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Have a friend who has a HP Pavilion 511w. It has a Celeron 1200 mhz cpu with 128 m/b of Ram (one stick of PC100 SDRAM, computer has two memory slots) running Windows XP. Needless to say, her computer crawls like a snail.

I'm trying to help her get some more performance out of it without spending much money. Not much can be done being it's obsolete but bumping up memory to 512 would help. According to stats, the HP Pavilion 511w only supports 512m/b maximum, with a maximum 256 m/b in each slot. So, I would be looking for 2 256 m/b mem sticks that would work.

Now is where my questions come into play. Going to a reputable memory site like Crucial shows each 256 m/b stick at about $50 ($100 total). That's completely unacceptable to her bank account and spending that much money for what she has doesn't make a lot of sense.

I see memory on ebay for as low as $5-$10 for a 512 stick of SDRAM 133. That seems like a chance to take but these cheap sticks are all "high density" memory.

I've been reading about "high density" vs "low density" and am a bit confused. I read that for a computer that is setup for "low density", which I assume this computer in question is, that if using "high density" memory, either the computer would not work at all or it would only see half the memory.

The half the memory thing wouldn't bother me (if it actually worked) if I put in say 2 512 "high density" memory sticks and the computer saw 512 of it. 512 would still be much better than 128.

I'd hate to not have it work at all though.

Does anyone have any insight here about running "high density" memory in a system that is supposed to use "low density" memory?

With any RAM - but especially older SDRAM stuff - you always take a chance it won't work. Some mobos can take high and low density. Some only low. HP mobos are very fussy. That's why I always buy from Crucial for clients, but as you noticed the old RAM is getting expensive because it's now rare.

The specs for her system from Crucial are:

# Module Size: 256MB
# Package: 168-pin DIMM
# Feature: SDRAM, PC133
# Specs: SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 133MHz • 3.3V • 32Meg x 64

The 32Meg x64 is what defines it as "low density".

I'd stick to low density but keep in mind, even then it's no guarantee that a given stick will work.

Most, if not all Intel systems running PC100 or PC133 required Low Density memory. Hi Density was cheaper to manufacture and was used on many AMD boxes. Using Hi Density on Intel Systems was a No No. Syetem may or may not boot. Show constant errors or shut down and/or freeze for no apparent reason. Save yourself some grief and get some name brand Low Density sticks for this...