Adding more RAM ???

[BuckSkin]

My machine, DELL Optiplex 780 MiniTower, currently has 8GB RAM with 16GB capability.
From the manual:
Memory: four 240-pin connectors

Memory
Type DDR3 SDRAM (non-ECC memory only)
Speed 1067 MHz
Connectors four
Capacity 1 GB, 2 GB or 4 GB non-ECC
Minimum memory 1 GB
Maximum memory 16 GB

It has been a while since I had the cover off (requires an act of congress and no fear of spiders), but I think it has two 4GB cards with two empty spaces.

1. If it does, in fact, have two 4GB cards, must any new RAM I install be identical make/model of that which is already installed ?

2. Must it be DDR3 SDRAM non-ECC ?

3. Is there any means of discerning the make/model details of the installed memory, and whether it is two 4GB and not four 2GB without actually removing the cover and looking at it ?

4. Will this extra 8GB be worth all the time, effort, and expense ?

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

 

[flavallee]

Before I re-did and donated them, I owned several Dell OptiPlex 780 Mini Tower desktops.

They had an Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33 GHz processor - which is the fastest one it supports.

They also had 8 GB(2 GB x 4) of DDR3-1066 RAM.

Increasing the amount to 16 GB(4 GB x 4) didn't improve speed or performance.

You didn't say which processor is in yours, but it should be fine with 8 GB(4 GB x 2 or 2 GB x 4).

I honestly don't believe it's worth the effort and expense on your part.

 

[BuckSkin]

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33 GHz processor -------

I honestly don't believe it's worth the effort and expense on your part.

All of mine have that same processor.

Thanks for your experienced opinion on adding the extra RAM.

We really like our 780s and they have thus far done everything we have asked of them.

I often have half-a-dozen image editing programs open with more than one processing something at the same time; they handle it, but sometimes things don't happen as immediate as I could wish for.

What did you replace your 780s with ?

 

[strollin]

Crucial.com has a utility that will discern what you have in your machine and answers your questions regarding what RAM you have. They will offer to sell you guaranteed compatible RAM (no requirement to buy).

As to whether adding more RAM will be worth the effort, it all depends upon what you do with your machine. My personal machine has 16GB of RAM and the only way I can utilize more than 8GB of it is to run VMs (Virtual Machines). Adding more RAM does not magically speed up your machine but allows you to run more concurrent applications.

 

[BuckSkin]

Crucial.com has a utility that will discern what you have in your machine and answers your questions regarding what RAM you have. They will offer to sell you guaranteed compatible RAM (no requirement to buy).

As to whether adding more RAM will be worth the effort, it all depends upon what you do with your machine. My personal machine has 16GB of RAM and the only way I can utilize more than 8GB of it is to run VMs (Virtual Machines). Adding more RAM does not magically speed up your machine but allows you to run more concurrent applications.

Thanks.
99% of my computer use is editing and organizing photos.
I do have a VM installed and play around with Linux on occasion, but I take it by spells and when I need to actually get something done I stay with Windows 7.

 

[flavallee]

The Dell OptiPlex 780 Mini Tower has very weak Intel Q45 integrated graphics, so I added a graphics card to improve the quality of images, videos, etc.
It has a 305W power supply, so I made sure not to install a power-hungry graphics card.
The NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 2 GB graphics card worked well for me.

After I re-did and donated them, I moved up to the Dell OptiPlex 9020 Mini Tower.
I currently have 3 of them set up in dual boot mode with Windows 7 and Windows 10.
They have an Intel Core i7-4790 3.60 GHz quad core processor(the fastest supported one) and 32 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM(the maximum supported amount) and dual 250 GB solid state drives.

 

[BuckSkin]

I moved up to the Dell OptiPlex 9020 Mini Tower.
I currently have 3 of them set up in dual boot mode with Windows 7 and Windows 10.
They have an Intel Core i7-4790 3.60 GHz quad core processor(the fastest supported one) and 32 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM(the maximum supported amount) and dual 250 GB solid state drives.

Thanks for that.
I will keep that in mind when I add another machine to the collection.

 

[flavallee]

You're welcome.

 

[file3456]

It has been a while since I had the cover off (requires an act of congress and no fear of spiders), but I think it has two 4GB cards with two empty spaces.

HAHAHA You need to make sure the inside of the computers are clean. Dust or spiders, etc can casue all sorts of trouble not to mention heat issues. Buy some computer air spray they sell in the can.

1. If it does, in fact, have two 4GB cards, must any new RAM I install be identical make/model of that which is already installed ?

Yes. At least in terms of RAM type and its speed. Though, mixing and matching brands is frowned upon, it can be done.

2. Must it be DDR3 SDRAM non-ECC ?

Yes. ECC means Error Correction Coding and is RAM that can correct any slight data integrity issues. ECC RAM is primarily used in servers where that would be needed. For desktops, non ECC memory is what is often used.

3. Is there any means of discerning the make/model details of the installed memory, and whether it is two 4GB and not four 2GB without actually removing the cover and looking at it ?

Yes. There are a number of programs that can do this. One program I use is CPU-Z. In CPU-Z click the SPD tab and you can see what amount of RAM is in each slot with the drop down tab. The speed it tells you may confuse you.

4. Will this extra 8GB be worth all the time, effort, and expense ?

As mentioned, it largely depends on what you're doing and the programs that may need or can benefit from the extra memory. Since you mention that you have at least six photo editing programs open at any given time, the extra memory may help. What you can do right now is check. With all of the most used programs opened at once, right click the task bar below and select Start Task Manager. Now under the Processes tab you want to look at the Working Set (Memory) column. You can sort the processes from highest to lowest RAM usage by clicking the Working Set (Memory) column to organize the processes accordingly.

Don't see the Working Set (Memory) column? On the top select View | Select Columns.


The Crucial website is great I guess, but when I buy OEM RAM I tend to buy it on eBay. If you go to eBay and search for "Optiplex 780 RAM you should find it. Just sort by lowest price and use your buying clairvoyance based the the reputation of the seller. Now I have to tell you. In all the years I've bought memory on eBay I never had any issues. But the last time I bought memory from a computer parts seller there, I checked the memory with Memtest86 (which I always do) and it had errors. So I had to make a return. So if you do buy off of eBay you should check the RAM with Memtest86. Memtest86 can be downloaded from here. You can boot it via a blank USB stick or CD. You'd boot it like you were booting a Windows install disk. If you simply don't want to mess with all this then the Crucial website will be your best bet. Crucial System Scanner


A little food for thought. Tools like that or even game requirement tools I believe are able to scan your computer using ActiveX. This can be a source of hacking potential from certain websites. So back in the day when I ran a third-party router firmware called DD-WRT, I was able to block ActiveX right in the router. Not sure if ActiveX is being used today since I don't think modern browsers use it, but I know Internet Explorer did have it built-in. It now could be HTML5, Websockets or something. Anyway, there you go. I now roll ASUS Merlin in my router. It doesn't have an option to turn off ActiveX.

 

[BuckSkin]

THANK YOU Mr F22 Simpilot !

 

[file3456]

No problem.