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Memory upgrade fiasco thanks to Dell's unwillingness to provide the necessary compatibility information
I just received a new Dell Precision T1700 small form-factor (SFF) workstation, as well as 4 memory sticks for a memory upgrade (bought separately, from a non-Dell vendor).
Upon opening the computer's case I discovered that there is almost certainly not enough clearance for the new memory sticks. (The memory sticks that are in there just barely fit–no leeway left at all, and these sticks are visibly much narrower than the sticks I had planned to replace them with.)
I am fuming over this, because I went to great lengths to get confirmation from Dell about the feasibility of the memory upgrade I had in mind (including all the manufacturer and model number of the memory I was planning to use). Everyone I talked to at Dell about this just passed the buck, until finally, after many phone calls, one person finally said that it would be fine.
My questions now are:
1. How common is it that a memory upgrade is impossible for lack of physical clearance (i.e. the width of the stick is greater than space available between the memory slot and some other component; in this case I believe it's the hard disk)?
2. Since I expect that I will have to return this machine to Dell, and go back to shopping for another computer: how can I prevent this fiasco from happening again? My experience with Dell is that it is basically impossible to get the information necessary to prevent this sort of incompatibility. (The information that I eventually got, after hours on the phone, was wrong.)
Granted, I understand that the insides of a small form-factor machine are going to be cramped, but for that very reason I expect the manufacturer to be very forthcoming and precise about the space constraints on any projected upgrade. In this last respect Dell failed miserably: the specs for this machine give absolutely no indication of size constraints for upgrades. Without this critical information, the rest of the technical specs are grossly misleading.
rdunnill
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February 20th, 2015 22:00
I had a problem like this with my OptiPlex 9010 SFF: memory sticks with heat spreaders would not clear the drive cage. Non-shielded sticks from the same vendor did clear.
Edit: It may be that the T1700 and the 9010 SFF share the same chassis.
kirkd
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February 20th, 2015 23:00
You can usually get compatible memory for any specific Dell from them. The better memory suppliers, such as Crucial, will show you what memory is compatible before you order.You can not go in blind to buy memory. There are too many potential incompatibilities, including size, capacity, timings and rank. In the early days, the only significant variable was number of pins!
eternalozzie
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February 21st, 2015 09:00
you should have looked in your case ... then ordered ... the reason you got the "pass the buck" treatment is because they are not going to have measurements of clearance inside the case for parts ... the tech support people have no way of knowing that info.
never order ram with silly heat sinks on them ... it's a gimmick to get gamers to spend more on ram ...
if you do some hunting there are also some lower profile ram sticks out there also.
kirkd
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February 21st, 2015 11:00
Yeah, heat spreaders can be a problem, especially in a smaller box.Even without spreaders, in some machines, there's hardly enough room to insert a regular module and have enough room to push them into the locked position; and I don't have fat fingers!!!
rdunnill
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February 21st, 2015 11:00
Yes. As for compatibility, the first memory I bought for my 9010 was compatible in that it functioned, but the heat spreaders made it too tall to fit.
Philip_Yip
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February 22nd, 2015 01:00
You should have posted on the forum for assistance before buying the memory. As mentioned you are better to use a vendor such as Crucial which guarantee compatibility:
http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/precision-workstation-t1700-%28mt--sff%29
Dan-H
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February 22nd, 2015 08:00
I get the frustration, however I don't see Dell improving in this area. They are selling turn-key systems with some known upgrades and beyond that the user community is your best bet.
I guess that is an option, but if you like the workstation, just return the memory or sell it on eBay and buy memory that fits.
Since it is a workstation, does it need ECC memory? if so make sure to get that.
Also pay close attention to the memory CAS latency and the sub timings (eg CAS 9 ( 9-9-9-24) or more likely CAS 11 (11-11-11-28). If the memory timings are off the system may not POST or the system may downclock the memory to 1333Mhz.