# PC4200 vs PC5300 ?



## Michael

I bought my computer with (512MB) PC5300 DDR SDRAM installed, but purchased a stick of (512MB) PC4200. 

When I install the two of them, whether both in slot one and two, or slot one and three, my PC registers them as 767MB total. Is this, or could this, be a compatibility issue between the two sticks?

Acer (the company who provides my tech support) tried to tell me that Windows Vista 'hides' resources from the end user, resources such as RAM. However, when I install a single stick of 512MB, I get 470MB total. Same on both sticks. 

So, with two installed, I should be getting about 940MB? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Any help is greatly appreciated.


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## kof2000

your computer/laptop is running integrated graphics. video takes portion of your system memory as video memory.


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## Geoff

You should be getting 1024MB, but it sounds like your integrated video is dedicating 256MB for itself.  Have a look in your BIOS and see if theres a way to change the allocated video memory.


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## taylormsj

yeh should be able to switch it to 128 or 64mb if not needed


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## Michael

The situation you've all brought up explains quite a bit.. when I installed the new stick of RAM, my 'Windows Experience' for graphics and 3D graphics jumped from 2.3 to 3.9 and 3.0. I couldn't explain it before, but now it makes perfect sense 

I actually went into the BIOS, but found nothing that would allow me to reduce the amount of RAM the integrated video uses.

Maybe one or all of you have a suggestion on where else I might be able to reduce RAM usage?

If it helps you at all, I have integrated NVIDIA GeForce6100 (nForce405)

Thanks for all of the help, it's greatly appreciated!

PS: I use my PC for Photoshop, web surfing, up/downloading etc etc, nothing graphics intensive, so basic graphics would suit me fine. What amount of RAM would you suggest setting it at (minimum) for basic computing + Photoshop CS2?


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## Michael

I just googled for about half an hour and found that my onboard graphics 'aquires' 256MB (MAX) from the RAM, so if nothing else.. 256MB of (soon to be) 2GB isn't so bad.

If anyone has any other suggestions as to reducing the amount it takes, I'm all ears still


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## Cromewell

Turning it off completely and getting a discrete card is the only other thing you can do if you can't manually reduce how much RAM it takes.


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## Michael

Sounds good. I can live with it taking 256MB of RAM.

One other thing I'm wondering, though.

My computer came with DDR2 667 (PC2/5300) installed, but newegg and everyone else recommended DDR2 533 (PC2/4200). 

Now that I've purchased 4 sticks of the DDR2 533 it's a little late to turn back, but, is there going to be a huge, noticable, performance difference between the two speeds?


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## Cromewell

Not really. You might notice some difference if you are running benchmarks but otherwise it's not likely that you'll be able to see it


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