Are DDR3 and DDR4 laptop memory (RAM) compatible? That’s a common question when it comes to memory upgrades. For instance, you bought a new laptop with DDR4 RAM and want to add more memory to it by inserting a DDR3 RAM module from your older laptop. You wonder if that’s possible. Unfortunately, that can’t be done. DDR3 and DDR4 laptop memory are not compatible / interchangeable.

DDR3 and DDR4 laptop memory are not compatible / interchangeable. First of all, a DDR3 laptop RAM module can’t physically fit into a DDR4 laptop RAM slot and vice versa. Notches on the connectors of memory sticks are on different places. The same applies to corresponding bumps in the RAM slots on notebook’s motherboards. When comparing two models of RAM from the same manufacturer, we found that a pair of 8GB DDR3 Savage sticks (16GB total) clocked to 2400Mhz cost $103.99 on Newegg, while the same pair in DDR4 costs $129.99 — that’s about a 21% increase. That’s not too terrible all things considered, but it’s still more expensive. I have a latptop with a i3 6006u and was looking to increase it's ram, but the ARK website says it supports these RAMs. DDR4-2133, LPDDR3-1866, DDR3L-1600. Does to slot supports the different slots of DDR3 and DDR4? Or is it DDR3 and can be clocked to work at 2133MHz, DDR4 speeds? Learn how you can upgrade your slow laptop with the Impact DDR4 and DDR3 memory. DDR3 Memory - RAM for Gaming Learn more about DDR3 memory and how you can use RAM to upgrade your gaming experience.

First of all, a DDR3 laptop RAM module can’t physically fit into a DDR4 laptop RAM slot and vice versa. Notches on the connectors of memory sticks are on different places. The same applies to corresponding bumps in the RAM slots on notebook’s motherboards. Also, the number of pins doesn’t match. A DDR3 laptop memory module has 204 pins, whereas DDR4 has 260. Finally, DDR3 memory is a bit shorter than DDR4 – 2.66 versus 2.74 inches.

So, a DDR3 memory module won’t fit in a DDR4 slot…

And a DDR4 stick is incompatible with a DDR3 slot…

Slot Ram Ddr3 Ddr4 For Sale

Besides the physical differences, DDR3 and DDR4 RAM differ in voltages. DDR3 uses a voltage of 1.5V (or 1.35V for DDR3L variant). DDR4 uses 1.2V. It is more power efficient and generally faster, but doesn’t noticeably improve overall performance nor battery life of notebooks.

Slot Ram Ddr3 Ddr4 Memory

Note: If you see “SODIMM” in specs of both DDR3 and DDR4 laptop memory, that doesn’t mean they are compatible. SODIMM only means they are small memory modules commonly used in laptops and some small form factor PCs, as opposed to physically much bigger DIMM memory used in traditional desktop computers. As a side note, DDR3 and DDR4 DIMMs aren’t compatible neither.