533 (PC2 4200) or 400 (PC2 3200) for i6000?

Get the 533 (PC2 4200). It will work with either a 400 MHz and 533 MHz FSB. If you have a 1.6 GHz or faster processor you will need the 533 MHz RAM anyway.

Martian

Well, it depends on what you have originally in the system. If you have 400MHz, then there is no point adding 512MB of 533MHz because it will have to clock down anyway. If you have 533MHz in there, then why bother getting 400MHz when it will slow your existing memory. So basically, match it up. Another thing to consider is the dual channel feature, which will only work if you have two modules of matching size and speed. So if you are adding that 512MB to a 256MB module or something you are not gonna get the dual channel working...

Stu

Is the ram speed difference noticable from 266 to 533 mhz?

-jcll2002

sakor1 is right. Check your present type and get the same.

While I don't disagree which what you guys are saying about matching the speed of the stick he already has I don't see a downside to getting the 533 MHz speed. It's probably only a few dollars more and it's more future proof. Even if the original is 400 MHz it could be replaced later with a 1 GB stick at 533.

my $.02

Martian

On the i6000 it doesn't matter which you get. The BIOS will report 533MHz if you put PC4200 memory in, but the performance difference is negligable because the memory controller only runs at 400MHz.

PC3200 also has lower latency than PC4200.

Personally, I would get the PC4200 regardless - never know when you may want to sell it, or upgrade your laptop and keep the memory.

Cheers!

Jay

I recommend concentrating on getting matched sodimm's for dual channel performance and checking for CAS latency, as well as thinking about pricing. 533 memory frequently have higher latencies (meaning slower performance) and are more expensive.

Why pay more now for higher latency memory when cheaper lower latency memory will do?

You can argue for future proofing...But in the two-three years or so till your next laptop. Who knows what kind of memory you will need?

My Story: I bought 2x 512MB 533 memory w/ a Cas Latency of 4 only to find that it would run slower than a cheaper pair of 400 memory w/ a Cas Latency of 3. I6000 only allows the memory to run at 400MHz. I think my I6000d will last me a good 2-3 years. By then...I would probably want 2x 1GB sodimms instead on my next laptop to work well with the next generation Windows 64-bit OS, rendering my current pair useless even if its 533. In the end... I just wasted money. I was hoping that I could run it synchronously, but it doesn't =P Ahh wellz.

However. If you plan to overclock it someday, 533 memory might prove useful. But to my knowledge, there is currently no overclocking utility that works well with the I6000.

memory controller runs only at 400mhz? are you on crack? does the memory controller not run at 533 on the sonoma boards? shoot me if im wrong. sheeesh

Truthfully you wouldn't be able to tell the difference that you have 533 vs 400 as the performance increase is very little.

Wait, so getting 533 MHz RAM with the 6000D doesn't create any performance increase at all?

BANG!
On Sonoma boards which contain a memory controller which runs @533MHz or greater, yes! (i9300, XPS2, etc). But not our i6000s. Thank DELL!

Not so far. Sandra benchmarks show no difference, and report the memory bandwidth of PC4200 the same as PC3200 on the i6000.

*I* am interested in someone running Memtest86 to see what it says for memory bandwidth between PC3200 and PC4200....

Cheers!

Jay

no it DOES, but its so SMALL you wouldn't know it.

Alright, let me clear up a few things hear! The Dell Inspiron 6000 ships with DDR2-400. Why does do Dell this? Who knows, my guess would be price, and to keep the distance between the i6000D and the 9300/XPS2. The Inspiron 6000 fully supports DDR2-533, and runs it at 533MHZ. The Inspiron 6000 also fully supports Dual Channel configurations. Anyone that says the Inspiron 6000 doesn't support DDR2-533 has no idea what their talking about. Dell didn't make any changes to the chipset what so ever!

This all came about, because CPU-Z and a few other programs were incorrectly displaying information about the 915PM chipset. This has been correct on CPU-Z as of 6/3/2005, noted in their change log as "Improved support for Intel 915PM Chipset".

Now onto the issue of when people put two sticks of DDR2-533 in and bench it and it scores about the same as DDR2-400. Well DDR2-400 has a CAS rating of 3, while DDR2-533 has a CAS rating of 4. This does make a difference, but it doesn’t make the DDR2-533 any slower. In some applications it is faster, or the difference is so small people don’t even notice it. Once DDR2-533 in the 200-Pin SO-DIMM configuration hits CAS 3, you are doing to see it pull far ahead of DDR2-400.

Anyone interested in buying an Inspiron 6000 is better of getting the lowest possible amount of DDR2-400 memory, and get two sticks of DDR2-533 from a 3rd party retailer. Not only are you going to save a bunch of money, but you are also going to notice it is a little quicker depending on what type of application you are using.

All of this information has been confirmed by many different people out their, also Dell them selves states the Inspiron 6000 fully supports DDR2-533 at its rated speed. Don’t believe me? Call Dell up your self, ask for someone higher up then their poorly rated Indian tech support, and you will get a clear answer.

hmmmm I think Brett works at intel, though I've never seen anyone put their full name as an alias on a forum before

welcome to NBF!

*begins to google brett*

If one talks with Dell they will tell them that the i6000 fully supports 533MHz. The Sonoma chipset does, and Dell has not modified it.

However, the memory controller apparently only supports up to 400MHz. I have read this many times on the Dell forums, as it has been argued back and forth there, and so far there are no benchmarks to show 533MHz memory exhibits any noticable improvement over 400MHz memory.

It has also been stated elsewhere, that Dell did this to further distance the i6000 from the i9300. They have done it without modifying the chipset specs, so that if you talk with anyone at DELL who is not a tech, they will be able to read the specs and state that the laptop supports both Dual Channel and 533MHz PC4200.

In reality, the fastest theoretical possible setup for memory on the i6000 is 2 sticks of PC3200 with CAS3 in dual-channel mode. With only 533MHz bandwidth available to the chipset, it is over-saturated whenever two sticks of PC4200 or PC3200 are used - so with the lower latency of PC3200 the system should be at its peak speed. However, that stated, the fastest memory benchmarks observed are obtained when a only a single stick of PC4200 is present.

Again, I would be very interested if someone with 2 sticks of PC3200 and 2 sticks of PC4200 would be able to test memory bandwidth with a low-level NON-WINDOZE benchmark such as Memtest86 - the results would determine once and for all what is going on with the i6000:

1. 1 stick of PC3200
2. 2 sticks of PC3200
3. 1 stick of PC4200
4. 2 sticks of PC4200

Don't be so sure about what exactly Dell has done with the i6000....

Cheers!

Jay

The i6000 does support 533MHz DDR2. People were under the assumption that it wasn't fully supported because CPU-Z incorrectly clocked the memory at 199.5 MHz.

Any benchmark test will probably show hardly any difference between 533MHz and 400MHz DDR2 because of the difference in CAS latency timings. I would be more interested to see someone run a benchmark test with an i9300 with Dual channel 533MHz DDR2 and compare that with an equivalent i6000 setup.

See this thread for reference on the CPU-Z forums where someone with an i9300 with 533MHz DDR2 and CPU-Z incorrectly reported his at 400MHz also.

http://forum.x86-secret.com/viewtopic.php?t=3529

I say again, the memory controller isn't locked at 400MHz! There is one set of benchmarks out there that shows, DDR2-400 vs. DDR2-533 in a dual channel configuration, and it proves their is a higher memory bandwidth when using DDR2-533 in a dual channel configuration.

Once I find those results I will show them to everyone here. I am 100% sure that Dell didn’t touch the memory controller on the i6000. Why would I be posting this if I wasn’t 100% sure? I think you should go back and re-read my last post. I gave the reason why, on many different levels.

If you guys don’t want to believe me then fine, it’s your loss.

Alright I take back what I said about 533 memory.

I confirmed the previous post about Dell being able to run with DDR2-533 correctly.

I switched to the newest CPU-Z 1.29, and it was able to correctly show the memory running at 266 MHz.

This kicks ass. Buy PC-4200 DDR2-533~!

It's not whether I believe you or not, but as a man of science, I am persuaded by benchmark results. Looking forward to seeing 'em. I've been sitting on the fence for a while now regarding upgrading my own 2x512MB PC3200.

Cheers!

Jay