# What Ram to use in my laptop?



## Vinnyirl (Dec 15, 2006)

I have a Packard Bell MZ35-216, it has 512MB currently installed and the sticker on the ram reads "DR2 533(4)". what i want to know is, is the 533 in the name referring to the frequency of the ram chip or something else, neither the ram sticker nor any information i can gather from the web can tell me exactly what type of ram the mainboard supports.

Can i get any DDR2 SO-DIMM or do they have to be using 533MHz, I know ram modules are normally classed with PC-XXXX numbers but i cant finded which one to use.

Also on another ram related note. According to the info in system properties i have only 448MB's of ram, I remember something from ages ago about windows reserving some memory for its self. How do i turn this off (if that actually the problem) and will turning it off decrease performance?


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Run CPU-Z it will tell you what memory you have. Laptops require so-dimms that have a different pinout than std desktop memory. Provided you have an open memory slot, you should be able to uppgrade without too much issue. Check the Crucial or Mushkin websites, they have memory comparators you can use to select the correct memory module and they will guarrenty that it is compatible. As for your memory showing as 448....64Mb are probably being shared by the onboard video.
PS....How to upgrade memory on MZ35


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## Vinnyirl (Dec 15, 2006)

Thanks m8 you I got a hell of a lot of information about my labtop going to the sites you mentioned. i ran CPU-z and it tells my i have got 512MB of ram installed, and my system information is telling me i have only got 448MB of ram installed. This is because my onboard graphics is taking 64MB of ram. 
According to the info on my graphics chip i can adjust the amount of ram i want to give to my graphics chip, it says i can change it in the BIOS settings but there is noting there to change it? what am i doing wrong?

Now is my next problem to try an find the ram module i need 
My laptop supports DDR2 PC2100, PC2700 and to a certin extent PC3200. I use the site Komplett.ie to order parts for computers but this site doesnt have compattable ram modules. Does anybody know of any other good sites to order from.

Even though my laptop uses DDR2 is it backard compattible with the normal DDR?


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Laptop mfg's usually don;t like people tweaking a lot of bios settings, as a result they tend to disable such functions, so you're not doing anything wrong. You have DDR2 memory aka PC2 4300, DDR2 memory is not backward compatible with DDR memory. You can check Packard Bell's memory configurator....http://support.packardbell.com/uk/memoryconfigurator/ to see what they offer and compare prices. Crucial and Mushkin should ship to Ireland without any hassle if need be, I'm not familiar with any retail stores in Ireland, but check out http://www.yoyotech.co.uk based in London, or at your site...http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=308113...just double check with Crucial for compatability.


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