[SOLVED] Yet another Optiplex 3050 MT upgrade

[odv135]

Good afternoon!

Trying to add RAM and an SSD but am a little confused with the kind of units to get.

-Opened up the CPU-Z app and it shows my Optiplex 3050 is running 8 GB RAM DDR4 "single channel", my question is, can i add the same exact stick to the second slot to make it double channel (motherboard has 2 DIMM slots) OR do i need to specifically buy one of those branded as "double channel" pair to get the best performance?

-SSD wise i figured id just add whatever Dell page has the Optiplex but im open to suggestions... fixing to just move the OS there so the machine boots quicker (randomly takes up to 10 minutes just to boot but im blaming my crappy file/app management self for that)

-Lastly... and this is likely a long shot and perhaps not the most cost effective change (kinda cant justify changing the whole PC for a few years) thinking bout moving from an i5-7500 to an i7-7700... from what i've gathered, this is the max upgrade i can add to my machine BUT wanted to hear experts opinion about it.

Let me know if theres any further info needed AND thanks for taking the time to read this,
Oliver

 

[Lutfij]

1| Yes if you can source the same stick of ram, then go ahead and get that second stick for a dual channel setup. I'd advise on a dual channel ram kit provided your motherboard can handle a higher frequency or perhaps a higher ram kit/capacity.

2| If this is the unit you own, the manual for the unit, page 20-21 , state you have or can add an M.2 NVMe SSD then again you can also add a number of 2.5" drives being either HDD's or SSD's. Didn't the prebuilt come with an M.2 SSD? If not then now's a good opportunity to get a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD.

3| If you look through the manual I linked above, page 63, there's a list of CPU's the MT comes shipped with. You can choose one from that list...and you could just jump onto an i7(non K ofc), i.e, i7-7820HQ.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Let me know if theres any further info needed AND thanks for taking the time to read this,

Need to know which version (Tower, Small Form Factor, or Micro) you have.
Technical Specifications

Opened up the CPU-Z app and it shows my Optiplex 3050 is running 8 GB RAM DDR4 "single channel", my question is, can i add the same exact stick to the second slot to make it double channel (motherboard has 2 DIMM slots) OR do i need to specifically buy one of those branded as "double channel" pair to get the best performance?

Generally speaking, when dealing with DDR4, you're better off replacing what you have with what you want rather than trying to add to what you have. Even if you could find the exact same module, if it didn't come from the same manufacturing bin, it may not be compatible. However, if you have good return policies, you can always try.

-Wolf sends

 

[SamirD]

In addition to the already great answers, in regards to the cpu I don't have experience with this exact series, but in their previous series, you can even use xeon and k processors and can potentially software oc using throttlestop or just get whatever advantage a k processor has. For example, I put a 4790k in my 3020 sff to take advantage of the stock 4Ghz clock speed.

 

[odv135]

1| Yes if you can source the same stick of ram, then go ahead and get that second stick for a dual channel setup. I'd advise on a dual channel ram kit provided your motherboard can handle a higher frequency or perhaps a higher ram kit/capacity.

2| If this is the unit you own, the manual for the unit, page 20-21 , state you have or can add an M.2 NVMe SSD then again you can also add a number of 2.5" drives being either HDD's or SSD's. Didn't the prebuilt come with an M.2 SSD? If not then now's a good opportunity to get a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD.

3| If you look through the manual I linked above, page 63, there's a list of CPU's the MT comes shipped with. You can choose one from that list...and you could just jump onto an i7(non K ofc), i.e, i7-7820HQ.

1. From what @Wolfshadw states, i'm likely better off buying a dual channel 2 x 8GB set just for compatibility. Current one is a Crucial one. Speed wise i think the i5-7500 limits the speed to 2400 Mhz so i doubt anything over the current one (2666 Mhz) would be an improvement. Same for the i7 i believe. Top options are either Crucial or Corsair (just cause i've used them before)

2. Im not 100% sure this is the same unit just because mine was bought in 2017 and i have no idea if they do hardware changes/upgrades year by year. This one did not come with the PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD which is what i was thinking of since i saw the slot empty. Kinda have a thing for WD so this is on my list.

3. May have to investigate whats wrong with K? the manual isnt showing the processor preinstalled i5-7500 so its kinda throwing me off, maybe they do make hardware changes. i7-7820HQ doesnt seem to have a higher speed than the i5 i currently have (albeit i havent looked too hard). Question, even if a processor has the same socket type it may still not be complatible?????

Thanks for the prompt reply

 

[SamirD]

3. May have to investigate whats wrong with K? the manual isnt showing the processor preinstalled i5-7500 so its kinda throwing me off, maybe they do make hardware changes. i7-7820HQ doesnt seem to have a higher speed than the i5 i currently have (albeit i havent looked too hard). Question, even if a processor has the same socket type it may still not be complatible?????

Thanks for the prompt reply

Generally Dell won't do any testing with K processors since they can't be overclocked, but Dell/HP/etc usually have much more compatibility than officially tested, like max ram, cpus, etc. I'd be pretty certain that a i7-7700k would work fine, but you will probably need to get the 'high performance' Dell cooler as the 7700k is higher tdp like the 4790k. I had to do that with my 3020 but i was only $10 used on ebay and swapped in 5 minutes. More than likely the proper cooler will simply have a taller heat sink and will be otherwise identical to the original.

The 7700HQ actually has a slower single thread than your i5 and the regular 7700 doesn't give much of a single thread speed boost, mainly adding hyperthreading:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...700HQ-vs-Intel-i5-7500/2874vs2905vs2906vs2910.

The 7700k would be my upgrade of choice but will require some research to make sure it will work as it doesn't seem like anyone has done it so far in my searches, although I have found refurbished systems sold with the 7700 non-k and Dell making the 7700k stock on their XPS 7760/8920 as well as the T3420 Precision workstation, so I still believe it will work.