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New PC build - RAM recommendations?

Started by dustyviper5 · · 👁 4 views · 6 replies

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Participants dustyviper5darkowl72fadedorca66Linda Morgan74Larry Ortiz5
dustyviper5 dustyviper5 MemberOP
21 messages
joined Jul 2022
#1 ·
So, I’m looking at a relatively new Computer I picked up just a few days ago. Here are the specs as reported by Speccy:

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro 32-bit
Main Processor
Intel Pentium G3430 @ 3.30 GHz 31 ° C Haswell 22
Haswell 22nm technology
Memory
8,00GB dual-channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
MSI H81M-P33 (MS-7817) (SOCKET 0) 28 °C
Graphics
Belinea101711 (1280x1024@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics (MSI)
Storage
465GB Toshiba DT01ACA050 (SATA) 37 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224FB
Audio
Realtek High Definition

I wanted to ask about the memory, specifically based on these details here:

Memory

Memory Slots
Total Memory Slots 4
Used Memory Slots 2
Free Memory Slots 2

Memory Details


Type DDR3
Size 8192 MB
Channels Dual
DRAM Frequency 666.5 MHz
CAS Latency (CL) 9 cycles
Row Address Strobe (tRCD) 9 cycles
prefetch ras # (tRP) 9 cycles
RAS Cycle Time (tRAS) 24 cycles
Command Rate (CR) 1T

A couple of questions:

- Can I easily upgrade this machine with an additional 8 GB of RAM, and will I actually notice any general speed improvements—even though I'm currently running 32-bit Windows?

- I'm a little unsure about those free slots... how much can I actually trust Speccy to be accurate with this kind of information?

Thanks for the help!
darkowl72 darkowl72 Regular
311 messages
joined Oct 2015
#2 ·
8 GB of RAM is plenty for what you need, and honestly, throwing more memory at this thing isn't going to change a thing. If you actually want a faster Computer, you need to step up your processor and graphics card.
fadedorca66 fadedorca66 Regular
372 messages
joined Nov 2022
#3 ·
Hold up, you're running 32-bit Windows with 8GB of RAM? If you check your Computer, you'll probably see you aren't even using more than 3-something GB right now. It's kind of a waste, honestly. You should definitely switch to 64-bit Windows so you can actually use all 8GB. Upgrading to 16GB won't really speed things up unless you're running a ton of heavy programs at once, like VMs or Photoshop and stuff.

The biggest boost would probably come from grabbing an SSD. Stick the OS and your main apps on there. You can find a 120GB one for about $100 or maybe a 250GB for $167 or even more

Also, regarding the Speccy info and the slots—if you look at the picture of your motherboard, you'll see it only has two slots, even though Speccy claims there are four:

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H81M...#hero-overview
Linda Morgan74 Linda Morgan74 Member
11 messages
joined Mar 2015
#4 ·
Wait... there isn't even a dedicated GPU listed in the thread? It’s just running on integrated graphics?
fadedorca66 fadedorca66 Regular
372 messages
joined Nov 2022
#5 ·
Yeah, at least according to these specs
dustyviper5 dustyviper5 MemberOP
21 messages
joined Jul 2022
#6 ·
Thanks so much for all the input, everyone. So, it sounds like I need to switch over to 64-bit Windows—and if that’s the case, then I guess that's the fix. Man, back to square one for me... 😵
Larry Ortiz5 Larry Ortiz5 Regular
710 messages
joined May 2020
#7 ·
Yeah, well—you basically have to tear it all down and start from scratch 😁 but hey, at least now you know that 32-bit versions of Windows can only really handle up to 3.5GB of RAM 😁

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