E4300 800mhz - what RAM to use?

Angels112

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Nov 25, 2012
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As the title mentions I have a E4300 thats 800mhz. So Im wondering what RAM to use with it? I don't understand about PC's much. Should I buy DDR2 800 or lower works to? Like 667,533.

I am using atm 2x 1GB 667 RAM and 2x 512MB 553 RAM.
 

notlaw69

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Feb 17, 2013
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Um, if I'm reading this right, your E4300 is a Dell Latitude? Should be running much faster ram than that! I checked specs on Dell's site, yeah, you should be using "DDR3", which is the current technology type, "PC3-10600", which is the speed class (my lingo). PC3-10600 operates at a speed frequency of 1333 MHz. What you were referencing was the DDR2 technology, PC2-6400 speed class, which operates at 800MHz. And the 667 and 533 numbers are also references to speed. Hope I'm not breaking any rules here, but here's a quote from Crucial, FAQ:

"Let's take a look at PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) to break it down simply.

PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) refers to the bandwidth of the memory. A PC2-4200 module has the bandwidth of 4.2 GB/sec; therefore, it is referred to as PC2-4200.

DDR2-533 refers to the effective front-side bus speed of your system. While your DDR2 system or motherboard may operate a 266MHz front-side bus, its effective front-side bus speed is 533MHz because DDR2 effectively doubles the amount of data transferred per cycle that a non-DDR2 system would.

The same holds true for PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), which has a bandwidth of 5.3GB/sec and is designed for use in systems and motherboards that require a 333MHz front-side bus, with an effective front-side bus speed of 667MHz. And the same holds true for PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), which has a bandwidth of 6.4GB/sec and is designed for use in systems and motherboards that require a 400MHz front-side bus, with an effective front-side bus speed of 800MHz.

Though DDR2 memory was designed to be backward-compatible (meaning you can use PC2-5300 module in a computer designed to use PC2-4200, or vice-versa), ..."

I recommend getting the upgrade advise either straight from Dell, or from a name-brand memory company. I find the latter to be more informative and easier to understand when I have questions. Hope this helps in some way.
 

truegenius

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since you have core2duo e-4300 cpu which have 800mhz fsb
so the max ram recommended for your cpu is 800mhz (if you don't overclock)
any higher clocked ram will run at 800mhz only


so if you are completely replacing your old rams then go for 800mhz (and low latency like 800mhz cl5)
 

notlaw69

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Feb 17, 2013
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Oof! I screwed up on that one! Sorry Angels, and thank you truegenius for catching that. Not sure, guess I accidentally went to wrong page looking for FSB.