Having trouble with information not matching between Datasheets, lookup sites, and the manufacturers website to make a purchase.
Having trouble with information not matching between Datasheets, lookup sites, and the manufacturers website to make a purchase.
Trying to max out a pc I inherited to give to another family member but having problems trying to confirm what memory I should purchase and trying to work my way through it but just need some clarifications or maybe I'm missing something. (trying to make this purchase and "finish" this pc to it's max capabilities before prices start to spike)
The pc in question is the HP 280 G3 Microtower. Originally I got the tag FX-ISL-4 off of the MoBo but couldn't find specs so with CPU-X it pulled up a HP 8350 (1) MoBo that I could get specs from (am I missing the 8350 on the board or is cpu-x style programs the only way to get the info?). H110 intel chipset LPC/eSPI controller.
Has an Intel Core i3-7100 (2) with integrated Intel Mesa HD Graphics 630.
Currently it's running 2 - 4GB ddr4-2400Mhz. This all started with trying to figure out the right CAS latency to get as a site listed different ones and I wanted to make sure the more-expensive/low-latency one would even be worth it or would be reduced and ineffective to get the better one. All of the sites also suggest a 32GB kit with 2 - 16GB ddr4-2400/2666/3200 (newegg,kingston,crucial) with the CAS Latency all over the place (I know it's a formula, gonna have to go back and refresh my mind on that I think).
When I ran into the Mobo datasheet (1) it states "Supports up to PC4-21300 (DDR4 2666), Supports 4 GB and 8 GB DDR4 UDIMMs" (making only 16gb total possible). The cpu (2) says ddr4 with "Rated Speed: 2400 MT/s" making all of the other ram recommendations overpowered.
I know from a previous Mac Book pro upgrade the manufacturer specified only 8gb but you could actually install 16gb with updates and changes. I can't find any documentation or articles but the memory sites are very adamant I can install 32GB worth on the HP and I'm very tempted to pull the trigger on that with the lowest CL I can find.
Any suggestions or steps I'm doing wrong? Really want to be confident with identifying my parts, understanding the specs and interactions, and being able to be confident that the parts are compatible. I have a bunch of others I've been staring at to work on similarly but I always hesitate, helps when it's not going to be your computer to actually do the thing.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/97455/intel-core-i37100-processor-3m-cache-3-90-ghz/specifications.html
It says it supports 64GB @2400MT. Now, I would suggest simply a better CPU than an 8 year old dual core and adding an SSD before thinking of maximum RAM support.
Thanks for the official cpu link, it's annoying how buried some of those pages are and usually end up on a consumer site for the information.
Already upgraded to SSD, tend to always do that first and reserve all the spare HDD's for network back-up use (I honestly see very little difference in the drive types besides boot-up and maybe some specific tasks like transfers but it's everyone's bread and butter for upgrades so I just go with it).
Looking at several different CPU's for a couple of devices I have so it's been added to the list (who knew ebay was the best place for prices on cpu's?, just gotta vet the vendor a bit more before sending the funds I suppose). I'm actually quite pleased with the cpu for now with this use case, a particular game that prefers smaller core count with higher frequency and a lot of websurfing (they're also a tab fiend, it's horrible). Not including ones with overclocking it's one of the best "older cpus" I've got so far. I have a long list of testing I plan on doing this winter and will probably borrow it back for a bit to throw it in the lot and see what's bottlenecking for curiosity sake at the minimum.
Ok, here's my current problem/confusion that's not making any sense.
Supported:
CPU: 64 GB DDR4-2133/2400, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V (Memory Channels: 2)
Chipset: DIMMs per channel 1, ECC Memory: NO
MotherBoard: Supports up to PC4-21300 (DDR4 2666), Supports 4 GB and 8 GB DDR4 UDIMMs (Dual/2 channel memory architecture)
So the CPU limits the ddr4 to 2400 instead of the 2666 the Mobo can handle (might get 2666 incase the cpu does get switched out). The mobo limits the 64GB ram cpu max because it only supports 8gb with 2 channels (only 1 dimm per channel) meaning max 16gb? dmidecode lists in Physical Memory Array, Maximum Capacity: 32 GB. Is that per channel? I'm assuming it's not and is a total since the memory sites also want to sell a 32GB kit with 2 - 16GB sticks. Why is intel, like apple I ran into before, limiting the specifications on their hardware datasheet's when you can actually use more? Which should I consider a true indicator and which is misinformation? The retailers for hardware of course have an incentive to sell a more expensive product but the manufacturers are not promoting the full available specs because... I have no clue.
I get this is getting closer to the sillier and pedantic side now for an older machine, again I just want to be confident in my knowledge and have full considerations available to me when making a decision even if I'm not min-maxing the device.
You are overthinking this way too much. But there is also practical things you should consider before getting too deep on the spec sheets.
How much RAM do you realistically need? If it is just a regular PC for browsing, multimedia and office tasks, then you don't need much. If you don't know how much memory you need, you probably don't need more than 16GB. So get a 2x8 kit, to use both channels.
The higher you go in capacity the harder it is on the memory controller. Dual rank (not channel) DIMMs (the higher capacity ones) won't run at the same speeds as a single rank kit for example.
The MOBO QVLs aren't exhaustive, it's only the list of parts they have verified. In case of memory, they tend to be conservative and also subject to BIOS revisions, so check those too. (Although, this is a very locked down CPU, so you can't go above its spec anyway.)
Similarly for the CPU support, HP only lists the ones that they sell, but other chips with the same socket and architecture will 99% work (assuming you stay within the 65W power envelope). If you want to be absolutely sure (as the could always BIOS lock different CPUs theoretically), stick to the ones they list.
If you just want a project PC to tinker with, you can pick up bare bones X99 systems on aliexpress with Xeon E5 2650 V4 CPUs, 16GB RAM for dirt cheap, like 60 euros.