PC2-5300 is a type of DDR2 SDRAM, which is also known as DDR2-667. Its technical specifications are as follow:

Memory clock: 166 MHz

I/O bus clock: 333 MHz

Data transfers per second: 667 million

Peak transfer rate: 5333 MB/s

Cycle time: 6 ns

Memory timings: 4-4-4 or 5-5-5

Common chip capacity in PC2-5300 is either 1GB or 2GB. Combining two PC2-5300 chips, memory amounts of 3GB and 4GB are also frequently seen. 512MB chips are also available, however, they are not as common due to greater RAM usage in modern computer applications.

One side issue to consider is that technical limits do not allow the full 4GB to be used unless the operating system on the machine has 64-bit technology.

At times, the classification of PC2-5400 is used as a replacement term by certain manufacturers. In some cases, they claim above-standard transfer speeds, while others simply note that it is a rounded-up number.

What is DDR2?

The name DDR2 SDRAM is short for double data rate 2 synchronous dynamic random access memory. Quite a mouthful for a computer memory chip! DDR2 allows for faster data transfer rates, as well as lower power consumption, when compared to the original DDR, its predecessor.

There are five levels of DDR2, with PC2-5300 being the middle of these. At its debut in 2003, only the two lowest chips were available, which performed at 200 and 266 MHz. Due to their relatively higher latency, these chips had worse performance than the DDR memory they were meant to replace. Once lower-latency modules came onto the market, DDR2 then became competitive with the earlier version.

What is the difference: PC2-5300 vs. PC-5400?

Actually, in most cases these are the same chips, and the manufacturers simply round the number -- 5333 MB/s peak transfer rate -- in different directions. At least one company, though, has stated that the higher number is given since the memory was tested successfully at a slightly higher transfer rate.