Maximum applicable RAM upgrade on HP ENVY x360

[Rey99]

There is an issue regarding upgrading my HP laptop RAM. I want to kindly know the opinion of the HP team.

My ‘HP ENVY x360 - 15-cn1005tx’ already has 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB DDR4 2666MHz modules). Now I want to upgrade to 32GB RAM (2 x 16GB  DDR4 3200MHz).

Two questions I want to ask which I could not find in the manual and HP website (at least for this particular model):

• Can the CPU (Intel Core i7-8565U) and the mainboard (HP 850D with updated BIOS version F.26) manage these dual RAM modules ( I don't know the clock speed of this CPU)?
•  Are the new RAM modules compatible with this laptop? Should I use the same RAM modules with a clock speed of 2666MHz but a larger size (32GB)? What maximum size and speed are applicable? 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Below is the link to the service manual for your notebook.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP ENVY x360 Convertible PC

Chapter 1 has the memory upgrade info.

According to the manual, your notebook has two memory slots and can support up to 2 x 8 GB of memory.

Generally, most HP notebooks with the Intel 8th generation core processors can support 2 x 16 GB of memory.

You can use either DDR4-2666 MHz or SSDR-3200 MHz memory, but it is only going to run at 2400 MHz because that is as fast as your notebook's i7-8565U processor can run the memory at.

You can do this to confirm how much memory your notebook can support:

1. In the search box, search for cmd and click Run as administrator.

This will open the command prompt.

2. Once command prompt is opened, type wmic memphysical get maxcapacityEx and hit enter.

There, it will show the maximum RAM capacity your PC's motherboard can support.

The capacity is shown as Kilobytes, so you have to convert it to Gigabytes by dividing the number provided in the report by 1,048,576.

The Crucial memory report indicates that your notebook will support 2 x 16 GB of memory.

HP - Compaq ENVY x360 15-cn1005tx | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial.com

I recommend you use the Crucial memory since they guarantee compatibility with your notebook as shown in the report.

You may as well get the DDR4-3200 speed because it appears to be less expensive than the other ones, and two of the single chips seem to cost less than the 32 GB kit of two.

[Rey99]

Hi Paul_Tikkanen,

Thank you so much for your time and detailed information.

 You mentioned, "Generally, most HP notebooks with the Intel 8th generation core processors can support 2 x 16 GB of memory." this was what I couldn't hear clearly. The same comes when talking about CPU clock speed and memory. Thanks for clarifying this.

You were right about the command results, and I got this result: "MaxCapacityEx 33554432" KB, which is 32BG. I may go with your suggestion about purchasing RAM, considering the cost per performance 🙂

Kind regards,

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.