XPS 8930, memory upgrade questions, #4

Why not keep the 2x 8GB you already have and just add another 2x 8GB? As long as the 2 modules installed in slots with the same color clips are a matched pair, it shouldn't matter if you mix old and new pairs.

But...

1. If you keep the old RAM, make sure the new RAM is the same (or faster) speed than the old because the system will run at the speed of the slowest installed RAM.
2. I cannot guarantee the RAM you mentioned is compatible with this system.
3. Do you have an SSD drive in this PC? Upgrading to an SSD as the boot drive could give you better/faster responses, and might be less expensive than the RAM you mentioned. If your current boot drive is a HDD, you can migrate Windows to the SSD and then wipe and use the HDD as extra storage space.

Many peeps around here buy RAM from crucial.com because if they recommend it for a specific PC model, they guarantee it works or they take it back.

Thanks Ron. I'm 99 percent certain I responded to you about an hour ago, but I don't see my reply anywhere.

1. I don't want to take the risk of mixed/matched kits. I would rather get a 32GB kit and keep the original 16GB on standby should I ever need it.
   
   
2. Could you please elaborate on this? The Corsair kit linked matches the type, speed, latency, voltage and is compatible with the Intel 300 series chipset used in the XPS 8930. 
   
   The only thing I've been unable to confirm is whether the timings are an exact match or not.
   
   
3. Yes*, my system came with a 512GB SSD + 2GB HDD. 
   
   *I don't want to get off subject, however I do suspect something pertaining to the SSD configuration/caching could potentially be playing in a factor in the responsiveness. One really glaring example of this machine performing less than optimally, given its horsepower, is browser performance. Edge, Chrome, Firefox makes no difference. Pages are slow'ish to load and the icon continues to spin for 4-6s on all pages. It's being fed via ethernet with a consistent speedof.me of 10ms /112 down / 12 up.

I will take a look at the crucial.com sets when I get a chance. I came to the Corsair based on extensive reviews. That kit seems to be the hot ticket in town right now.

EDIT:  I just noticed you did not address the question pertaining the XPS 8930 BIOS. Do you know if my BIOS is capable of setting / toggling these built-in XMP Profiles?

1. It's your money to spend. I personally wouldn't have any concerns about having different, but matched pairs of RAM modules installed.

2. Sometimes, even when the specs are a match, RAM may not be compatible with a PC model. So -unlike Crucial- I can't guarantee the RAM you listed will work. You might search these forums to see if anyone has mentioned using that specific RAM in the XPS 8930. 

3. Have you confirmed the OS is actually loaded on the SSD and not on the HDD? There have been instances where the OS was installed on the wrong drive...

4. I don't see any mention of XMP profile settings in BIOS, based on the BIOS options listed in the Service Manual, unless it's listed as a Performance Option that's not shown in the manual. So again, search these forums for threads on that topic. My guess is XMP isn't supported on this motherboard. (Hot Ticket = Expensive!)

5. Do you have the latest versions of BIOS, chipsets, and Ethernet drivers, any of which might impact network performance? They can be downloaded from the Support page. How much unnecessary junk is running in the background that can be disabled? What antiviral app are you using? Some -like McAfee- can really hurt performance. You might open Device Manager to see what process is hogging CPU time when you're downloading pages from the net (not counting System Idle process). That might point you at the problem.

EDIT: Chris types faster than I do. And as I guessed, XMP isn't supported...

Your two Dell OEM 8GB sticks Y7N41 = 8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz, 1Gx64, Unbuffered, 288 pin, Single Rank, 1.2v, Non-ECC

These were the Y7N41 8GB memory stick from different vendors that Dell used on the XPS 8930. So you could buy two of these to match the two in there.
Hynix HMA81GU6CJR8N-VK
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6E1
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6H1
Samsung M378A1K43CB2-CTD

The BIOS only has overclocking for the CPU.

For my notes, send me via Private Message the service tag number.

---

@DELL-Chris Mwrote:

 

Your two Dell OEM 8GB sticks Y7N41 = 8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz, 1Gx64, Unbuffered, 288 pin, Single Rank, 1.2v, Non-ECC

These were the Y7N41 8GB memory stick from different vendors that Dell used on the XPS 8930. So you could buy two of these to match the two in there.
Hynix HMA81GU6CJR8N-VK
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6E1
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6H1
Samsung M378A1K43CB2-CTD

The BIOS only has overclocking for the CPU.

For my notes, send me via Private Message the service tag number.

---

Thanks for the information, Chris. I'm at the office now, but will PM you the service tag when I get home this evening. 

Last night I installed CPUID and was in the process of installing HWMonitor before getting distracted and ultimately falling asleep, so I should have updated and more precise system info to work this when I get home.

---

@RoHewrote:

1. It's your money to spend. I personally wouldn't have any concerns about having different, but matched pairs of RAM modules installed.

2. Sometimes, even when the specs are a match, RAM may not be compatible with a PC model. So -unlike Crucial- I can't guarantee the RAM you listed will work. You might search these forums to see if anyone has mentioned using that specific RAM in the XPS 8930. 

3. Have you confirmed the OS is actually loaded on the SSD and not on the HDD? There have been instances where the OS was installed on the wrong drive...

4. I don't see any mention of XMP profile settings in BIOS, based on the BIOS options listed in the Service Manual, unless it's listed as a Performance Option that's not shown in the manual. So again, search these forums for threads on that topic. My guess is XMP isn't supported on this motherboard. (Hot Ticket = Expensive!)

5. Do you have the latest versions of BIOS, chipsets, and Ethernet drivers, any of which might impact network performance? They can be downloaded from the Support page. How much unnecessary junk is running in the background that can be disabled? What antiviral app are you using? Some -like McAfee- can really hurt performance. You might open Device Manager to see what process is hogging CPU time when you're downloading pages from the net (not counting System Idle process). That might point you at the problem.

EDIT: Chris types faster than I do. And as I guessed, XMP isn't supported...

---

Thanks again - you're kicking out some great info.

1) We'll see. Once I can get detailed info on the exact RAM my machine is running, I may look to get a matching set and save some money. Thing is, crucial.com memory is every bit as expensive as the raved over Corsair Vengence. However, buying 16GB costs less than 32GB. No getting around that.

2) Gotcha - will do.

3) I did, yes. The OS is indeed loaded on the SSD, however while my research of the system build is incomplete, I have noticed a few quirky things. For one, the data drive (2TB HDD) is Disk0 when the OS drive (SSD) is using Disk1. That seems backwards, but perhaps I'm mistaken. Also, the DIMMS in use are 3 & 4, rather than 1 & 2.

4) Thanks for the research. Usually hot ticket does indeed equal expensive, but in this instance DDR4 is just straight up expensive - period. The hot ticket Corsair Vengence is virtually the same price (if not less) than the standard kits on Crucial.com.

5) This is a great question and something I am yet to fully address. I have yet to check if my BIOS, chipsets, and Ethernet drivers are all up-to-date. This is definitely on the to-do list. I have uninstalled a ton of bloatware and disabled numerous programs in start-up. In that sense, I'm running pretty lean.

Question: back in the day, updating BIOS firmware, chipset drivers, etc could be a risky venture. It's been some time since I've immersed myself in all this, but is updating BIOS & chipset a relatively safe procedure? Or should I make sure to have a full system image backup prior to updating them?

#5, OK, this is just my opinion, not Dells.

I got my Alienware Area-51 R2 in March 2016. It had BIOS A03. Over the years, Dell has released six BIOS updates. Because I never had any issues, I never updated the BIOS. In March 2018, they released a BIOS for possible (but never actual proven cases) meltdown/spectre thing. At that point, I installed each BIOS in order. So, if you see an XPS 8930 BIOS that states it actually corrects an issue, I would consider installing them oldest to newest. If they do not actually correct an issue, then I would not.

---

@RoHewrote:

1. I have 2 Samsung and 2 Crucial RAM modules in my Dell desktop. Each brand is its own matched pair and the two pairs have played nicely for a long time.

3. I've seen other posts saying the SSD with the OS on it is Disk1 and the data HDD is Disk0. Don't think it's a problem, AFAIK.

4. So just add two more...

5. You might want to read some of the threads about questions related to the latest BIOS update that fixes Meltdown/Spectre on this model before updating to that version. But updating chipsets is simply software, unlike BIOS updates which are firmware updates, so there should be no issues updating chipsets or any other drivers, eg Ethernet, video, etc.

---

1) Good to know. I'm not rolling in the dough right now, so that may very well be the route I go.

3) I came across this and while I don't understand half of it, it's making me more ~concerned~ for lack of a better word about the SSD configuration/software being behind the sluggish performance. 

https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops-General/D-Drive-is-drive-0-C-drive-is-drive-1-How-to-change/m-p/5174706/highlight/true#M1029954

5) I will definitely will do that. I see where the 3rd release of the BIOS covered a host a fixes. I'm hoping when I get home I find out that my system already has Version 1.0.7 installed, but it's likely on original release.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=W9MGX

1. I have 2 Samsung and 2 Crucial RAM modules in my Dell desktop. Each brand is its own matched pair and the two pairs have played nicely for a long time.

3. I've seen other posts saying the SSD with the OS on it is Disk1 and the data HDD is Disk0. Don't think it's a problem, AFAIK.

4. So just add two more...

5. You might want to read some of the threads about questions related to the latest BIOS update that fixes Meltdown/Spectre on this model before updating to that version. But updating chipsets is simply software, unlike BIOS updates which are firmware updates, so there should be no issues updating chipsets or any other drivers, eg Ethernet, video, etc.

Since SSDs don't "spin up", I can't see the HDD being ready faster. I presume the SSD is connected to SATA0 on the motherboard and the HDD is connected to SATA1.

@DELL-Chris M wrote:

 

Your two Dell OEM 8GB sticks Y7N41 = 8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz, 1Gx64, Unbuffered, 288 pin, Single Rank, 1.2v, Non-ECC

These were the Y7N41 8GB memory stick from different vendors that Dell used on the XPS 8930. So you could buy two of these to match the two in there.
Hynix HMA81GU6CJR8N-VK 
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6E1 
Micron MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G6H1 
Samsung M378A1K43CB2-CTD

The BIOS only has overclocking for the CPU.

For my notes, send me via Private Message the service tag number.

I got locked out of logging in for a few days, but I'm back.

EDIT:  How do I PM you, btw? I can't seem to figure out how to send you a PM. 

Below is my system info from CPUID. I'm running the latest drivers and am on BIOS 1.07, so I dodged a bullet there. It wants me to update to 1.09, but no thanks. 

As for the RAM, after some research I was able to determine the kit used is the Hynix HMA81GU6CJR8N-VK you listed first. It has some very relaxed timings, as you can see on the link above:

2666 19-19-19-43

It's also very expensive. $220 for 16GB. This fact has motivated to pull the trigger on the Corsair, since I can get 32GB for $350, with notably tighter timings. Corsair offers a virtually identical kit with even more aggressive timings, but I've decided to err on the side of caution and go with the set below.

2666 16-18-18-35

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) Desktop Memory Model CMK16GX4M2Z2666C16

Tech specs from Corsair website.

EDIT: One question. If you were me, would you get 32GB (16GB x 2) or 32GB (8GB x 4)? Is either likely to jive better with the board, or does it make any difference at all? 

I'll report in once I have it installed to confirm how well - or not - it works with my system.

I have more questions, but need to get back to work. 

EDIT: One question. If you were me, would you get 32GB (16GB x 2) or 32GB (8GB x 4)? Is either likely to jive better with the board, or does it make any difference at all? 

I would go with (16GB x 2). It leaves me with two slots in which I could put the original RAM or expand later.

---

@Vic384wrote:

EDIT: One question. If you were me, would you get 32GB (16GB x 2) or 32GB (8GB x 4)? Is either likely to jive better with the board, or does it make any difference at all? 

I would go with (16GB x 2). It leaves me with two slots in which I could put the original RAM or expand later.

---

Be careful about RAM configurations that are supported by this model. If you use 2x 16 GB (=32 GB), the only higher supported config listed in the manual is 64 GB. Adding new 2x 16 GB to your original 2x 8 GB would give you 48 GB total, which doesn't appear to be supported. 

And I don't know if 2x 16 GB is supported vs 4x 8 GB. I vaguely seem to remember that @DELL-Chris M posted an expanded table of RAM configs supported by the XPS 8930, but I can't find it. Maybe Chris can weigh in on this topic here before you go too far.

You are right to be cautious about supported memory configurations but I can only say that in the case of the XPS 8910 not all working memory configurations are listed in the manual. In fact, my computer came with a memory configuration that was not listed and the current memory configuration (16 GB x 2) is also not listed but both work fine.

Although not tested by Dell or listed in the manuals or specifications, another Forum XPS 8930 customer confirmed that 48GB worked;

White DIMM 1 16GB, White DIMM 2 16GB, Black DIMM 3 8GB, Black DIMM 4 8GB