Worth upgrading HP 750-114 from 12GB to 16GB?

[flycaster1]

My Envy came with 12GB memory. I have three questions concerning memory upgrade.

1.  I do a bit of photo processing and although not super quick, the HP doesn't hang up.  Will upgrading to 16GB speed things up a bit?

2. If I do upgrade to 16GB, I assume that I will have to fill the two memory slots.  Does the upgrade mean that I will have to get two new 8GB cards, or is there another combination?  

3. If I do upgrade, could you recommend which card(s) to get?

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

What would help your PC even more since you do photo processing, would be to add a graphics card.

The Nvidia GT 1030 would be a good card to buy for your PC:

https://www.newegg.com/asus-geforce-gt-1030-gt1030-2g-csm/p/N82E16814126203?Description=gt%201030&cm...

Your PC's specs indicate that it has two memory slots.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04792282

If you just want to go for the memory upgrade, then you can remove the 4 GB chip and install an 8 GB chip in its place.

This would be a compatible 8 GB memory chip for your PC.

https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr3/ct102464bd160b/ct7909950

[flycaster1]

Thanks Paul for the good info.  But, I just want to make sure I got it straight.  As for upgrading memory, you are telling me that at present, my HP has one slot with a 8GB card and the other slot has a 4GB...So, all I have to do is replace the 4GB card with an appropriate 8GB card (Crucial)?  As for the graphics card, I'm not sure  that it can be replaced as my HP comes with an Integrated Intel HD card and the specs section (https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04792282) says that if a graphics card is installed, then the video doesn't work? If I were to get the Asus card, how hard it is to install (I'm fairly handy)?  BTW, I'm not questioning your knowledge base, but rather showing my lack of knowledge. Thanks again for your help.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Yes, your PC has one 8 GB memory chip and one 4 GB memory chip.

Why HP did that, I don't know.

Memory runs best when it is installed in matching capacities (2 x 4 GB, 2 x 8 GB).   It is called dual channel mode.

When a memory slot is empty or mismatched capacities of memory are installed, the memory runs in the lower performing single channel mode.

If you are handy with things, replacing the video card is about as easy as replacing the memory.

The only extra thing you need to do before adding a video card is to do a software uninstall of the onboard Intel graphics adapter and driver.  That is easy.

You go to the device manager, click to expand the Display adapters device manager category, right click on the Intel graphics adapter, select Uninstall, and check the uninstall driver box.

Shut down, unplug the PC and install the new video card.   Windows 10 has the drivers for that model card, so you don't even need to install the driver for it, but after it is installed, I do recommend you install the latest video card driver for it directly from the Nvidia website.

If you look at the picture of the motherboard on the specs link I posted, the video card goes into the long black slot right under the while motherboard name and number.

Yes, that is correct.  When you install a video card, the onboard video gets disabled.

What the video card provides is a stronger graphics processing unit than the onboard Intel graphics adapter, and more video memory than what your PC has now.

That frees up some system memory currently being used to support the onboard Intel graphics adapter.

Below is the link to the service guide for your PC.  It will help you take it apart and there is a procedure to remove and replace the memory.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04717139

Here is a video on how to install a video card in a typical HP desktop PC.  Hopefully it will be of help to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9gIShhtn1s&feature=emb_logo

[flycaster1]

Thanks, Paul, for your very helpful explanations and and forward thinking advice.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Please reply back and let us know how your PC upgrade project went.

[flycaster1]

Being rather O/C, I have yet to make any memory changes...yet.  I've been looking at my CPU and amount memory used when I have my browser, email client, and photo processing stuff all open.  Doing this to see if I really need (to speed things up a bit) to add another 4GB of memory to the HP's already 12GB.  Under these conditions, CPU is running around 5-7% and memory at around 60% and core temps at around 30C. What do you think? Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The memory usage is pretty high.

My PC has 32 GB of memory and it is only using 12% of the memory.

So, say if it had 16 GB of memory, that means it would be using 24% of it, I guess.

Core temps normal.  That's where my processor cores are at give or take.