Notebook nOOb question

[sonoma]

Hey all sorry for the nOOb question. :p

I have purchased a new Sonoma based Laptop one of the features of this chipset is a 533 fsb. The notebook came with DDR2 400 ram, just curious if going to DDR2 533 ram will put the notebook into an optimal state. I mean if and when notebook ram modules hit an even higher speed say...633, would it be even better than the 533 for my system?

Been trying to learn about this stuff but it all seems a little confusing, and i'm a little confused since i think the fsb is actually 133 x 4 = 533, but factoring variables like quad pumping and dual channel kinda confuse me a bit. :shrug:

[David]

Hi and :welcome: to the forums, where no question is a n00b question :D

Quad pumping means your CPU transmits/recieves data 4 times per cycle. So although its 133MHz FSB, your effective speed is 533MHz.

Dual channel is a technology that becomes available when you have more than one physical stick of RAM installed. The system can then access two sticks of RAM at a time. Previously only one stick at a time could be utilised, but with dual channel this means two can - resulting in increased rate of data transfer to and from RAM. The end result is more performance :)

As for the speed of the RAM - I dont know if it would actually utilise faster RAM. You can put faster RAM in if you want (as long as its DDR2 that it has, and DDR2 that you are putting in, you cant mix DDR and DDR2) but if the computer cannot make use of the faster RAM speed then all that happens is the RAM runs at the highest speed the computer can run it at.
Eg if your board only supports DDR2/400 and you put 533Mhz RAM in, it will just run at 400MHz anyway.

[sonoma]

Ah i see...thanks for the quick reply and the welcome, glad to be here :)

My notebook came with a Nvidia go 6200 with Turbo Cache...i'm hoping that the new ram will increase the gaming speed since there is only 32m of onboard memory and the other 196 is shared with the system, cheap ba5tard5! turbo my a55! :eh?:

But still a bit of clarification. I read the following in a magazine and i'm going to rewrite what i read and substitute the values for ones that pertain to my scenario...


"PC4200 DDR2 Ram, also known as DDR533, is rated at 533MHz. Memory runs at the same frequency as the FSB, but because DDR is dual-pumped, the 533MHz frequency actually correlates to a 266.5MHz FSB ( 266.5 x 2 = 533MHz effective) When you alter the FSB of a system with PC4200 DDR2, you would not want to push the FSB higher than 266.5MHz if you want the memory to stay within spec."


So, please correct me if i'm wrong, but, my FSB is 133, and hypothetically if i were able to OC the notebook (i know i can't, but useful to know nonetheless) i would achieve an theoretical optimal state by increasing the FSB to 266.5? Let me do some math now.

266.5 x 4 (because it is quad pumped) = 1066 FSB reported
and since the multiplier in my case is 15 (originally 133 x 15 = 2.0)

Inputing the two numbers from above: 15 x 266.5 = 3997.5

So does this mean that to maximize the PC4200 DDR2 i would (in theoretical and ideal situations) be running at 3.9 instead of 2.0!?!

Which leads me to my next equation if i were to calculate backwards.

If my current FSB is 133 and considering this is a static number (since notebooks for the most part can't be overclocked) and according to what was stated above in the quotes, and i did want the memory to stay within specs (don't know if this is good or bad), then...

133 x 2 (since DDR is dual-pumped) = 266

Then shouldn't i have already hit the ceiling (or at least the point where the memory is with specs) by using PC2100 Ram, also known as 266?

However this makes no sense cause the notebook shipped with PC3200 DDR2 also known as DDR400.

So either i have mis-calculated, have an error in my interpretation, or it is preferred for the memory to not to stay within specs.

Duh Anydoby? :shrug:

[sonoma]

bump cause i really would like to know :)

thanks in advanced!!!