PC2100 vs PC2700 notebook memory
I have a Compaq Presario M2000 notebook. I went to Crucial.com to order some new memory and their website recommended the wrong thing. Crucial said I needed PC2100 266mhz memory when in fact I later discovered that my laptop can use up to PC2700 333mhz memory.
Since I went from 256 (1 pc2700 chip) to 768 megs (2 pc2100 chips - 256+512) of RAM, of course I saw some major perfomance improvements.
My question is if I replaced my PC2100 memory with PC2700 memory, would I really notice a difference big enough to warrant the replacement?
Since I went from 256 (1 pc2700 chip) to 768 megs (2 pc2100 chips - 256+512) of RAM, of course I saw some major perfomance improvements.
My question is if I replaced my PC2100 memory with PC2700 memory, would I really notice a difference big enough to warrant the replacement?
not really, the difference is minimal. The reason for the speed jump before is due to the ammount of memory installed (3 x what you had before). If you changed it all for pc2700 it would be a little faster still, but like I said, that difference would not be that great. At the end of the day, if you can afford it and are not bothered about spending money unnecessarily, then go for it. (it would be cheaper and improve performance more if you swap your 256Mb pc2100 for a 512Mb pc2100)
I downloaded the manual for your notebook, and it indicates the system uses DDR266 memory modules (PC2100). So Crucial suggested the appropriate specification for your memory. If you were using PC2700 modules, they may have been running at PC2100 speed anyway ==> in this case you would notice NO difference if you switched to the higher speed modules.
Just to see what other "selectors" suggested, I tried the selectors from Kingston & MemoryX, and they also suggested PC2100 modules.
HP/Compaq does show some variants of the M2000 => is yours an M2000 or one of the variants?
Finally, if in fact your system can use PC2700 modules, Crucial is very good about taking memory back if their selector recommends the wrong modules -- I suspect they'd swap your modules for little (if any) price difference. Call and ask :-)
As for the performance difference you'd see -- I'd agree it would be nominal; but there would be a difference. It's simple math => 2700/2100 = 28.5 % improvement in memory bandwidth. Note, of course, that most things you are almost certainly NOT limited by the memory bandwidth -- so this does NOT suggest a 28% improvement in your system's speed. Disk I/O, CPU-bound tasks, etc. would gain NOTHING. If you ran a memory benchmark you'd see a nice difference; but in most real-life tasks the difference would be nominal.
Just to see what other "selectors" suggested, I tried the selectors from Kingston & MemoryX, and they also suggested PC2100 modules.
HP/Compaq does show some variants of the M2000 => is yours an M2000 or one of the variants?
Finally, if in fact your system can use PC2700 modules, Crucial is very good about taking memory back if their selector recommends the wrong modules -- I suspect they'd swap your modules for little (if any) price difference. Call and ask :-)
As for the performance difference you'd see -- I'd agree it would be nominal; but there would be a difference. It's simple math => 2700/2100 = 28.5 % improvement in memory bandwidth. Note, of course, that most things you are almost certainly NOT limited by the memory bandwidth -- so this does NOT suggest a 28% improvement in your system's speed. Disk I/O, CPU-bound tasks, etc. would gain NOTHING. If you ran a memory benchmark you'd see a nice difference; but in most real-life tasks the difference would be nominal.
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garycase, the original 256 chip that came with my PC is marked as 333mhz. Why would Compaq include a more expensive chip in this PC? That's why I thought the additional ram I used should also be 333/PC2700
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No comment has been added to this question in more than 21 days, so it is now classified as abandoned.
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I will leave the following recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area:
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Sorry to have left this one hanging. I gave the points to the most thorough answer.
The amount of memory, i.e. 256 or 512, will be a big difference since it will probably decrease the swap space needed on the HD.
Increasing the speed of RAM will speed up the system, but I don't think you would see any difference. I mean a real difference!