Is this ram compatible?

[Crazycars]

So I'm not the best at choosing memory and stuff, and I need to know whether or not this ram is compatible with my computer because it's sitting around my house and it would be nice to have a little speed boost since there are empty slots for ram. I'm currently using 2,2 gig sticks of ram, and they read: "2GB 2Rx8 PC2-6400U-666-12-E0" and the ones I want to put it are only 1 gig, but they read: "1GB 2Rx8 PC2-5300U-555-12-E0" They also read in the corner "DDR2-667MHz-CL5". I want to know if the one gig ram is compatible in the computer with the other ones. Thanks for any answers in advance, I've had these ram cards for a while with nothing to do with them.

 

[Tradesman1]

Give 'em a try, at worse it won't start, and can go back to the original sticks

 

[Recycled]

They are both DDR2, but the unused ones are 667MHz, while the ones in use are 800MHz.

Several things could happen when You install the spare DIMMs.

Your system could run them at 800MHz, which would be over-clocking them. That can cause them to run hot, but it will probably still work. The worst case is that they run for a while then cause strange blue screens at random intervals.

They could cause all Your RAM to run at 667 MHz. This would slightly slow down memory access, but not enough to worry about. The extra RAM is almost certainly more of a benefit than the slight slow down in memory access.

They could run at 667 MHz, while Your existing RAM runs at 800 MHz.

It is very unlikely that Your system will not boot after installation, unless the DIMMs were damaged (ESD) at some point.

You can figure out what happens by running CPU-Z after installing them.

 

[Tradesman1]

All DRAM in a system runs at the same freq, you won't have some at 667 and some at 800, that's ridiculous, they will go to the mobos default and run at that if they run at all, then you can try changing them, first thing is to see if they will even play together

 

[Recycled]

Tradesman1, I have used systems that allowed different banks of RAM to run at different speeds. It is not common in the dual-channel gamer world, but it is possible in the multiple-processor-chip, dozens-of-dimms world of servers.

 

[Tradesman1]

The idea here is to suggest something that's applicable to the question/scenario posed. And while nothing was said about gaming, if you are as well versed as you claim, would think you would realize that gaming is not restricted to dual channel - maybe you missed the 1366 years back w/ triple channel or the 2011 with quad channel.

 

[Recycled]

I'm not going to get into an argument with Tradesman1.