 4096-MB maximum

Maximized dual-channel performance requires SODIMMs of the same size and speed in both memory slots, so using two different sized memory modules will default to single channel mode (although it should work just fine)
This will hit overall laptop performance by a few percent.

Ideally you should ditch both the 512 modules and fit two identical 1gig DDR2 667MHZ strips for maximum performance.

Martin

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Realistically dual channel mode makes so little difference that it's normally better to leave yourself with an upgrade path.

The main downside to this approach is normally cost, one 2 gig module probably costs significantly more than 2 1 gig modules.
 
WyldeCarde,
In this situation, you are correct. The frontside bus here is 667MHz which matches the 667MHz memory exactly in single-channel mode.

However, you just have to be careful criticizing dual-channel in general. On older motherboards that used DDR1, dual-channel was often needed for best performance. You had frontside buses that ran at 800MHz and above, but DDR1 that ran at 400MHz and below. Dual-channel doesn't increase speed, but it widens the path making it the next best thing you can do aside from increasing MHz.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
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