Alienware Area-51 m15x -- Memory and HDD

Looking for the biggest baddest for a restored m15x (not the M15x) Don't worry about the costs. I'm loaded! Any links to newegg or tigerdirect would be most appreciated.

What is the best memory to acquire?
I'm looking for largest capacity and fastest that will work. I have 4GB for now. I do a lot with CS6.

What is the largest and fastest HDD that can be acquired?
I've heard Hybrid drives are the way to go but is there better? Currently, I have a 500GB Hybrid drive in it. Also have HDD caddy for a 2nd drive. I have tried some SSD and have had problems with the system hanging every 3 to 5 mins.

Thank you!

 

The fastest memory will be dual channel G.Skill PC2-5400 4-4-4-12 2Gb x2 for a total of 4Gb of RAM F2-5300CL4D-4GBSQ
I think Hynix also have 4CLS modules, but good luck finding those.
The biggest will be G.Skill PC2-5400 5-5-5-15 4Gb x2 for a total of 8Gb F2-5300CL5D-8GBSQ
Samsung, Hynix, Corsair and CSX all have 4Gb modules and there are plenty on eBay so there is no problem of getting one, so they go for around 150E for a pair 2X 4GB 8GB DDR2 800 MHZ HP Compaq Elitebook 8530W 8730W RAM Speicher SO DIMM | eBay

The fastest and largest HDD probably will be any drive with 7200rpm and 1tb size, something like this Hitachi 1TB 0S03563 SATA III 7200RPM 2 5" Internal Laptop Notebook Hard Drive 705487191608 | eBay
But I would rather put that in swap bay and use SSD as main and system drive. I've been using OCZ Vertex 3 120Gb since 1 year without any problems OCZ Vertex 4 512 GB SSD 2 5" VTX4 25SAT3 512G Solid State Drive 842024030379 | eBay

Btw, Sata III is backwards compatible with Sata II.

 

I have tried a good handful of SSD drives from Samsung, intel, OCZ, corsair, crucial, and Kingston. They all end up making the system hang every 3 to 5 mins. I have explored the Vertex 2, 3, and 450 series and have had no success in a stable drive. I have tried using both Win7 and Win8 OS and they both produce the same results.

I've heard that the MB doesn't support the SSD controllers very well.

Is this the memory? I see no 5400 anywhere.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231210

 

Been running an original OCZ Vertex on an original m15x for years and have had 0 issues

Then buy a newer laptop if you are loaded haha

 

Sandforce controller...not doing that again.

 

Just letting you know I have gotten many years of reliability out of it

 

Yeah, that is right, 5400 was typo, it's 5300 actually.

Concerning SSD issues, are you running latest BIOS?

 

Currently running BIOS x34.
Had to downgrade because of speaker popping and system was still hanging.

 

I don't know about x34, but I've tried with x32 and x36 without problems. Still not sure it's bios problem, might be you have faulty motherboard or power supply. Did you tried full power reset (unplug battery, AC and take out bios battery, press power button for 20secs)?

 

By research about the m15x the x34 Bios seem to be very popular to work with and have no issues with it. I'm sure it is not the MB and PSU. I have several MB, PSU, and speakers sitting around here and they work all the same under the x36 bios.

 

Then I'm out of ideas.
- Is Trim enabled?
- Is SSD aligned?
- Did you try to disable pagefile?
- Are you sure you don't have faulty component (RAM, WiFi, GPU etc) ?
- Does it hang with BOSD?
- What event log says?

P.S. can you share x34 bios?

 

Fresh install every time so no alignment was needed. I have installed with and without TRiM and have tested it with pagefiling. It's not a BSOD. The system runs fine but it freezes for a min and then catches back up with all the commands that were made before and during the freeze. BSOD usually is a result of critical files or hardware malfunctioning. It may also be due to drivers, but I can say I have never shook hands with the BSOD on the m15x.

As for the x34 Bios....Nvm, the Mini-Hive is down. Let me find the CDs and get back on the Bios issue.

 

And this is only with SSD's? I have had the same problem on other computers with HDD after a fresh windows install if I fail to install the Chipset drivers.

 

Yes, all the SSDs I've thrown at it has had the same reoccurring problem in the m15x-r1. I have found that a Hybrid drive works better.

I just got a PM from a individual that pertains to SSDs not working properly with computers that do not have Intel Rapid Storge technology or Smart Response technology.

 

Odd, I have never had a problem with an SSD in the m15x-r1 or my m5750 and I've been using one in each for 3-4 years now.