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Hi, I want to upgrade the RAM in my laptop HP 430 G3 from 4 GB to 8 GB. Since the original module is a rather obscure brand (Hynix DDR-2133, CL15, 1.2 V), I thought about replacing it altogether to avoid any compatibility issue, since 8 GB module are cheap enough. Question: could there be a problem if I use a DDR-2400 module since DDR-2133 are harder to find? Second, would the laptop motherboard select automatically the optimal value or do I need to set them up in BIOS?

Your laptop doesn't use DDR. However, it may use DDR3 or DDR4. Which is it?
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgr ... %28ddr4%29

$68 for 16 GiB.

Ram is DDR-4 (I thought the 2133 Mhz was a giveaway).

Is there any particular reason why there is only Crucial model in the link?

Crucial's upgrade advisor guarantees to find compatible RAM based on the make and model of your laptop. There's certainly other memory that would work, but it's not as easy to find as that.

You need the same type and speed of memory for it to work.
Does not have to be from the same manufacturer.

Actually you don't need the same speed of memory either it will run at whatever is slowest in the machine.
So if the speed is 2133mhz for what is already installed then 2400mhz will be compatible it will just be run at the 2133mhz speed.

There ARE exceptions of course but I've not run into incompatibilities since ddr-2.
DDR-3 and 4 seem to follow this rule for everything and it all just works.

Aranarth wrote:

You need the same type and speed of memory for it to work.
Does not have to be from the same manufacturer.

Actually you don't need the same speed of memory either it will run at whatever is slowest in the machine.
So if the speed is 2133mhz for what is already installed then 2400mhz will be compatible it will just be run at the 2133mhz speed.

There ARE exceptions of course but I've not run into incompatibilities since ddr-2.
DDR-3 and 4 seem to follow this rule for everything and it all just works.

How important is for the RAM to match in CAS latency?

Not very, again the memory runs at the slowest latency of what is installed if you have mismatched memory.

If you have cas 20 and cas 18 ram installed at teh same time all the ram runs at 20.

Sometimes you ahve to swap the dims so the slowest is in slot one.

The machine is supposed to read all the SPD's but sometimes only reads the first one.

Of course if you are overclocking the ram, in any fashion then matched dimms are important!