OMEN 15-ax202nq RAM/SSD upgrade

[Alexandrulus]

Hello

Recently I've been thinking of upgrading my HP OMEN 15-ax202nq  laptop so I ran a Crucial scan for the system which arose a few question.  According to the scan the maximum RAM memory supported is 32GB and proposes DDR4 @2666 upgrades although the service manual says 16GB DDR4 @2400 is the maximum supported. Also,checking the processor specs, it supports a maximum of 64GB of DDR4 @2400.

a. Can someone please confirm the maximum size of the RAM and the maximum working frequency ?

Also, the scan proposes only SATA III M.2 SSD upgrades but the manual states that for this model NVMe M.2 SSDs are supported. When I installed my WD Blue 128GB (SATA III), I saw that the form factor of the M.2 slot is NVMe.

b. Can someone confirm that NVMe SSDs work for this model ?

Crucial Scan: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/scanview/46A1EA4231D926C3

Service Manual : http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05357609

Processor Specs: https://ark.intel.com/products/97185/Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

Thanks in advance !

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

I can speak from experience on that model as it was my 2017 Expert loaner from HP which I just donated to charity (all HP Experts who get a loaner agree to donate to charity after a year of use). I personally upgraded the M.2. Mine came with a 2TB 5400 rpm hdd + a 128 gig SATA M.2 which I upgraded to a 512 gig Samsung PM961 PCIe/NVME M.2 disk after which it ran like a scared deer. Other PCIe/NVME M.2 disks might cause compatibility issues and I am specifically calling out the Samsung 960 Evo and Pro series. Lots of headaches and very few success stories reported here on that type of disk. All M.2 slots are two chambers. The slot does not look any different on laptops that will only take SATA M.2 than it does on those that will take only PCIe/NVME (or both). However in this case you are in luck as the slot on your Omen can take either type. 2 prong (B key) or 3 prong (B + M key). 

The motherboard runs the memory bus on the Intel 7th gen Core processors at 2400 mhz. Takes DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM. Mine came with 16 gigs so I never saw the need to upgrade but you will find resellers offering them with 32 gigs. 64 gigs will not work. 32 gigs will. DDR4-2666 will downclock to 2400 mhz despite what the Crucial advisor says. But if you need to buy 2 x 16 gig sticks you can get DDR4-2666 and I guess there is some chance it will run at full speed I am just betting otherwise.

Good luck and enjoy the Omen. Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the answer you needed. 

[Alexandrulus]

Thank you for the prompt answer !

It is indeed a beautiful machine but mine came only with 8GB of RAM so an upgrade is due. Thanks again for the input, it makes my decision clear.

[Huffer]

Unless you are making feature length Pixar movies on it 16 gigs is plenty. 8 is actually pretty fair and plenty for gaming. Memory is so high now I would hate to see you buy something you don't need for hundreds of dollars. Another 8 gig stick would be a very significant upgrade. 

[Alexandrulus]

Indeed, 16GB is what I was going for but I was thinking of buying only one stick instead of 2x8GB so I'll upgrade it later down the road when 16GB will not be enough anymore. But thinking of it, I'll probably stick with 2x8 to get the dual channel setup (2x4GB installed at the moment so I'll have to buy both).

[Huffer]

I hate it when they give you 2 x 4 = 8. Yes wait until you can get a matched pair. As I said you might be surprised that upgrading from 8 in dual channel to 16 in dual channel does not do that much for you. You can check your memory usage in Task Manager. If you are not fully utilizing 8 gigs then adding more will not help. I do a fair amount of heavy document processing like OCRing big sets of .pdfs so needed 16 gigs sometimes. Most computer users do not fully use 8 gigs. 

[Alexandrulus]

I do tend to use 80% + while multitasking (mainly excessive Chrome tabs while researching + simulators and such) so it's probably worth taking the step forward as it will eventualy be required anyways.