worth it? DDR2 to DDR3 ram and/or 5400rpm to faster 5400/7200rpm HDD.

just a quick question on RAM speed and its benefits.
i currently have 4gb of DDR2 ram, and was wondering if 4gb of DDR3 would add any performance? i will be upgrading to windows 7 64 bit on the 22nd.
also, my 9200 gs some shared system memory as well as its dedicated 256mb DDR2. would DDR3 system ram help the graphics card as well?

dunno if my laptop supports more than 4gb, but would adding more help or just be overkill?

and the HDD question is pretty self explanitory. lol.

 

DDR2->DDR3 not possible because of hardware limitations, theoretically no performance benefit as well.

Also, more than 4GB is overkill for most users. What do you do on your computer?

 

The laptop can only accept DDR2 or DDR3, not both types. So there is not going to be any performance gain for that . In all reality, even if you could do that...the only performance gain would be a small increase in battery life.

As far as the hard drive is concerned, a higher density 5400RPM drive could very well outperform a 7200RPM drive.

 

First of all, if your laptop currently uses DDR2 memory, you can't upgrade it to DDR3 memory. Period. Second, even if you could do this, it would not provide a significant increase in performance unless you added more memory in total.

Even then, unless you're memory limited in whatever apps you run, you may or may not see a significant increase in performance.

For the HDD, I don't think you'll see much performance going between a 5400RPM and 7200RPM drive, but you will see an improvement going from either of the two to an SSD

EDIT: Jesus, three people post at the exact same time...

 

I currently have both the Dell E4300 and E6400 notebooks which have essentially the same hardware specs except the E4300 uses DDR3 and the E6400 uses DDR2 RAM.

The SiSoftware Sandra memory benchmark tests show a negligible performance difference. The chipset is the controlling factor.

John

 

In a recent comparison of four popular 7200 rpm Hdds all of them out performed the 5400 rpm drive. In fact, as a credit to modern 7200 rpm drives, the 5400 rpm drive did not show any significant advantage in power savings.

 

not true, it depends on the laptop, the acer 8930 can use ddr2 and ddr3
also the difference from 5400 to 7200 is a much snappier machine

 

The RAM slots for DDR2 and DDR3 memory are physically different. So in order for a laptop to support both types, you'd realistically need four RAM slots (two for each). Yeah...

You're probably thinking of DDR2 laptops that use GDDR3 video RAM. Not the same thing at all.

Also the US Acer website clearly states that machine only uses DDR3 RAM.

 

wow, i really should post things to this site at 4.35am more often! instantanious replies!

anyway, thankyou for the replies, cleared up the ram issue nicely.

@commander wolf: i cant afford/justify the price to capacity ratio of a SSD drive. the only way i could use one is to swap out my current HDD with an SSD, remove my bluray drive and put my HDD in where my bluray was, then put my bluray in an external caddy over eSATA. but all that aint cheap plus i would lose my bluray drive when im on the move.
or i could external my current HDD and have it plugged in all the time. not practical since i would then have 2 external hard drives plugged in when im at home lol.

so is there anything i can do to squeaze a bit more performance out this laptop while theres this crappy graphics card in it?

 

If you are trying to improve non-gaming applications, the best thing you could possibly do is reinstall the operating system. Do a fresh installation of Windows 7 as soon as it is available to you. If you're talking about gaming...update your drivers to the latest versions and reinstall the OS. HP (and more vendors) install loads of crap onto their computers.

You could put your 250GB in an external bay and use it like that, there's nothing wrong with that. But again, that is only if you're planning to move to an SSD.

I'm looking at the specs of your computer, and there is nothing there that could indicate to me that the laptop would be slow.

 

You probably thought what I did... lol
I've got an Acer 8730G and when I run Everest it said that the NORTH BRIDGE supports up to 1066 DDR3...
But
I have found (and bought) 2x 2Gb 1066Mhz DDR3 200 PIN (NOT 204)
I am expecting to receive them either tomorrow or the day after.
I know what every body says "I won't work!!!" but I just need to find that out for myself. They also said that the DDR3 modules are only 204 pins... but that's quite not right.
Anyway, I will let you know shortly though my hopes of this working are not really high

 

I know that there are different versions of the Acer 8930. Some supporting DDR2 and others supporting DDR3 but I guess that they only explanation is that they have different mobos...

 

Yes, they would have different motherboards. Same chipset but different memory socket compatibility.

 

Remember to tell us if it works.... i might jump in the fray and buy DDR3 memory modules as well...

 

Just FYI, but as previously noted the chipset does support DDR3 and DDR2. But the laptop motherboard only supports DDR2. Vendors pick one or the other, and that is it.

I'd sure like to see those links to 200 pin DDR3 memory...

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-Corsair-DDR3-1066MHz-200pin-SODIMM-Unbuffered-Lifetime-Warranty

http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_CM3X2GSD1066_2GB_DDR3.html

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/92368...R3-200pin-SODIMM-Computer-Memory/Product.html

This latest link is where I got it from. I should receive it, as I said before, either tomorrow or the day after and I will make sure I'll keep you posted

 

There is no such thing as a 200 pin DDR3 SO-DIMM. So you're either looking at a 204 pin DDR3 SO-DIMM (likely) or a 1066 DDR2 200 pin SO-DIMM... but either way, you're looking at a misprint.

For example, the first link you posted, it's easy to confirm that it's a misprint.
Go to corsair's website, here: http://corsair.com/products/valueselect/default.aspx
Scroll down to the part number, CM3X2GSD1066... and hmm, 204 pin!

I don't get why people are so stubborn about stuff like this. No such thing as 200 pin DDR3.

 

It's not about being stubborn.
I haven't found a single thread with a guy saying "I have tried it and it doesn't work!"... as simple as that.
I just want to try it!!!
What if it doesn't work? or what if it is a missprint?? What have I really lost?
NOTHING!

 

Well it's your money. Let us know how it turns out.

 

Well, time and money. It's fine if you're willing to do so, just don't encourage others to do the same... people tend to get upset when something doesn't work out as they expected...

 

Time: I am not going to die tomorrow, well... hopefully not and it is not like it takes years to order it and the replace it, or does it?

Money: I will get a FULL refund.. not worried about that

Encouraging people: did I? Have I said... yeah, sure... get it... it works!!
On the contrary, I am just saying that I am gonna try it myself to be able to tell people 100% that it does or does not work.

PS:I think you should read people's comments before making any statement, m8...

 

moelda your sig speaks against you.

like other people said, ddr2 and ddr3 are not pin compatible. few laptops have 4 ram slots to support both ddr2 and ddr3, physical space is scarce on a laptop. ODMs put great effort to make use of space, having two abundant slots is utterly stupid.
8935g with gm45 chipset and ati 4670 supports ddr3. 8930g comes with pm45 and supports ddr2, i pulled this from acer.co.uk. i tried to search for a service manual, but can't seem to find any. if you have it, check it. 2 sodimm slots means no go.

 

I am not saying otherwise!!!
It looks like it is a crime to "try" anything against people's advise...
I wish I'd never said anything... god!

PS: I don't think my sig speaks against me. I can clearly see a question mark there. English is not my mother tongue, but in my country (Spain) if you write something like this is because you are unsure of the outcome (amongst other things...)

I am sorry if I have "offended?"anyone... I won't make any more comment on the subject until I have tried... and even so.... I will really think twice before saying anything...

 

you haven't offended anyone, don't worry. it's just we don't see any question mark.

 

Sorted!!!

 

A good friend of mine told me that upgrading from DDR2 RAM to DDR3, at least right now, has no discernable benefits, other than preserving maybe around 15 minutes of laptop life. So, no go for right now.

Of course, you'll get much better performance on a 7200 RPM drive than a 5400, but most people have started to get their hands on these SSDs, which offer much better performance than is expected. But I digress. If you have the chance, make the switch from 5400 to 7200 ASAP. It's very worth it.

Mr. Mysterious

 

In that case, you'd better "unthink!" It clearly calls into question your credibility.

 

wow... the site's joker!!! Pleased to meet you... NOT!!!

On a more serious note (funny guys aside), I got the memory today...
The memory sent to me was DDR3 but had 204 Pins. I phoned Play.com and they offered me a full refund as it was their fault. So I got myself the Kingston HyperX 4GB Memory Kit (2x2GB) 800MHz DDR2.

 

You'll learn to spot misprints. Gotta say I told you that what you were expecting doesn't exist.

 

LOL at least now we know for sure that there is no 200 pin DDR3 ram...