[SOLVED] Need an ssd internal desktop drive and an extra 8gb of ram

Jun 8, 2020
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1
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I have a custom built desktop that I bought from a guy. No longer have contact with him and want to upgrade my computer. I don't know which parts match with which parts. Looking to get an ssd for the operating system and for a few games, and and an extra 8gb stick of ram to make it 16 also for faster use. Any suggestions?
 
Solution
Here are my current computer specs that I can read:

Motherboard: MSI H270M MORTAR ARCTIC (MS-7A69)

Processor: Intel Core i5 7600k CPU @ 3.80GHz

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM: 8GB 2133MHz, DIMM, Slots used: 2 of 4.

Hard Drive: 1TB HDD

Your mobo supports up to 64GB of DDR4-2133/2400. You have 2 sticks installed now @ 2x4GB.

For an SSD, your mobo supports 2 types, a regular SSD, like this, or an m.2 drive like this. Both are are blazing fast compared to your HDD.

The 1060 is a great GPU. I had one for years up until this past Christmas.

You're in for a treat. 16GB is a very nice boost over 8GB and an SSD or m.2 will be a real eye opener. :) Your 1TB will work well as the workhorse for...

Mrgr74

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I have a custom built desktop that I bought from a guy. No longer have contact with him and want to upgrade my computer. I don't know which parts match with which parts. Looking to get an ssd for the operating system and for a few games, and and an extra 8gb stick of ram to make it 16 also for faster use. Any suggestions?

Hi @Nico_kaneo

Welcome to the forums!

1st off, we'll need to know a little more about your PC. Specifically what mobo you have and the speed/type of RAM you have. Please list out your specs and be as specific as possible.

In regards to RAM, do you have it in 1x8GB or 2x4GB? To maximize performance & stability, I would advise you to buy a matching 16GB kit. Even if you put the same size & speed RAM in, it may not work. If it does, you may have stability issues, random crashes & the like. On the other hand, you may install an additional 8GB stick and everything is fine.

For an SSD, whats your size preference? While everyones ultimate use is unique, I Would suggest a minimum of 500 GB. Once we know more about your system, we'll be able to link to a few ideas.

Last but not least, whats your "I-can-spend-right-now" budget?

Again, welcome to Tom's! :)
 
Jun 8, 2020
15
1
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Hey Mrgr, thanks for your timely and professional response! Love it. I can get you as much of my PC specs as possible but I'm not sure how to find all of the details you need.

To answer a few questions, I'm looking to spend about $100 for a small SSD and 16gb of RAM. I have 8gb already. What do I do with the old 8gb stick if I buy another pair? How do I know if it's two 4gb or one 8gb in my computer? For the SSD, I'm just looking to put my OS on it and maybe a couple of games. Everything else should stay on my 1tb HDD. So maybe something less than 500GB.

Here are my current computer specs that I can read:

Motherboard: MSI H270M MORTAR ARCTIC (MS-7A69)

Processor: Intel Core i5 7600k CPU @ 3.80GHz

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM: 8GB 2133MHz, DIMM, Slots used: 2 of 4.

Hard Drive: 1TB HDD
 

Mrgr74

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Here are my current computer specs that I can read:

Motherboard: MSI H270M MORTAR ARCTIC (MS-7A69)

Processor: Intel Core i5 7600k CPU @ 3.80GHz

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM: 8GB 2133MHz, DIMM, Slots used: 2 of 4.

Hard Drive: 1TB HDD

Your mobo supports up to 64GB of DDR4-2133/2400. You have 2 sticks installed now @ 2x4GB.

For an SSD, your mobo supports 2 types, a regular SSD, like this, or an m.2 drive like this. Both are are blazing fast compared to your HDD.

The 1060 is a great GPU. I had one for years up until this past Christmas.

You're in for a treat. 16GB is a very nice boost over 8GB and an SSD or m.2 will be a real eye opener. :) Your 1TB will work well as the workhorse for game storage.
 
Solution

Andyme177

Prominent
Apr 26, 2020
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You currently have
CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI H270M MORTAR ARCTIC Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: BRAND UNKNOWN 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 RAM sticks (SPEED UNKNOWN) CL-UNKNOWN
Storage: BRAND UNKNOWN 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Founders Edition Video Card

The changes I would make
Memory Replacement: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory ($63.96 @ Amazon)
Storage Option 1: Western Digital Blue 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($42.97 @ Amazon)
Storage Option 2: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
 
Jun 8, 2020
15
1
15
Your mobo supports up to 64GB of DDR4-2133/2400. You have 2 sticks installed now @ 2x4GB.

For an SSD, your mobo supports 2 types, a regular SSD, like this, or an m.2 drive like this. Both are are blazing fast compared to your HDD.

The 1060 is a great GPU. I had one for years up until this past Christmas.

You're in for a treat. 16GB is a very nice boost over 8GB and an SSD or m.2 will be a real eye opener. :) Your 1TB will work well as the workhorse for game storage.
How do I know if my computer can install a second hard drive? And how do I shop for an internal ssd rather than an external? Are there guides to installing drives and Rams? Never done it before. Do I replace my old 8 gb sticks with the new 16's? What do I do with the old one? Lol.
 

Karadjgne

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Best case is purchase 2x8Gb 2400/15 in a single kit. While often working, mixing and matching ram is pot luck. It might work, work with adjustments or not work at all. And you could rma 50 kits and not get a set that works with your current ram. Then hit eBay and sell that 2x4Gb you have now. End result being you get 2 sticks guaranteed to work that cost slightly more than 4 sticks that only stand a 1/3 chance of being perfectly compatible.

Your motherboard supports 3 kinds of SSDs. Either an M.2 Pcie3.0 x4 (NVMe) or Sata 6Gb, or a 2.5" Sata 6Gb. So the choice is yours as to which suits you more and the price you will pay. M.2 and 2.5" Sata are the same thing, no bonus to either, just a different form factor. NVMe is somewhat faster than both, but you'll still be limited by other things such as the cpu and internet speeds as to how much faster they'll load stuff. 500Gb is the minimum recommend size as the smaller the drive the lower its life expectancy and most often it's somewhat slower too. Typically a 1Tb SSD gets about the best overall performance and longetivity. Bigger than 1Tb is just a lot more expensive, especially for NVMe, a 2Tb Samsung 970 EVO Plus runs @ $500. You can get a Crucial P1 1Tb for $99.

And as previously mentioned, Welcome to the forum 🤗
 
Jun 8, 2020
15
1
15
Best case is purchase 2x8Gb 2400/15 in a single kit. While often working, mixing and matching ram is pot luck. It might work, work with adjustments or not work at all. And you could rma 50 kits and not get a set that works with your current ram. Then hit eBay and sell that 2x4Gb you have now. End result being you get 2 sticks guaranteed to work that cost slightly more than 4 sticks that only stand a 1/3 chance of being perfectly compatible.

Your motherboard supports 3 kinds of SSDs. Either an M.2 Pcie3.0 x4 (NVMe) or Sata 6Gb, or a 2.5" Sata 6Gb. So the choice is yours as to which suits you more and the price you will pay. M.2 and 2.5" Sata are the same thing, no bonus to either, just a different form factor. NVMe is somewhat faster than both, but you'll still be limited by other things such as the cpu and internet speeds as to how much faster they'll load stuff. 500Gb is the minimum recommend size as the smaller the drive the lower its life expectancy and most often it's somewhat slower too. Typically a 1Tb SSD gets about the best overall performance and longetivity. Bigger than 1Tb is just a lot more expensive, especially for NVMe, a 2Tb Samsung 970 EVO Plus runs @ $500. You can get a Crucial P1 1Tb for $99.

I'm looking to spend closer to $100 for the SSD and ram. Any suggestions in that price range? Thanks for the tips!
 

Mrgr74

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How do I know if my computer can install a second hard drive? And how do I shop for an internal ssd rather than an external? Are there guides to installing drives and Rams? Never done it before. Do I replace my old 8 gb sticks with the new 16's? What do I do with the old one? Lol.

Your mobo has 6 SATAIII ports, thats how your HDD is connected. So if you have 1 HDD, then you have 5 more free.

As for guides, yep, Youtube is chock full of them. Look here for instance for SSD & here for RAM. (General Idea How-To's)

As for the RAM itself, after you install the new RAM, simply hold onto the old RAM should you ever need it later on or you can sell it, though to be honest, you'd get very little for it, prob. $10 depending on where you live and so I'd suggest you just hold onto it should you ever need it later on. (Like if your new RAM fails at some point or a friend needs RAM)

In regards to $$, you're most likely going to need a little over $100. Prob closer to $135 after taxes. Both the RAM @Karadjgne & I linked to would work great, the same for the SSD I linked to. @Andyme177 had a good idea as well with the WD Blue 250GB SSD
 

Andyme177

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Apr 26, 2020
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How do I know if my computer can install a second hard drive? And how do I shop for an internal ssd rather than an external? Are there guides to installing drives and Rams? Never done it before. Do I replace my old 8 gb sticks with the new 16's? What do I do with the old one? Lol.
you currently have two sticks of 4GB take them out they aren't junk but you won't need them try selling them on offer up or one of those apps. your computers Motherboard has six sata 6 connections so you can add a couple drives without a problem. The M2 connection is a faster connection but drive is more expensive and really not that big of difference unless the price is worth it see my suggestions above. As for how to shop for them 2.5" drives are pretty slim can fit in smaller space in your case. M2 drives are similar to a ram stick with the pins on one end and plug into the M2 slot and held in place with a thumbscrew. 3.5" drives is probably what you have in your system now.
 
Jun 8, 2020
15
1
15
Your mobo has 6 SATAIII ports, thats how your HDD is connected. So if you have 1 HDD, then you have 5 more free.

As for guides, yep, Youtube is chock full of them. Look here for instance for SSD & here for RAM. (General Idea How-To's)

As for the RAM itself, after you install the new RAM, simply hold onto the old RAM should you ever need it later on or you can sell it, though to be honest, you'd get very little for it, prob. $10 depending on where you live and so I'd suggest you just hold onto it should you ever need it later on. (Like if your new RAM fails at some point or a friend needs RAM)

In regards to $$, you're most likely going to need a little over $100. Prob closer to $135 after taxes. Both the RAM @Karadjgne & I linked to would work great, the same for the SSD I linked to. @Andyme177 had a good idea as well with the WD Blue 250GB SSD

Thanks. If I go over $100 that's fine. It looks like that 16gb ram that was linked is sold out. Might have to wait a bit. I have that ram and the sata3 you recommended on my Amazon shopping list. I'll look into guides now to see how to install them. Thanks for your help, my friend. :)
 
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Karadjgne

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Since 8Gb of ram is $35, you could probably get @ $20-$25 from your old ram on ebay.

PCPartPicker Part List

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory ($63.96 @ Amazon)
Total: $63.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-09 04:24 EDT-0400


So for @ $40 you get a factory guaranteed kit and aren't risking incompatability due to differences in the 40+ different timings that ram has in the Secondary and Tertiary subsets, nevermind the primary timings and voltage differences between your old ram and the new.

Of course that's assuming you buy new ram, can always opt to buy ram from eBay too, 16Gb kits for $40 or less.

But unless it's new, sealed, I'd not buy an SSD on ebay.
 
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