Possible upgrades for Dell Inspiron SE 17r 7720?

1.  Yes.  RAID, only with mSATA + hard drive.

2.  Yes.

3.  Yes

4.  No.

5.  Officially 8G but some report 16G will work.

@ejn63:  For your third response, is that a yes in that I can upgrade my processor or a yes in that I can overclock it?  Or can I do both?

with the stuff you want to be able to do to keep your computer future proof you might be better off building your own desktop system........

Hi Dao88,

Dell Inspiron 7720/17R-SE does not support RAID 0 or RAID 1.

The Intel RST is a type of RAID technology which works with the ‘mSATA’ SSD so that it can be used for Caching so that it can store more actively used applications and programs.

Please let me know if this helps.

I have upgraded my 8gig to 16 and have not had a problem.  I also have replaced my primary hdd with an M4 512 crucial SSD and see much improvement, I hope to install an mSATA 64gb crucial next week with the 1tb 5400 rpm running win8 to see if/how it works.  I got win8 pre-installed on this 3630qm I7(no 3D), but backed it to win7 because of the already installed software packs I had.  Win 8 looks like its not too bad, we'll see.

I have upgraded my 8gig to 16 and have not had a problem.  I also have replaced my primary hdd with an M4 512 crucial SSD and see much improvement, I hope to install an mSATA 64gb crucial next week with the 1tb 5400 rpm running win8 to see if/how it works.  I got win8 pre-installed on this 3630qm I7(no 3D), but backed it to win7 because of the already installed software packs I had.  Win 8 looks like its not too bad, we'll see.

TechnoME,

Can you tell us the result of adding 64GB mSATA SSD into your Inspiron 7720 SE? Was it successful or not?

After I received it, installed it, installed software for it etc...  I was able to access it, write to it, and all BUT it was NOT able to speed up the system.

REARCH indicated that the software will NOT work if there is a backup/reinstall/factory default restore partition on the hard drive.  Since I moved the system to a 500 GB SATA SSD it was not needed and would have had no function anyway.  So I left it at that.  Not a lot of bang for the bucks.

TechnoMe

That is informative, tank you.

The system won't work with an mSATA drive over 32G and 8G of RAM if you intend to use the Intel caching software.  

If you didn't get the system with an mSATA drive, it won't have the connector for one - you'd need to order the daughterboard from Dell (the drive itself isn't proprietary).

If performance is your goal, get a standard 2.5" SSD to run the OS and use your 1T drive for storage.  You will need a carrier for the second drive (like the daughterboard, it's also proprietary).  If you don't want to spend that much, replace the hard drive with a Seagate Momentus hybrid drive (has a built in SSD  cache) and likewise use the existing hard drive for storage.

hi im tom. i just got a Dell 17r 7720 SE for christmas. it has the 8gb ram & 1TB regular hard drive so not the one with the 32gb mSata hybrid drive. I am pretty into computers and im the type that love more power even though i dont need it. saying that ill be ordering 2x8gb ram 1600mhz to upgrade & hopefully work, but im also wanting to install some sort of second hdd or ssd but im thinking now that what i would like to do is upgrade & get a 1TB hybrid drive with a mSata 32gb ssd as the cache and primary drive and use my existing 1TB hdd as a secondary. my question is, how large of a mSata ssd can i buy i want the biggest i can get so how large do they come only upto 32gb or do they go upto something like 128gb ssd with the 1tb hdd part? ive seen the 32gb ssd option but havent seen bigger ones does anyone know where to look fpr larger that u could direct me in? pluz do i need any sort of additional bracket from dell to install the new drive or what?

That os exactly what i want yo do is use intel software for cacheing. And yes i want to move my current 1TB hdd to make it the secondary drive & use for storage then get another 1TB hdd that is a hybrid so it has the 32gb ssd built into it for the Intel caching use to speed up my system, so in total ill have 2TB worth of hdd plus the 32gb ssd that is used as the cache and built into the new 1tb hybrid drive. Is there a certain hybrid drive i need to get or can it be any 1tb hybrid with 32gb ssd? Plus u say i need to buy the daughter board what is that, is that a new motherboard your sayong or are u saying a bracket? & could u either provide a link for the bracket or whatever i need or direct me in to the right place i need to be to get it? Thank you for your help. And i know ppl have upgraded ram to 16gb even though dell says the system will only handle 8gb ram, so im gonna take my chances and try out ghe 16gb upgrade but when i do, do i just need to look for any regular laptop ram thats 1600mhz or do i need a specific type? Are there any other options that are fairly inexpensove to do for upgrades? Is it possible to get a backlit keyboard from dell or a 3rd party company?

Given all the upgrades you want, you probably should consider returning the system for replacement.

What you cannot do:

Use an mSATA SSD over 32G or over 8G of RAM if you want to use the caching scheme.  Yes, there are those who've added 16 G, but you can't do it with caching.

If you plan to keep the system,  replace the main hard drive with an SSD (a good 256G SSD is under $200 now), forget the caching (which pales in comparison to any native SSD), and if you want, upgrade to 16 G.  Use your 1T drive as storage, uncached.

You'll need to decide where you want to compromise, because you can't have caching, 16G or a larger mSATA drive together.