Upgrading Memory

[DonaldM]

Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, so thought I'd ask here. I want to upgrade the memory in my PC (you can see below what I have). Due to some recent issues I discovered I had mismatched memory chips in my system, which I don't understand why...but, oh well. So, I popped out 3 of them so what's left all matches. But, I want to replace all of them to increase total memory...was 9gig, now 6g and I want to make it 16g.

I have 2 questions, are there particular brands better than others, or are all about the same? One place I looked at has 4g Kingston chips...but I don't know one from another on brands. Another has Samsung (or something made by them, they said).

2 - When inserting new chips, does it matter where they go in the memory slots? I have 6 total slots so I could, theoretically go to 24gig...but 16 should be more than sufficient for PT-11 and my needs. Do the chips need to be right next to each other with no empty slots in between, or does it even matter?

Before I popped out the 3 1gig chips it was laid out like this by slot:

1-2g
2-1g
3-2g
4-1g
5-2g
6-1g

Now its: 1-2g, 2-blank, 3-2g etc, with a blank in between each 2g slot.

SHould they all be together?

What other considerations are there for buying chips for PT I need to pay attention to?

Thanks

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, so thought I'd ask here. I want to upgrade the memory in my PC (you can see below what I have). Due to some recent issues I discovered I had mismatched memory chips in my system, which I don't understand why...but, oh well. So, I popped out 3 of them so what's left all matches. But, I want to replace all of them to increase total memory...was 9gig, now 6g and I want to make it 16g.

I have 2 questions, are there particular brands better than others, or are all about the same? One place I looked at has 4g Kingston chips...but I don't know one from another on brands. Another has Samsung (or something made by them, they said).

2 - When inserting new chips, does it matter where they go in the memory slots? I have 6 total slots so I could, theoretically go to 24gig...but 16 should be more than sufficient for PT-11 and my needs. Do the chips need to be right next to each other with no empty slots in between, or does it even matter?

Before I popped out the 3 1gig chips it was laid out like this by slot:

1-2g
2-1g
3-2g
4-1g
5-2g
6-1g

Now its: 1-2g, 2-blank, 3-2g etc, with a blank in between each 2g slot.

SHould they all be together?

What other considerations are there for buying chips for PT I need to pay attention to?

Thanks

The dimm slots the ram is placed into is vital. There is no way any of us can know exactly what it should be with your dell. You will have to research that and make sure each channel gets at least 1 stick. I cant tell from your signature what the processor is to know if its a triple or quad channel system. You also need to research for your motherboard what ram is best. They should have some posted info somewhere on what ram is qualified. If not, stay mainstream (ocz, kingston, etc) and find specs close to what is in there. Voltage is of up most importance!!! but 16gb should be plenty, but depending on if its a quad or triple channel will determine if you need a 3 stick or 4 stick set of ram to work best.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by guitardom

The dimm slots the ram is placed into is vital. There is no way any of us can know exactly what it should be with your dell. You will have to research that and make sure each channel gets at least 1 stick. I cant tell from your signature what the processor is to know if its a triple or quad channel system. You also need to research for your motherboard what ram is best. They should have some posted info somewhere on what ram is qualified. If not, stay mainstream (ocz, kingston, etc) and find specs close to what is in there. Voltage is of up most importance!!! but 16gb should be plenty, but depending on if its a quad or triple channel will determine if you need a 3 stick or 4 stick set of ram to work best.

I was afraid it'd be more complicated than just popping old ones out and new ones in. At least I now know Kingston is a reliable brand!

Here's the SISI Sandra if that helps: (I ran this BEFORE I popped out the 3 1gig Samsungs..so now its just the 3 2gig Nanyas all in their original slots.)

I have 2 HD's the C: drive is the WDC 500gig and holds the OS and the programs, etc. The D: drive is the Seagate and is ONLY the PT Session Data.

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : Motif2
User : Donald

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Speed : 2.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 On-board Cache : 8MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 8 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Dell 0X501H
BIOS : Dell A15 02/04/2010
Bus(es) : X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 9GB DIMM DDR3

Chipset
Model : Dell X58 I/O Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz)

Chipset
Model : Intel Core Desktop (Bloomfield) UnCore
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz)
Total Memory : 9GB DIMM DDR3
Channels : 3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 532MHz (1GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Nanya NT2GC64B8HC0NF-CG 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M378B2873FH0-CH9 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Nanya NT2GC64B8HC0NF-CG 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M378B2873FH0-CH9 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Nanya NT2GC64B8HC0NF-CG 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M378B2873FH0-CH9 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 (112 SM4.0 1.5GHz, 1GB DDR3 2x1.1GHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 (112 SM4.0 1.5GHz, 1GB DDR3 2x1.1GHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 (112SP 1.5GHz, 1005.6MB 2x1.1GHz)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5000AAKS-75V0A0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)
Seagate ST3750528AS (750.2GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 699GB (D:)
USB Flash Memory 8GB (USB) : 7GB (G:)
PLDS DVD+/-RW DH-16AAS (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
RECOVERY : 11GB (NTFS)
DATAPART1 (D:) : 699GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST3750528AS (750.2GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
Removable Drive (G:) : 7GB (FAT32) @ USB Flash Memory 8GB (USB)
OS (C:) : 455GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AAKS-75V0A0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Optical Drive (E:) : N/A @ PLDS DVD+/-RW DH-16AAS (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Fintek F71882FG/F71883FG
Audio Device : Dell HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor 888 High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : Dell 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : Dell JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : Dell USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : Dell USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : Dell USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Dell IEEE 1394 Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Peripherals
Media Player : USB Flash Memory (7.45GB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : x64 __________________

[guitardom]

I7 920 is triple channel. You need to purchase your ram in sets of 3, so 3 sticks or 6. aprox 1.65v, and 1366-1600mhz triple channel.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by guitardom

I7 920 is triple channel. You need to purchase your ram in sets of 3, so 3 sticks or 6. aprox 1.65v, and 1366-1600mhz triple channel.

Thanks, that is very helpful to know. So the question is, how to get to 16 gig then? I thought you couldn't mis-match ram sizes with PT without causing issues? Could I do 3 4gigs and 2 2gigs, and leave 1 slot blank? Anything over 16gig would be lost with Win-7 home Prem. I get them all the same brand but I don't want to cause any issues with PT. Thanks! (why is this stuff never easy???!!)

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Thanks, that is very helpful to know. So the question is, how to get to 16 gig then? I thought you couldn't mis-match ram sizes with PT without causing issues? Could I do 3 4gigs and 2 2gigs, and leave 1 slot blank? Anything over 16gig would be lost with Win-7 home Prem. I get them all the same brand but I don't want to cause any issues with PT. Thanks! (why is this stuff never easy???!!)

dont worry about getting exactly 16. just get a number that gets you in your ball park. If you have to go over, no biggie. It is just how the system is designed. it likes 3's.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by guitardom

dont worry about getting exactly 16. just get a number that gets you in your ball park. If you have to go over, no biggie. It is just how the system is designed. it likes 3's.

I wondered about that since there's no mathematical way to get to 16 with 2 sets of 3 matched sticks or 6 sets of matched sticks! Seems like 1 2 4 or 8 gig sticks are the only options. I also read that there are 2 sets of 3 so slots 1-3-5 have to match and slots 2-4-6 have to match. So if I get 3 4gb sticks for 1-3-5 and 3 2gb sticks for 2-4-6, which is 18gig will all that work okay with PT? I ask because of what I read here from Avid (Note that it says it red letters "DIMM sizes can not be mixed sizes." - not sure what that would matter?? Is PT that fussy?) Or should I just get 6 4 gig sticks and lose the extra 8 gig that Win-7 won't see?

After I get new mem installed, will the computer just "see" the new memory, or will I have to change some other configuration in Win-7 or something in order for the computer to have full access to all available memory?

[Craig F]

I like Crucial RAM, they are the retail arm of Micron
http://www.crucial.com/?gclid=CM-Ui-...130728210956:s
they have proper config listings for almost every manufacture so you can ether input your Dells model number or run there system scanner (it very safe to use)

short run:
put the 2 GB sticks in slots 1, 2, 3
put the 1 GB sticks in slots 4, 5, 6

your options best options are 12 GB (6 x 2GB) or 24 GB (6 x 4 GB) of RAM

[albee1952]

My 2 cents only, but I would NOT mix sizes. Either go with 12GB(3x4 or 6x2 sticks) or 24GB(3x8 or 6x4 sticks). If you are concerned about 24GB being too expensive, 12GB is plenty of RAM(I doubt you would notice ANY change between 12GB and 18GB unless you run PT11 with LOTS of VI tracks. And if that IS your usual work, then spending the extra for the full 24GB is probably a wiser move

In any case, if you go with 3 sticks, put them in 3 slots of the same color

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by Craig F

I like Crucial RAM, they are the retail arm of Micron
http://www.crucial.com/?gclid=CM-Ui-...130728210956:s
they have proper config listings for almost every manufacture so you can ether input your Dells model number or run there system scanner (it very safe to use)

short run:
put the 2 GB sticks in slots 1, 2, 3
put the 1 GB sticks in slots 4, 5, 6

your options best options are 12 GB (6 x 2GB) or 24 GB (6 x 4 GB) of RAM

Craig, thanks! I saw the Crucial website and it looked helpful. I popped out the 3 1gigs for now to see if it would solve the issue with the "audio engine underflow" I kept getting and which I got a lot of help with in another thread. I'm virtually certain now that the culprit is actually the MBox2 mini on that issue. But, as long as I was fiddling with the system, I thought "why not upgrade now that 11 is here?" Hence this thread.

I am wondering though why you couldn't do 1 set of 3 4gb and 1 set of 3 2gb? Why would that be an issue for PT?