RAM upgrade guidelines

[pkay14saus]

Getting ready to buy RAM to upgrade my HP Pavilion p7-1154. The upgrade guidelines I found listed here: 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-p7-1100-desktop-pc-series/5146449/model/5157025/doc...

I've searched on eBay and NewEgg and only found 1866 mhz modules that are PC3-14900, while the upgrade specs say the tower only supports PC3-144000 (DDR3-1866) modules. 

Does anyone know if the units that are PC3-14900 will work for the upgrade? 

-PK

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

The motherboard specifications for the p7-1154 are not correct.  There are four dimm slots and not two.

Your first consideration should be HP Sales or HP Support when considering memory replacement or upgrades. If you want to consider other manufacturers then the easiest way to avoid memory problems is to contact one of the major memory manufacturers. I am recommending that you try the memory tools from these manufacturers: Corsair, Kingston and Crucial. Once you have determined the dimms that you need, then contact sales or technical support to verify that you have selected the correct dimms. If you buy directly from the manufacturers, then they will stand behind their products.

You should be able to run CPU-Z and determine the exact memory speed, size and timings to determine the correct dimms to use.  These are the 4GB dimms that HP uses in your PC.

Your PC has 6 GB so check to see how the dimms are populated.  I prefer to use matched sets with the highest density dimms in the first slot of each channel bank.

[pkay14saus]

Thank you Big_Dave,

I assume any RAM upgrade would need to either mirror the specs of the installed memory or require that I use memory that meets the same specs noted on HPs spec sheet for the p7-1154? In other words if I bought a 2GB and 4GB sticks that matched the installed memory specs (PC3-10600 MB/sec) I'd be ok to install those in the empty slots? Or, I could install 16GB (4 x 4GB) that meets the requirements listed on the spec sheet for upgrades. 

-PK

[Big_Dave · Accepted solution]

@pkay14saus

I suggest that you use dimms with the same specifications. If you are intermixing 4GB and 2GB dimms then I recommend that you populate the first bank of each channel a 4GB dimm.