Memory Upgrade for Dell Inspiron 1520

[thecritic]

I currently own a Dell Inspiron 1520 that I bought in July 2007. When I bought it, I ordered it with 2GB of dual-channel, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory.

Fast forward to today. I've discovered that 2GB doesn't seem to be enough at times for Vista Premium and Windows 7, so I decided that it was time add more memory.

Earlier today, I bought two sticks of 2GB PC2-6400 memory from Crucial.com. Now, I just discovered that Kingston has this memory called "HyperX." It promises lower latency than Crucial, plus, it's $10 cheaper.

So, should I go with Kingston HyperX instead of Crucial?

Thanks!

 

[tcsenter]

Avoid the enthusiast memory lines with aggressive non-standard timings or latencies, such as Hyper-X and Ballistix. OEM systems are designed for JEDEC standard 1.8V ± 0.1V voltage and timings (i.e. 1.8V or 1.9V only for DDR2). e.g. Crucial's standard memory line, Kingston ValueRAM, Corsair ValueSelect, etc.

Might need the latest BIOS, though: Inspiron 1520 Downloads

 

[thecritic]

I do have the latest BIOS, version A09.

Both the Crucial and the Kingston HyperX are 1.8v, so I'm not sure how that's an issue here?

The Kingston HyperX memory that I was looking at has a 4-4-4-12 latency. According to CPU-Z, my current memory has a 5-5-5-15 latency.

Also, should I purchase the PC2-5300 or the PC2-6400? I have a Intel GM965 chipset. Doesn't my chipset only support PC2-5300?

http://www.intel.com/products/...965/GM965-overview.htm

Thanks!

 

[Glenn]

Either one should work just fine. Having said that, I would personally buy the one with the best specifications - Kingston. tcsenter has a great point about the voltages, but in this case their the same so take the best specs. Even though they possibly exceed the needs of your current system, they may find there way into a future purchase where they will.

 

[tcsenter]

Yeah, I momentarily forgot that companies don't get as stupid with their 'enthusiast' notebook memory lines because 99.8% of notebooks are OEM designs that don't support the non-standard parameters that are supported on enthusiast PC motherboards. I wouldn't worry about it, just get whatever is cheaper and/or offers the best return/exchange policy in case they don't work. If your system doesn't support DDR2-800, it will run at DDR2-667.

 

[thecritic]

Thanks guys, I just ordered the Kingston HyperX from NewEgg. I'll call Crucial on Monday to cancel my order.

Thanks again for all of the great advice!