Adding Intel Optane or SSD

[wmachine]

I have  Desktop i7-7700 16gb memory,  2TB 7,200rpm HDD that is supposed to support Intel Optane memory

It has an open M.2 slot to use.  I can either add an Optane memory module or I'll add a NVMe SSD drive.

Am I better off adding the Optane or the SSD?  Non-gaming use.  The Optane add would be 1/3 of the cost of the SSD.

If I add the Optane, I can go with a 16GB or 32GB module.  I think the processor is limited to 32GB memory, but does this limitation still apply to the additional Optane?

TIA

[Grzwacz · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

Welcome to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

The H270 chipset on your PC's motherboard does support Intel Optane. It is unclear if HP has enabled this function.

Both options  (Optane vs SSD) will increase system responsiveness.

You can get a 32 GB Optane module at Amazon (Link) for $43.00. Or a 250 GB Samsung 970 EVO for $88.00 (Link).

Optane works with the existing HDD to improve performance.

A SSD can be used as the OS boot drive to improve performance.

The respective costs per GB are:

Intel 32 GB- $1.35 per GB. A 16 GB Optane module yields a price per GB of $2.14.

Samsung- $0.35 per GB.

The Optane module has no relationship to the amount of RAM your MB can support. Apples and oranges.

Regards

[wmachine]

Thanks!  I also have a new Dell Laptop with almost the same setup, so what will work for one will work for the other.  So I have 2 applications for this.  I think I may try the Optane memory module and see how I like it.

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

You're very welcome.

You can always swap in a SSD if you don't like Optane.

Regards