m17x R4 - Questions: RAM and SSD Upgrade

RAM Upgrade

I'm thinking in increase my RAM, I was thinking about add 2x4Gb, so then I will be with 16Gb (4x4Gb)...
But... Dell stock memories are 2x
SK Hynix HMT351S6EFR8A-PB 4 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM (11-11-11-28 @ 800 MHz)
(10-10-10-27 @ 761 MHz) (9-9-9-24 @ 685 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 609 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 533 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 457 MHz) (5-5-5-14 @ 380 MHz)

I never heard about it, but I know some tech stuffs about memories, and this is CL11...
I want to buy 2x4GB CL9 PC12800 (Corsair Vengeance)...
My doubt is:
- Will I sacrifice the CL9 of a set 2x4GB to use it aside with the dell stock memories? I mean, the corsair ones will be running at CL11 to do some compatibility stuff?
- They both (2x4gb CL9 + 2x4gb CL11) will run well my system?
- What would be the optmial slot order configuration? ( SLOT 1 - SLOT 2 - SLOT 3 - SLOT 4 )
- - - CL9+CL9+CL11+CL11 (put the CL9 in the first slots hopping to the OS use it more often, hardly reaching to the top of the memory pile)
- - - CL9+CL11+CL9+CL11 (mix things...)

SSD Upgrade

So, my system have 2 SATA III slots and 1 mSata slot...
:: First SATA 3 >> Scorpio Black WD 750GB
:: 2nd SATA 3 >> empty
:: mSata >> Samsung SSD PM830 128GB

I'm searching for SATA 3 SSDs to upgrade this beauty... My question is:
What size is worth buying? should I buy a 256 or a 512?
I think 512 is great, but I will be end putting personnal file things in it to fill it, which is the purpose of the 750GB HDD, in this case, 256 I will be "better"...
The 512 (cheap ones) price/gigs is a little"better" than the 256 ones...
Should I buy a 512 cheap one (like Crucial M4), or buy a 256 with better rates? What are your thoughts?

Thanks

 

It is my understanding, I beleive it was an Alienware tech who said it. As long as the speeds match(1333mhz, 1600mhz etc.) any memory stick will work fine. My thought is to have all matching brands, just so I know I wont run into any issues. I beleive that to be a personal preference though. Then selling the OEM RAM to cover some of the cost spent on the other 8gb RAM you purchased. It washes itself out in the end.

As for a SSD I have the 256 M4 and it works great. I only have my OS and a few frequently used programs and a couple of my most recent games installed on it, with the rest being stored in my my 500gb HDD. IMO the price for a SSD is still way to high to be worried about getting a large SSD just to store programs that I really don't need the SSD speeds on.

 

I would agree with zorb that the ram will be fine just get the same speed. As for the SSD i have a 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 and its amazing! Around $1/GB but OCZ is an excellent brand that ive never had any problems with. I can boot to my desktop in 10 seconds and the 128GB is fine as long as you install everything you dont need SSD speed for to another drive.

 

I completely agree with you both, thanks for the answers, I did some search after reading Zorb answers...
About the SSD, I have the possibility to buy a 256GB SSD, I think 512GB will be too much and unnecessary for my needs...
256GB will fit it, I will put the 128GB with Linux, and the 256GB with Windows... I hope I will be yet able to do a dual boot, never did it in separeted hard drives.

My options for 256GB SSD are:
- Crucial M4 - 175€
- OCZ Vertex 4 - 200€
- OCZ Vector - 250€ (too expensive, idk yet if it worths)
- Samsung 840 - 200€

I'm on the path to buy the Vertex 4... Need to do some search yet...
If you guys have thoughts about it, let me know!

Thanks

 

Crucial has a 960gb SDD out right now thats only $600.

 

That would be lovely but I think that any 256 GB SSD is enough because he can use the empty slot for the storage drive or just use an external USB 3 one.