Looking at an SSD and Ram upgrade for my M17xR3

As the title states I'm looking at upgrading the ram (currently 8 gig) to 16 (might go more just not sure yet) and putting in an SSD Drive for the first time. I've read a bit of talk on her about users having ssd and adding in the ram which to me is not the issue. My questions are semi simple what should I really get?

There are tons of SSD drives out there but I've heard bad things from OCZ and crucial and others about drives just dying or this and that. As for the ram not really sure who to go with since I've honestly not updated even a desktop in a few years since all I've been doing is working from a laptop.

Any input would be helpful what do you guys think are some good ideas for SSD drives (there will be only 1 no raid setup 240+gig min on size) and ram as well?

Thanks in advance.

 

Alrighty. Question one (very important), how much do you want to spend? You should determine that before you move ahead with looking at SSDs.

As for RAM, someone recommended this to me: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10
Actually, I got the 8GB kit (2x4GB) for my R2. I can attest to the fact that it works great. If you want to shop around, remember, it's better to get 2 x 8GB sticks rather than 4 x 4GB sticks. Its better for stability on dual channel systems like Alienwares.

 

Of those two upgrades the SSD will give you the most noticeable performance boost.

Try to get a SATA III (6gb/s), it goes around the same price as a SATA II(3gb/s) so why not.

Also, here's a list of all the drivers with the correct installation order. You'll need it after you install the SSD :thumbsup:

Alienware M17x R3: Initial Drivers Installation

 

The price is not something I'm really worried about. I pretty much figure the max I want to go is 256gig SSD for the main drive and use the current HD as a backup (offload for files)

Will look into the ram thanks for the link

 

I believe I was just reading the sata6g/s is weird on the R3? or is that external only? Also I've re-installed a few times already outside of adding in the drivers on Windows install for the SSD itself what's the point of installing the drivers in that order? I've yet to do it like that and I've had ZERO issues (outside of a reboot for updates last uptime on my laptop was 16+ days and seriously zero issues with this thing and this is a clean install from not even a month ago.

 

On the R3, depending on the BIOS you use you may be able to get SATA III speeds, considering that the prices are about the same there's no reason at all to get the SATA II.

You can install drivers in a different order, but it may slightly affect your computer's performance.

 

For an SSD, After owning Samsung, Intel, OCZ and Sandisk, I say Samsung or Intel or nothing else....

Samsung and Intel offer top-notch tool-kits for their drives as well as timely firmware updates.

 

This is what I've been looking for. I've been looking at Samsung and Intel as the choices behind my drives for SSD and what you said is pretty much the reason updates that are timely and a lot less issues

 

Hmm interesting about the sata3 speeds. As it is I'm on a hacked A10 bios I've not found a reason to goto the new A12 one yet since what I wanted the modded one for was turning off the intel gfx card.

As for drivers and slight performance gains/loss I've honestly NEVER seen that happen drivers are drivers desktop or laptop an install order for the machines I've built in the past (desktops) has never been a thing where the computer would gain some small margin of benefit. I would honestly have to see that proven with numbers and I've yet to see any of that here. Not discounting your answer but I just don't see the reason for it.

 

apologies to OP for OT but the A12 bios looks like it adds the card switching ('Alienware M17XR3 A12 BIOS add GPU switch option in F2') - but sata3 has been removed from the specs. On my R3 with dell bios A08 I found that only one port would operate at SATA 3. Spent a lot of time getting my SSD onto sata 3 only to discover it made very little difference in operation...

 

FWIW, I have a Kingston HyperX SSD in my R2, my friend a Crucial M4 in his R3, and my neighbor a Vertex 4 in his R4. I installed all three SSDs and have not had one ounce of trouble with any of them. Just make sure to follow an SSD tweak guide in order to get the best performance setup from your drive. And one thing to consider is to clean install windows on your SSD instead of cloning your current hard drive to the new drive.

Here's the SSD tweak guide I used: SSD Tweak Guide - Tech & Computer Forums

 

I have upgraded to 16gb of kingston HyperX 1866 ram and I am very happy with it. Figure out what processor you have and search on intels site to find out what its maximum bus speed is, and if it says 1866 then you can go with it. Also, I upgraded to SSD's and that was the best thing I ever did!