Does my laptop support DDR2?

[antsct]

Hello everyone,

I have a Compaq Presario V2325AP laptop. I need to know whether or not my laptop supports DDR2 because I would like to upgrade the memory to 2gb.

Currently I have DDR1 sticks in the laptop. I checked in my manual and on the products webpage but I coudn't find anything.

I have an Intel GMA915 chipset which supports DDR2 (I checked on Intel's website).

Everest Ultimate Edition reports the following:

Supported Memory Types DDR-333 SDRAM, DDR2-400 SDRAM, DDR2-533 SDRAM

Is there any way I can be sure it supports DDR2? I know both DDR1 and DDR2 are 200 pins.

 

[jkresh]

I don't know of any notebooks that can take both ddr1 and ddr2, and I cant find your model on crucial (generaly a reliable way to see what memory something can take is go to crucial and look up what they sell for that model) , if its god ddr1 in it then it probably only works with ddr1 if it has ddr 2 then it works with ddr2. Some chipsets can take multiple memory types (like p35 can do ddr2 or ddr3) but you rarely see desktop motherboards that have options for both and I don't know of any laptops that can.

 

[antsct]

Thanks for that.

But why would Intel's website state that the chipset features DDR2 support and Everest says that DDR2 400 and DDR2 533 are supported?

 

[IlllI]

the only mobo i've ever known thats supported two different memory types on the same board was made by sis... about 4-5 years ago. it had 2 slots for sdram and ddr1 i think.

other than that one exception, i cant think of any since then. it just doesnt happen. so its either ddr1 or ddr2. if you have a ddr1 memory module in it already, i'd say chances are good that its just ddr1

 

[TheStu]

Its one thing for the chipset to support DDR and DDR2, but another thing entirely for the laptop manufacturer to use that support. There are plenty of budget motherboards out there that have the same chipset as $300 motherboards, the difference is that the $300 fully makes use of the chipset. It uses all 8 SATA channels instead of just 2, it has 2 PCI-E slots instead of just one. So that is what is going one. If the machine uses DDR SODIMMs, then continue to use those. DDR2 SODIMMs are not pin-compatible to DDR SODIMMs. Also, the only advantage that DDR2 has is higher clock rates, and that is pointless to you since your FSB is locked at a certain number (ok, I assume that it is locked, there are only a few laptops out there that have the ability to change their FSB higher)

 

[geecee]

Originally posted by: antsct
Thanks for that.

But why would Intel's website state that the chipset features DDR2 support and Everest says that DDR2 400 and DDR2 533 are supported?

While the chipset may support DDR2, it's up to the motherboard manufacturer whether or not they implement DDR2 slots to take advantage of that feature. Everest might be simply reporting what memory types the chipset in general supports and not what your particular board/model supports.

As jkresh pointed out, chances are that if you have DDR1 in the laptop, it only takes DDR1 RAM. While I have seen a desktop board or two that took both DDR and DDR2 (an ECS AM2 board comes to mind), I've never seen a laptop board that does it. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but simply unlikely.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: antsct
Everest Ultimate Edition reports the following:

Supported Memory Types DDR-333 SDRAM, DDR2-400 SDRAM, DDR2-533 SDRAM

Look for the memory/module type that is currently installed, under Memory, SPD, or Chipset, rather than the 'memory types supported' by the chipset.

According to Kingston's memory configurator, that notebook takes DDR SO-DIMMs, not DDR2. Could be wrong, though. Everest will be able to correctly identify the modules currently installed. Look around.

the only mobo i've ever known thats supported two different memory types on the same board was made by sis... about 4-5 years ago. it had 2 slots for sdram and ddr1 i think.

This is a notebook we're talking about, which never have slots to support different memory types, but in the desktop motherboard category, we have:

ASUS P5VDC-X

ASUS P5VDC-MX

ECS 915G-A

ECS 915P-A

ECS P4M800PRO-M

ECS P4M800PRO-M3

ECS P4M890T-M2

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

Among a dozen others....

 

[hmsrolst]

See what tcsenter says above RE where to look in Everest.

 

[antsct]

I check what memory is currently installed and I know it's DDR not DDR2.

The only thing that I'm upset about is that here in Australia, 1GB Notebook DDR2 costs $50 and 1GB Notebook DDR costs $110.