DDR2 800mhz running at 667

[unreal4evr]

I bought some DDR2 800Mhz ram to replace some 667Mhz ram in an attempt to get a little more speed out of my aging laptop. I have a Core 2 Duo T9500 (which has an 800Mhz FSB) so I assumed it would be able run the 800Mhz at full speed. Yet, when I checked the RAM speed in CPU-Z, it still shows it running at 667 speeds.

I checked in my BIOS, but there are no overclocking options or the like which would allow me to fix the speed issue.

Is this something that can be fixed, or is this particular Core 2 limited to only 667 ram speeds?

 

[jaquith]

Short answer, No. Most OEM MOBOs including laptops very {very} rarely allow 'DRAM Frequency' or 'Memory Multiplier' adjustments in their BIOS. The benefits of RAM would be using at least 4GB of RAM; 32-bit is limited to 4GB and then there's the limit of your Notebook itself.

The differences between DDR2 667 and DDR2 800 is <1%. If you want to liven-up your Notebook the #1 thing is to use an SSD. Whole different world and extended battery life.

Q - What Notebook?

 

[GhislainG]

The speed improvement would be 3% at most. Did you verify that the laptop can actually use 800 Mhz memory and run it at the rated speed?

 

[unreal4evr]

I hear you on the SSD, although they're still a little too expensive to be considered practical in my opinion. I'm running in 64-bit, so there's no issue with a RAM limit on that end.

I havn't actually confirmed if the mobo supports the DDR2 800, but I assumed that most mobos would at least support ram that would allow a 1:1 ratio between FSB and DRAM.

The laptop is a Sager NP5793.

 

[jaquith]

The Sager NP5793 is limited to DDR2/667 2x2GB.

 

[unreal4evr]

Best answer selected by unreal4evr.

 

[unreal4evr]

That's unfortunate, looks like I have some ram to return