Going from PC2-3200 to 5300? Heeeelp.

Teletubby · 08-25-2009, 03:20 PM

Is it a worthwhile upgrade?

I have an HP m7350n which has 4 dimm slots, currently housing 2 stock PC2-3200 (400 mhz) sticks. I do some entry level graphic design (not much gaming or anything), and I was thinking of upgrading my RAM...now, I could just buy another stick of 3200 ram (for a total of 3 GB), which would be about $25, or, I could upgrade my memory to PC2-5300 (667 mhz) and get 3 Gigs of that, which would cost probably about $65 at least...and supposedly my motherboard supports 5300 ram...at least from what I have been able to find online about my motherboard (ASUS P5LP-LE)

So...in short, would this increase in RAM speed from 400 mhz to 667 mhz do anything worthwhile for me, or should I just stick in another stick of the current PC2-3200 RAM?

**simpswr** · 08-25-2009, 04:28 PM

Depends on the motherboard . . Depending on the operating system, you may not see any difference. It's usually more cost effective to buy 2 X 2 GB so that it will run in DDR mode. If the operating system is 32 bit, it will only use 3.2 Gig, but the extra does not hurt.

If you are using XP, it will not run any better with more than 2 GB ( and possible slower _ with Vista, the more the better

08-25-2009, 03:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
Teletubby Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 89 OS: Win xp	Going from PC2-3200 to 5300? Heeeelp. Is it a worthwhile upgrade? I have an HP m7350n which has 4 dimm slots, currently housing 2 stock PC2-3200 (400 mhz) sticks. I do some entry level graphic design (not much gaming or anything), and I was thinking of upgrading my RAM...now, I could just buy another stick of 3200 ram (for a total of 3 GB), which would be about $25, or, I could upgrade my memory to PC2-5300 (667 mhz) and get 3 Gigs of that, which would cost probably about $65 at least...and supposedly my motherboard supports 5300 ram...at least from what I have been able to find online about my motherboard (ASUS P5LP-LE) So...in short, would this increase in RAM speed from 400 mhz to 667 mhz do anything worthwhile for me, or should I just stick in another stick of the current PC2-3200 RAM? __________________ Currently working towards A+ and MCSA certification.

08-25-2009, 04:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,220 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Going from PC2-3200 to 5300? Heeeelp. Depends on the motherboard . . Depending on the operating system, you may not see any difference. It's usually more cost effective to buy 2 X 2 GB so that it will run in DDR mode. If the operating system is 32 bit, it will only use 3.2 Gig, but the extra does not hurt. If you are using XP, it will not run any better with more than 2 GB ( and possible slower _ with Vista, the more the better __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow? Last edited by wrench97; 08-26-2009 at 03:42 PM. Reason: Change 2 x 3Gig to 2 x 2 Gig,