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XPS 15 9550 Upgrading Parts
I just ordered a XPS 15 9550 with a Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB+32GD SSD and Gefore GTX 960 2GB. As I would want to use it for gaming as well as work, here are the upgrades I had in mind:
RAM: add another 8GB (from Dell store it's ~$75)
SSD: upgrade to 256GB (from Amazon ~ $125)
Graphics Card: either 970 or 1060 (from Amazon ~$350-500)
I"ve never done parts upgrading before, so my question is what do I need to consider when making these purchases (like not every RAM 8GB I find can be used in a laptop, etc.) . Are there specific things I need to look out for when buying these as far as dimensions and compatibility?
The sales agent assured me I can upgrade these, but honestly I can't really trust their knowledge on these things.
Please let me know your thoughts, I can still cancel the order if I can't make these upgrades which are important to me. Thanks!
ejn63
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September 11th, 2016 07:00
The 8G you have now is probably 2X4 -- so to upgrade you'll get 12G if you replace one 4 with an 8.
You're probably not going to find any PCIe M.2 SSDs worth buying for $125 -- it'll be more on the order of $175-200 for a decent (Samsung, Intel, Crucial, Sandisk) M.2 PCIe SSD.
ejn63
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September 11th, 2016 13:00
The GPU cannot be upgraded, at least not internally. It's a chip soldered to the system board. There is no place inside the system for a video card (though there are now some external video adapters you can use, they effectively turn your system into a portable desktop - you'd need to haul around an external box and monitor with the system.
The only remaining notebooks with true video cards are the very high end Precision and Alienware workstation-class systems - most of them 17" and larger now. The same is true for systems from every other manufacturer.
nucksman
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September 11th, 2016 11:00
ok good to know. But as far as the upgrades getting done, I can do all 3 (you didn't mention the graphics card) just it'll be more expensive.
nucksman
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September 25th, 2016 18:00
thanks for the quick reply! unfortunately, being from canada, we don't have access to all the options at good prices. another one i found that's cheaper and ships to canada is this: Samsung 850 EVO - 500GB - M.2 SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-N5E500BW)
www.amazon.ca/.../B00TGIW1XG
i'm assuming the one you linked is better performing considering the higher price. is it worth the extra money or should i stick with the one I just mentioned?
nucksman
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September 25th, 2016 18:00
So I finally received my laptop, will upgrade the RAM and leave GPU as is (since I can't upgrade), but for the hard drive, I've been looking at options and one thing is to remove the 32GB SSD and upgrade it, but also I can get a PCIe M.2 as you mentioned. The one I was recommended is a Samsung 850 EVO MZ-75E500 - Solid state drive - 500 GB. It's for around $200.
My issue is that I haven't been able to find how I'm supposed to upgrade that (where does this go since it doesn't replace the 32GB SSD). It doesn't look the same as the 32GB SSD drive so I'm assuming it goes somewhere else?
ejn63
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September 25th, 2016 18:00
That's a 2.5" drive - it would have to go in place of the hard drive in the system. If you want to replace the 32G drive, you'll need this:
www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx
ejn63
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September 25th, 2016 19:00
I don't think the 9550 will take an M.2 mSATA drive - it needs to be PCI express. If you're looking to save some money, look toward the new Intel 600p series M.2 SSDs.
nucksman
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September 26th, 2016 10:00
I don't know the technical side of it, but going with the explanation in this reddit thread that someone did. hopefully it works since the exact same thing apparently worked out here:
www.reddit.com/.../