XPS 8500 memory compatability

Tax is charged...it did drop to 131.99!

Dropped to $94!!!+Tax per 16GB

Has anyone considered the Patriot Intel Extreme Master 32GB kit? They look very well made, and stylish.

The model is PVI332G160C9QK seen on NewEgg here: www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

I figure, Intel chip, Intel memory, should be perfect for the XPS 8500 right? It has similar specs to the Crucial memory (DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800), with the exception of it being Quad Channel--but backwards compatible.

I'm on the fence about them, but might order it this week, it's only $205 for 32GB!

Patriot XMP ... did not work at 1600... I ended up losing $75 in restocking fees. Crucial is 89x2 +tax and ship....should be about the same price but will surely work. Its also runs cooler at 1.35 and saves electricity.

Dell XPS 8500 | Win 7 Enterprise 64 bit | Intel Core i7 3770 @ 3400mhz

32GB Crucial DDR3 1600mhz @ 1.35V | SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III

Seagate 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM | NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 1GB GDDR5

Dell XPS 8500 | Win 8 pro 64 bit |3rd gen Intel Core i5 3350p  @ 3200mhz

32GB Kingston Hyper X Black DDR3 1600mhz @ 4x8 |     

Seagate 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM |

 NVIDIA EVGA GTX 650ti 1GB GDDR5

Windows Assessment Score 7.4 overall

No complaints with this PC

uses:

 Music Recording

Photo Editing

Gaming

Rodzilla2233, have you confirmed in your bios your Hyper X is performing at 1600 vs. 1333?  I have read elsewhere that Hyper X memory is like Corsair Vengeance and is shipped clocked to 1333 (which cannot be changed by the XPS 8500 system/BIOS).

However, I have found several "value" mem cards that supposedly work:

www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

I have this set on order and hope to confirm it functions at 1600.... Based on much research, I plan to utilize the existing OEM 2 x 4GB cards in one pair of slots and then 2 x 8GB in the other pair of slots for a total of 24GB.  Both sets are 11-11-11  latency (11CL), which causes a 1% - 2% performance disadvantage vs. "performance" 9CL (that seems to have this 1333 vs. 1600 issue anyway)... not enough for me to worry about.  I was originally obsessed with trying to get 32GB RAM but after further research, I really think I will have a tough time trying to stress 24GB RAM... and if I do, I'll pull the trigger on another set of 8GB cards down the road.  

Key point: just because your RAM says 1600 and is recognized by the system, does not mean  that is how it performs in an XPS 8500 system, in fact very few RAM styles actually fill the need.

Relative to RAM, Vengeance has 9-9-9 latency and the value RAM has 11-11-11 latency so the Performance RAM provides ~1% RAM performance benefit from a latency perspective, however sacrificing 1600 speed for 1333 speed provides a ~16% RAM performance detriment.  In the real world, probably neither is noticeable and I would speculate a couple of seconds of difference a day.  

I have an i7 and use a wireless Microsoft keyboard and from time to time my system binds up for no obvious reason and I get a couple seconds keyboard lag... not sure what is causing it.  Not enough to be frustrating but enough to be annoying when it does happen.  It is likely my keyboard... or my home server... or my external backup drive... or the front USB3 port I use (I switch the keyboard USB receiver daily between home and work computer and share the monitor - same issue with the USB 2 on top)... who knows?

I've debated on a PSU/GPU upgrade but I photo edit and do not play video games. A PSU/GPU upgrade, from the best I can tell is only necessary for gaming, so I think I'll stay away as I have had absolutely no screen issues with my photo editing software or web based usage like You Tube, etc... .    I have read the i5 is ideal for gaming because with current gaming software, not all the cores are used on an i7.  The i7 starts to shine with many applications open with several executing at the same time.

If you have not done it, I highly recommend adding a Samsung 256GB 840pro SSD (much faster than the 120GB version) to place your OS and applications and then divert your data to your HDD.  My boot times went from 20 sec. to under 10 sec. and everything else is much snappier.  An equally big benefit is how quiet the machine is... I forget I manly work off the SSD and then when I start to save photos I hear my 2TB HDD start to spin up.  It is so much louder.

I just tried to upgrade my XPS8500 that had 4X 4Gb bars with 4 x 8Gb bars.

I ran a crucial memory examiner and it said I needed UDIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3-12800) so I bought the memory. I got it the other day and installed them all 4. Immediately I got the 4 beeps warning from the motherboard. Ugh. I took them all out and tried One-at-a-time and every time I got the 4 beeps. 

I grabbed my old ram and put it back in and it runs fine. 

Is there some other consideration regarding upgrading my ram I am not seeing? 

Thanks Rodzilla,

I am apparently more novice than you think since I have no clue what you are saying. LOL

Are you saying I need to replace the motherboard?  What is A05? Thanks for taking time to respond.

Need 11-11-11 latency for RAM else it may not work properly.

Stock mother board. I had A05 but upgraded to the new specified bios that recently came out a month ago. Works great. I've ling since taken out my 780. Great card. Put the Titan black in the stock mother board now. The gaming is just stunning. No issues plug and play

I honestly don't like crucial memory in anything I have tried them in. I prefer and always use Kingston hyper x black in my dell xps 8500. It runs great never any problems and shows I have 32 gigs of ram installed. Just great reliability . I bit more expensive the most but you get what you pay for .

Hope that helps

Thanks Rodzilla, I am apparently more novice than you think since I have no clue what you are saying. LOL Are you saying I need to replace the motherboard?  What is A05? Thanks for taking time to respond.

A05 is a version of BIOS. If you don't have the latest version installed (A12), you might consider updating it, but be sure to do it with the old -working- RAM. And read/follow the instructions carefully.

You can try this before  doing a BIOS update:

1. Reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup. Copy down all the current settings
2. Power off and unplug
3. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
4. Open case and remove motherboard battery
5. Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
6. Install new RAM in all slots
7. Reinstall the battery (right-side-up!)
8. See if it will boot now with only mouse, monitor and keyboard connected.

NOTE: Assuming it now boots with the new RAM, reboot and open BIOS setup again. Make sure all the settings match what you copied or change to match. And be sure to save the changes when you exit BIOS setup.