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‎09-22-2021 04:50 AM

HP Recommended
Product: HP Pavilion - 15-bc403na
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

My old (well, 2 year old) HP Pavilion - 15-bc403na is starting to run like a dog;  so I want to upgrade the RAM.  But whilst I can tell how much I have (1 x 8GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM) I can't find out the maximum allowed (in hardware - Windows 10 64 bit will support a lot more than I need)! 

 

HP Support Assistant, HP support web site, System Settings on the laptop itself don't tell me.  And the different memory suppliers (MrMemory, DrMemory, Crucial, ...etc...) all suggest different maximums!!!

 

I don't want to buy what I can't use.  So - please - any ideas of the maximum?

 

Thanks!

Product name: HP Pavilion - 15-bc403na.  Product number: 4CL38EA.

Category:
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

‎09-25-2021 07:28 AM - edited ‎09-25-2021 07:31 AM

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

According to the manual, your PC does have a M.2 slot for a SSD, but here is where things get hazy...

 

If you go back to the service manual, and look at chapter 1, pages 4 & 5, it shows that the M.2 slot supports SATA SSD's only.

 

But it also shows that Intel Optane memory is supported, which is NVMe.

 

There are some discussions on the forum where folks have tried to install NVMe SSD's in the 15-bx4xx model series and many of them, but not all of them indicated they do not work.

 

So, I don't understand why a NVMe SSD would work 100% of the time in the model series, or not work 100% of the time in the model series.

 

These two indicate yes, a NVMe SSD should work.

 

Solved: Trouble with choosing M.2 SSD for HP-Pavilion 15-bc404ur - HP Support Community - 7118464

 

Solved: PCIe SSD supported or not - HP Support Community - 7821049

 

This one...a person installed a NVMe drive in his 15-bc400, and it didn't work.

 

m.2 type on HP Pavilion - 15-bc404ur - HP Support Community - 7349328

 

That is one reason why I suggested a 2.5" SSD...a sure bet.

 

I cannot with 100% certainty, guarantee that a M.2 NVMe SSD will work.

 

But if you want to give one a try, and let us know...because you are correct...a NVMe SSD would be around 5x - 6x faster than a SATA SSD.   

 

3500/3000 MBPS sequential read/write vs, 560/530 MBPS sequential read/write.

 

This would be the 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD I would recommend.

 

Samsung 980 1 TB PCIe 3.0 (up to 3.500 MB/s) NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V8V1T0BW)...

View solution in original post

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6 REPLIES 6

‎09-22-2021 07:40 AM

HP Recommended

Hi:

 

The service manual indicates you can install a max of 2 x 8 GB of DDR4-2666 memory.

 

See chapter 1, page 4.

 

Maintenance and Service Guide HP Pavilion Notebook PC

 

You may be able to run 2 x 16 GB of memory, and you can check by doing this...

 

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 maxcapacity 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.

 

IMHO, the hard drive is the main cause of your notebook's slowness.

 

I recommend you replace the 2.5" mechanical hard drive with a better performing 2.5" solid state drive (SSD).

 

If you can live with 500 GB, this SSD provides the best performance for the price...

 

Western Digital WDS500G2B0A WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD 2.5 Inch SATA, 500 GB : Amazon.co.uk: Compu...

 

I recommend that you just add one 8 GB memory chip in the empty slot and go with 16 GB of memory.

 

This would be a compatible 8 GB memory chip...

 

Crucial 8GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM | CT8G4SFRA266 | Crucial UK

Was this reply helpful? Yes No

‎09-25-2021 04:26 AM

HP Recommended

Hi Paul - and thank you so much for that help / advice.  Looks like a new hard drive as well then!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No

‎09-25-2021 06:01 AM

HP Recommended

Sorry Paul - a follow up question?  If/when I go for the SSD upgrade (probably a 1TB capacity to make it like for like) am I limited to the 2.5" format SATA option as per your previous response - or could I go for (i.e. will the laptop accommodate/have slots for) an M2/PCIE option? 

 

The SATA seems to be 5 times faster than what I have, but the M2/PCIE is about 25 times faster!!!

 

Thanks Paul!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No

‎09-25-2021 07:28 AM - edited ‎09-25-2021 07:31 AM

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

According to the manual, your PC does have a M.2 slot for a SSD, but here is where things get hazy...

 

If you go back to the service manual, and look at chapter 1, pages 4 & 5, it shows that the M.2 slot supports SATA SSD's only.

 

But it also shows that Intel Optane memory is supported, which is NVMe.

 

There are some discussions on the forum where folks have tried to install NVMe SSD's in the 15-bx4xx model series and many of them, but not all of them indicated they do not work.

 

So, I don't understand why a NVMe SSD would work 100% of the time in the model series, or not work 100% of the time in the model series.

 

These two indicate yes, a NVMe SSD should work.

 

Solved: Trouble with choosing M.2 SSD for HP-Pavilion 15-bc404ur - HP Support Community - 7118464

 

Solved: PCIe SSD supported or not - HP Support Community - 7821049

 

This one...a person installed a NVMe drive in his 15-bc400, and it didn't work.

 

m.2 type on HP Pavilion - 15-bc404ur - HP Support Community - 7349328

 

That is one reason why I suggested a 2.5" SSD...a sure bet.

 

I cannot with 100% certainty, guarantee that a M.2 NVMe SSD will work.

 

But if you want to give one a try, and let us know...because you are correct...a NVMe SSD would be around 5x - 6x faster than a SATA SSD.   

 

3500/3000 MBPS sequential read/write vs, 560/530 MBPS sequential read/write.

 

This would be the 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD I would recommend.

 

Samsung 980 1 TB PCIe 3.0 (up to 3.500 MB/s) NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V8V1T0BW)...

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‎09-26-2021 07:04 AM

HP Recommended

Thanks again Paul - you are a star!!

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‎09-26-2021 07:04 AM

HP Recommended

Anytime.

 

Glad to have been of assistance.

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