Ram & SSD install in Asus ROG laptop

I am not a gamer, just an amateur photographer. I use Lightroom & Photoshop products for mostly still photography and some video. I need a more powerful laptop and was looking at either a work station unit or a gamer laptop. I decided on a gaming machine and just ordered an Asus ROG G752 laptop. After pricing different configurations I ordered it with only 16 GB of ram and 1 TB 7200 HD, no SSD drive installed. There are two empty ram slots and can fit two M2 SSD drives. I have two questions about upgrading it.

1. Ram. I want to add another 16 GB of ram. I can add two 8 GB chips, or fill one of the slots with one 16 GB chip and ability to easily add more later if I want to. Question, can I add just one 16 GB chip, and if so does it matter which slot it goes into?

2. SSD. Will a 256 GB SSD drive be enough for the Windows 10 OS & install above programs? All data will stay on the HD only. If 256 GB is enough then I can afford the SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 256GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4at about $180.00 (US). If I have to use a 512 GB SSD, I cannot afford the PCI-Express 3.0x4 drives. For my intended use do I even need that fast a SSD drive? I am thinking a sata III drive around 500 GB would do if 256 GB is not enough for the OS & programs. If possible I would prefer the PCI-Express 3.0 x4if that will work.
Also, does it matter which M2 slot the SSD goes into, there are two slots?

Thank you all in advance for reading through all this and any help.

 

16GB of RAM is considered a lot. Are you sure you need more than that in the first place?
If so, yes, you can install a single 16GB stick. The slot it goes into may matter. If so, the owner's manual will state which slot to use first. My preference would be to use 2x 8GB for maximum compatibility. Or, just pony up for 2x 16GB sticks now. The G752 isn't exactly the easiest machine to work inside.

The SSD is a good idea for the O/S and programs. It will improve system responsiveness significantly. The PCIe SSDs are very expensive at the moment relative to SATA III versions. The Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD is an affordable SSD with very good performance. The difference between it and a 950 Pro will likely go unnoticed for most usage.

To get an idea of how much space you need, get the properties of your C:\Program Files directory and see how much space it takes. I'd imagine a 250GB SSD would be sufficient. I have a 120GB SSD (114GB formatted), and even with MS Office Professional and Adobe PS5E, plus numerous other programs, I have 54GB free.

For photo editing, the disk speed matters very little. Once the files are read into memory - which is quick even reading from a hard drive - the storage drive is generally not used except when saving the files, which again is usually very quick even on a hard drive.
Disk performance is more important for video editing, however. What I usually do is store all the video on the HDD, but I make a temporary directory on the SSD and copy the video files there when I'm ready to edit. Then I save the finalized video back to the HDD, and delete the temporary directory.

Charles

 

Amateur or not, photo and video editing requires real hardware (CPU+RAM). Unless you're just wasting (your) time on that part of the creative process?

16GB RAM is enough to browse the web with (seriously, with enough tabs open - it may not be enough...).

32GB RAM or more is needed to do editing (especially of RAW, video/photo/sound files).

A HDD inside a modern notebook is a major detriment to performance (mostly 'snappiness') and to reliability (shocks...). Get rid of it asap. Put it in an external enclosure for a few $$ and use it for backup.

An SSD today of less than ~500GB is the worst bang for the buck/performance you can do to yourself. Keep in mind that ~33% OP'ing is required if you want to be able to use the system (almost) any way you want and still have it perform as fast as possible. Along with 25GB to 50GB of free space for the O/S (Win10x64Pro highly recommended). And with enough additional free space for the Scratch disk used by the Adobe products to perform at their peak for your normal editing workloads.

(For my least powerful mobile setup in similar workflows; free space is ~250GB - for Windows, the Scratch Disk and temp files (as noted by Charles). This is after OP'ing the 960GB (nominal) SSD by 33%. In use, I have been able to run out of disk space too (just need to do smaller batches of RAW editing, yeah).

Forget about the tiny/puny/useless PCIe x4 SSD's for now. A SATAIII SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB or larger is more than adequate and in some aspects, is better than NVMe M.2 drives too.

 

I also suggest a 960GB/1TB SSD, it will be a bit over $200 - but won't become obsolete right away, size-wise.

 

I just went ahead and ordered the Samsung 850 EVO M.2 500GB Sata III drive. I will hold off concerning the ram upgrade at this time. I have to replenish my bank account first.

Thank you all for the replies.

 

don't get a single 16GB RAM, your first 2 slots have two 8GB that are identical, meaning they are running in Dual Channel mode.

If you add a single 16GB, then the first two will operate in Dual Channel mode which is faster, and that 3rd lonely chip will run in Single Channel Mode thanks to Intel'x Flex Technology.

For the best speed, get all identical RAM chips and fill all the slots

 

Thank you Phoenix, I did not realize that concerning only using a single ram chip. I can't afford two 16GB chips at this time, so I will settle for duel 8GB chips. That was one of the questions I had concerning installing ram.

 

Wingincamera, I hope the M.2 drive is adequate for your intended (main) workflows.

The RAM is always the first thing you want to upgrade if you actually want a productivity increase. The storage subsystem? At best; a responsiveness improvement. Yeah; these are different (even if both are desirable).

Instead of adding two additional 8GB modules, get two 16GB modules instead. After testing them thoroughly, sell the original 8GB SoDimmsif you need to recoup some of that $$$ back. This way, you'll get the most value for the 8GB SoDimms today when you sell them and be able to drop two additional 16GB SoDimms at any later point in time. Without having 4x 8GB SoDimms that will be effectively worthless at that future date ($$$-wise).


Your choice of an SATAIII M.2 drive is unfortunate. The combination to give the least performance vs. a regular 2.5" SSD with the same SATAIII interface.

See:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7153/samsung-850-evo-500gb-sata-iii-2-ssd-review/index12.html

Ignore the 'pros' for this model (especially the CRAPID point) - they are debatable.

The cons though are on point. I would predict lower than HDD performance from an TLC drive in the workloads you and I share (if you dive into them as deeply as I do for anything more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time - I myself do so for hours...).

 

This. Sell 8GB sticks while you still can do it at a decent price.