[SOLVED] Best deal on 32GB RAM for Dell OptiPlex 9020, and should RAM be replaced before initial bootup?

[hbenthow]

I'm looking for a computer, and am strongly considering a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 9020. The particular one that I'm most considering is selling for an extremely affordable price (approximately $230), but there's one drawback: it only has 8 GB of RAM (it can support 32, and I want as much as possible).

Does anyone have any recommendations on which RAM provides the best balance of price and reliability?

I searched NewEgg for RAM that's compatible with the aforementioned computer, and here are the results:

https://www.newegg.com/tools/memory-finder/#/result/12000705;flt_storagecapacitytitle=32%20GB

Also, here are the results from Crucial:

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/optiplex-9020-(mini-tower)#memory

And from MemoryStock:

https://www.memorystock.com/memory/DellOptiPlex9020.html

Price-wise, I'm hoping for no more than $180 total for all 4 8GB sticks altogether, although I could go as high as $200 if absolutely necessary. But I don't want unreliable RAM that will damage my computer and/or give me BSODs. Out of the options on the pages linked to above (or any other options that you know of), what is my safest bet for reliable RAM for an affordable price?

Also, I read that some brands of RAM don't actually run at the advertised 1600 Mhz, and instead only run at 1333 Mhz due to a setting called XMP, which has to be changed in the BIOS. I read one thread on the Dell forums where someone complained that editing these BIOS settings gave them BSODs.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/How-to-enable-XMP/td-p/5521235

Are all brands of RAM like this, or just some? Is it something that I need to worry about?

Also, if I buy the refurbished Dell computer, would it be safe for me to remove its RAM sticks (only 8GB altogether) and replace them with a separately-purchased 32GB set of sticks (4 x 8GB) before ever plugging in and booting up the computer, registering Windows, etc? Or would I need to wait until later?

 

[SamirD]

A good point. I'm leaning toward Crucial, since they seem to have the most proven track record.

On the Crucial website, the 8GB single sticks and 2x 8GB kits are out of stock (they don't sell a 4x 8GB kit for some reason), but Crucial offers links to buy them from other sellers, including Amazon, NewEgg, and B&H. If I were to buy them from any of those sellers, would accessing Crucial's warranty (if need be) be straightforward?

Amazon (itself, not a third-party seller, and on the page that the Crucial website linked to) is offering the 8GB Crucial sticks for the incredible price of $37.99 right now with free Prime shipping, but unfortunately only has 2 in stock.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B008KSHQBU/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Here's the page for this particular stick on Crucial for reference:

https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr3/ct102464bd160b/ct4506041

And here is Crucial's "Where to buy" page for it:

https://www.crucial.com/wtb?ps-sku=CT102464BD160B

Would it be unwise to order those two now and two more later? The reason that I ask is this quote from you:

Crucial has been around for a long time and they do make quite a few modules since they are basically just Micron.

That being said, because they are such a big name, they're a target brand for fakers and scammers, and incredible prices like that on Amazon is what I would stay far away from as they could be house brand with crucial stickers on them, which you would not discover until you have an issue and send them in to crucial who will inform you they're fakes and may even keep them as evidence to prosecute the company. So you're out of ram and in a bind. Amazon has become a haven for scammers. I don't trust anything there and don't shop there for anything anymore. I've seen too much shadiness.

I would not worry about sets not working together. The Dells are quite forgiving and I've never run into an issue with mixing ram in them, like my 3020 shows.

 

[hbenthow]

Memory is never guaranteed to work except when it is all purchased together in one kit. This is exactly why they have kits ranging in number from two DIMMs all the way up to 8 DIMM kits for consumer and HEDT platforms. If you can get all four DIMMs in a single kit, you should do so. If you can't, then get two identical kits and call it a day. It will most likely work fine.

In this case, it wouldn't even be two kits, though. Each stick is being sold separately (the two that Amazon has left in stock are sold separately, not as part of a kit). Do you think that this makes it too risky?

 

[hbenthow]

That being said, because they are such a big name, they're a target brand for fakers and scammers, and incredible prices like that on Amazon is what I would stay far away from as they could be house brand with crucial stickers on them, which you would not discover until you have an issue and send them in to crucial who will inform you they're fakes and may even keep them as evidence to prosecute the company. So you're out of ram and in a bind. Amazon has become a haven for scammers. I don't trust anything there and don't shop there for anything anymore. I've seen too much shadiness.

But do scammers on Amazon ever sell directly through Amazon, rather than as marketplace sellers? Amazon itself is the seller in this case.

Also, Crucial's website linked directly to the Amazon page.

 

[SamirD]

But do scammers on Amazon ever sell directly through Amazon, rather than as marketplace sellers? Amazon itself is the seller in this case.

Also, Crucial's website linked directly to the Amazon page.

A huge YES. Amazon is co-mingling inventory so there's no more guarantee that buying directly from Amazon won't get you a fake. That's why I don't even bother looking anymore.

A lot of companies use Amazon's fulfillment to reduce their warehouse and holding cost overhead. But if amazon mismanages that inventory, then it causes problems for everyone but amazon who still gets paid.

Honestly, I would rather buy from the company you found since if there's a problem you can simply pick up the phone and get a resolution. These days, the giant companies expect problems to just go away than resolve them correctly. You don't want to deal with that (I know I don't).

 

[SamirD]

In this case, it wouldn't even be two kits, though. Each stick is being sold separately (the two that Amazon has left in stock are sold separately, not as part of a kit). Do you think that this makes it too risky?

No more of a risk than 2x sets of 2x having to work together.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Again, I disagree. The more potential for disparity there is, so four DIMMs, none of which came together, presents four distinctly different modules, none of which have been factory validated to work together, versus only two kits, each of which contains two modules that HAVE been validated to work together. That minimizes the chances of problems because if one stick in one of the kits works with the sticks in the other kit, then the other stick in that kit is going to as well.

It is STILL not a major probability, only a potential POSSIBILITY. It would still probably be fine. I'd prefer to see one kit with four DIMMs, then two kits with two DIMMs each, then four DIMMs purchased separately, in order of preference, but sometimes you simply have no choice.

And yes, Amazon and Ebay BOTH are HUGE potential breeding grounds for fake product. Fake product is sold through them all the time but it is ALWAYS pretty much from 3rd party sellers. If it says "Sold by Amazon.com" then you know it is either genuine and will be supported by the manufacturer, or that Amazon is selling for a brand new supplier and will make it right if it turns out there are any issues. If you buy from a third part seller, you are usually on your own. Amazon will not generally make it right or intercede on your behalf. They will refer you to the seller.

If you simply check the box on the left of any product search where it says "Seller" and make sure only Amazon.com is selected, or that "Prime" is selected, then you usually have nothing to worry about.

 

[SamirD]

Again, I disagree. The more potential for disparity there is, so four DIMMs, none of which came together, presents four distinctly different modules, none of which have been factory validated to work together, versus only two kits, each of which contains two modules that HAVE been validated to work together. That minimizes the chances of problems because if one stick in one of the kits works with the sticks in the other kit, then the other stick in that kit is going to as well.

It is STILL not a major probability, only a potential POSSIBILITY. It would still probably be fine. I'd prefer to see one kit with four DIMMs, then two kits with two DIMMs each, then four DIMMs purchased separately, in order of preference, but sometimes you simply have no choice.

And yes, Amazon and Ebay BOTH are HUGE potential breeding grounds for fake product. Fake product is sold through them all the time but it is ALWAYS pretty much from 3rd party sellers. If it says "Sold by Amazon.com" then you know it is either genuine and will be supported by the manufacturer, or that Amazon is selling for a brand new supplier and will make it right if it turns out there are any issues. If you buy from a third part seller, you are usually on your own. Amazon will not generally make it right or intercede on your behalf. They will refer you to the seller.

If you simply check the box on the left of any product search where it says "Seller" and make sure only Amazon.com is selected, or that "Prime" is selected, then you usually have nothing to worry about.

I would agree with you if this wasn't ddr3 and it wasn't a Dell system like this. Dell doesn't want incompatibility hassles so it seems their systems are quite forgiving to not only running configurations that would not work on other motherboards, but also running officially unsupported configurations, as I have discovered over the years. Being that this is an officially supported configuration and the parts are pretty standard, I expect absolutely zero issues. And if the OP is buying from the CA company, I'm sure they can send modules they know will work so they and the OP won't have to worry.

I disagree about Amazon's own products not being fakes. It is well known that Amazon co-mingles inventory at will, so even if you buy directly from them you can still get a fake. It happens all the time whenever there's a deal on sd cards as half of the ones people receive are fake. No thanks. Don't need that hassle or headache playing that game...

 

[Darkbreeze]

I agree that their systems are somewhat forgiving, in some regards, but they are not completely forgiving. I've worked with a good number of Dell systems. I have a few clients that purchase prebuilt systems exclusively from Dell, for the last probably two decades, which is about fourteen total workstations.

I didn't say a word about not getting fakes if you order a product that specifically shows being fulfilled by Amazon.com instead of a 3rd party. What I said was, that if you got one, they would make it right, versus ordering from a third party seller Amazon will refer you to the seller. They will not get involved like Ebay sometimes will.

 

[hbenthow]

I just noticed something very interesting. For the 8GB single sticks, the Crucial website linked to pages on Amazon, Newegg, and Amazon. Now that the two sticks that were left in stock directly from Amazon are sold out (leaving only third-party sellers), the "want to buy" page for that particular item on the Crucial website no longer links to the Amazon page. My prediction is that when Amazon itself lists them as in stock again, the Crucial website will probably link to the Amazon page again.

For the 2x 8GB kit (which Amazon still has in stock), Crucial's "want to buy" page for the kit still links to the Amazon page.

This seems like an indicator that Crucial trusts (or has verified) that Amazon itself (but not third-party sellers) are selling genuine Crucial stock.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Crucial has no idea what is genuine and what isn't at Amazon. Amazon might use five or ten different suppliers just for a single item they sell. Crucial only knows that Amazon is a partner, and if Amazon says we have this product available then it will likely be listed at Crucial, and if Amazon says "We don't have it", then it may or may not continue to be listed until it's back in stock again.

 

[hbenthow]

Crucial has no idea what is genuine and what isn't at Amazon. Amazon might use five or ten different suppliers just for a single item they sell. Crucial only knows that Amazon is a partner, and if Amazon says we have this product available then it will likely be listed at Crucial, and if Amazon says "We don't have it", then it may or may not continue to be listed until it's back in stock again.

If I did order Crucial RAM from Amazon, would there be any way to tell whether it was genuine or counterfeit? Would a program like Speccy be able to tell?

Also, considering that the Crucial website itself is sold out of the RAM that matches my system, what would be the most reliable place to order it from? B&H is one of the options that Crucial linked to; would it be more reliable than Amazon and Newegg?

 

[Darkbreeze]

http://www.softnology.biz/files.html

 

[hbenthow]

http://www.softnology.biz/files.html

Judging by the screenshots on that page, all I would need to do is to view either the summary panel or report panel, and this would give me the manufacturer, model and serial numbers, etc. Is this correct?

Is any counterfeit RAM capable of fooling this program, or would I always get accurate results from it?

 

[USAFRet]

You're worrying about the wrong thing, mostly.

Buy it:
Sold and Shipped by Amazon
Sold and Shipped by Newegg
Sold and Shipped by B&H
Sold and Shipped by Microcenter

Buying from Joe's PC Chop Shop that sells via Amazon...thats a whole other thing.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You're worrying about the wrong thing, mostly.

Buy it:
Sold and Shipped by Amazon
Sold and Shipped by Newegg
Sold and Shipped by B&H
Sold and Shipped by Microcenter

Buying from Joe's PC Chop Shop that sells via Amazon...thats a whole other thing.

Which has been my point pretty much this whole thread.

I've literally made over 700 purchases from Amazon. I think around 400 purchases through Newegg. A great many of those have been technology items, primarily PC hardware. I've never had ANY problems with fake products. I have however seen a lot of people who've had problems when ordering from third party sellers on Amazon or Newegg. So long as you avoid the "via Amazon" type sellers, you are very unlikely to ever have any kind of a problem.

 

[hbenthow]

You're worrying about the wrong thing, mostly.

Buy it:
Sold and Shipped by Amazon
Sold and Shipped by Newegg
Sold and Shipped by B&H
Sold and Shipped by Microcenter

Buying from Joe's PC Chop Shop that sells via Amazon...thats a whole other thing.

Which has been my point pretty much this whole thread.

I've literally made over 700 purchases from Amazon. I think around 400 purchases through Newegg. A great many of those have been technology items, primarily PC hardware. I've never had ANY problems with fake products. I have however seen a lot of people who've had problems when ordering from third party sellers on Amazon or Newegg. So long as you avoid the "via Amazon" type sellers, you are very unlikely to ever have any kind of a problem.

While I don't have the degree of experience that either of you have, I'm inclined to agree that ordering direct from Amazon is low-risk. And if Thaiphoon Burner can accurately detect whether RAM is genuine, that brings the risk of getting "burned" by Amazon down to practically zero.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nothing can accurately detect, for the most part, for 100%, whether something is genuine or not. You'd have to compare some numbers off the components that the module is built from to do that for certain because with that same program, the paid version though, anybody could rewrite the hard coded specifications that are carried by the module which is exactly what Thaiphoon burner is actually FOR, although realistically it's not meant for fraudulent purposes but unfortunately anybody with the paid version of that program could use it nefariously.

 

[hbenthow]

Nothing can accurately detect, for the most part, for 100%, whether something is genuine or not. You'd have to compare some numbers off the components that the module is built from to do that for certain because with that same program, the paid version though, anybody could rewrite the hard coded specifications that are carried by the module which is exactly what Thaiphoon burner is actually FOR, although realistically it's not meant for fraudulent purposes but unfortunately anybody with the paid version of that program could use it nefariously.

Ah, I see. I still think that ordering directly from Amazon is low-risk, though.

 

[hbenthow]

UPDATE: Amazon's price for the 16GB (2x 8GB) Crucial kits dropped to $75.99, so I ordered two of them. To be clear, the seller was Amazon itself, not a third-party seller.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That is probably going to work out fine. Keep us in the loop and if you DO have any issues it might be something that can be worked though with a few manual settings, but you probably won't have trouble. You may want to install the memory and then do a hard reset of the BIOS to completely refresh the memory training data.

 

[hbenthow]

You may want to install the memory and then do a hard reset of the BIOS to completely refresh the memory training data.

Would that be risky? Could it cause boot up failures, Windows de-registration, or other such problems? Also, would it be risky not to do it?

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's not "risky" either way. It's just a standard procedure. Just install the memory and then verify to see that it is ALL recognized and that it is actually running at the speed and timings that it is supposed to be using CPU-Z or HWinfo. If it's not, THEN do a hard reset to try and correct the problem.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

 

[hbenthow]

It's not "risky" either way. It's just a standard procedure. Just install the memory and then verify to see that it is ALL recognized and that it is actually running at the speed and timings that it is supposed to be using CPU-Z or HWinfo. If it's not, THEN do a hard reset to try and correct the problem.

Regarding the speed, should it be running at 1600 Mhz, or 1333 Mhz (due to the XMP limitations/settings)? If it runs at one of those speeds rather than the other, does this mean that I need to do a hard reset?

From what I gather from the information on the page below, the correct timings on the RAM that I ordered should apparently be 11-11-11.

https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr3/ct102464bd160b/ct4506041

To make sure that I understand you correctly, if everything is working correctly (correct speed, timings, etc), I don't need to do a hard reset?

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

That's the part that scares me. I'm afraid of doing (or not doing) something due to my lack of knowledge about these settings and not being able to boot up Windows anymore, or the BIOS failing to recognize something correctly.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

If I'm not mistaken, the computer that I've ordered has no HDMI output, just DisplayPort and VGA. I do have a VGA monitor, though.

I used to use a monitor on the Displayport of my current computer, and it worked great until the monitor went out (I now use an old VGA monitor).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, if everything is working correctly there is no need to reset OR to make any configuration changes in the BIOS. If everything is not working correctly, I'd try to make configuration changes in the BIOS manually first, and then do a hard reset IF that fails to work properly.

As far as the memory speed goes, since your memory kit is 1600mhz and your motherboard supports 1600mhz, they should be running at 1600mhz. If they are not, try going into the BIOS and enabling the XMP profile if that setting is present, if not, try setting the memory speed manually to 1600mhz and setting the DRAM (Memory) voltage to 1.35v.

 

[hbenthow]

Yes, if everything is working correctly there is no need to reset OR to make any configuration changes in the BIOS. If everything is not working correctly, I'd try to make configuration changes in the BIOS manually first, and then do a hard reset IF that fails to work properly.

As far as the memory speed goes, since your memory kit is 1600mhz and your motherboard supports 1600mhz, they should be running at 1600mhz. If they are not, try going into the BIOS and enabling the XMP profile if that setting is present, if not, try setting the memory speed manually to 1600mhz and setting the DRAM (Memory) voltage to 1.35v.

Ah, I see. Thank you.

Hopefully it all works well.