At the begining of this year I ordered an HP CTO pc, model H8-1080t. Later I head people having diffaculty with mb problem but knock on wood I haven't had one minutes of trouble. My question is this. I had ordered it with twelve gig of system ram. From what I can gather there are two, 4g simms and two two gig simms, leaving 2 slots empty. I don't like playing with simm chips but am wondering if I can buy another 4g simm and put it in one of the empty slots or does it matter which slots they go into. Also does it still matter if the manufacturer of the chips be the same brand. According to hp the motherboard is the IPMTB-TK (Truckee) motherboard
Are you sure? Did you inspect your board? According to the specs for your motherboard, that board supports triple channel memory architecture. That means, to take advantage of that, RAM must be installed in triplets. That is, you must use multiples of 3 sticks. If you currently have 4 sticks in there, some one didn't do it right. No harm that way, but part of your RAM is not running in triple channel mode and that results in a performance hit. So because that is a triple channel board my bet is you have 3 x 4Gb installed now. And to continue to take advantage of triple channel, you would need to install 3 more sticks. Yes, it matters which slot - check your manual. No, it does not matter if the maker is different, but each set of trips should be identical and of course, your board must support it. That said, it is highly unlikely you will see any performance gain when starting with a whopping 12Gb already.
Well, I can't be possitive since I don't want to mess with something that's working flawlessly. and since you say it's unlikely I'd see any perfmance gain, why bother plus it's still under HP s warranty till this time next year. If I find someone that has more tech savy then me will have them check it out to make sure it's correct. Thank you and happy holidays
It is just a matter of looking. And it is important to note it is the user's responsibility to keep the interior of PCs free of the heat trapping dust that WILL be drawn in by the fans, and that WILL blanket all your heat sensitive devices if not cleaned regularly. I recommend opening the side panel and visually inspect for dust and fan operation monthly, and cleaning as necessary. So I would urge you to remove the side panel and take a look. Also, check out Belarc Advisor. It will tell you much about your system, including what is in your RAM slots. Well, that is always something to keep in mind, but do note you have the Right to open your case (for cleaning) to add hardware like more RAM or an additional drive. So don't think for a minute that opening the side panel will void your warranty - it won't - even if there are stickers that say it will.
O' I realize that as I've changed out video cards and added ram to my previous systems. I was considering getting one of those cache ssd drives but haven't seen or heard anything positive about them yet. Yes that's one thing I do one a month. I lock down all the fans and used compressed air and a small brush to clear out the dust bunnies. Also do the fan in the power supply. about every 4 months i remove the front and top bezels and clean under them. Heck I even wash my keyboard!!!!
Sorry I haven't responded sooner but here is the info you requested. I used Belarc advisor and came up with this for memory 12280 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory Slot 'DIMM0' has 4096 MB Slot 'DIMM1' has 2048 MB Slot 'DIMM2' has 4096 MB Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty Slot 'DIMM4' has 2048 MB Slot 'DIMM5' is Empty
Well, that is an odd configuration (to me) but since your system is recognizing all the sticks, it appears to be working. I do wonder, however, if the RAM is working in triple-channel mode. As noted before, to take full advantage of triple channel, the sticks need to be installed in matched sets of 3 - not in pairs as yours appears to be. Typically the slots are color coded to help users install it properly but sadly, I cannot find that information in your manual.
I knew I should have put a link in there. I started with my friend, Google, and searched for H8-1080t. Then followed the links until I found your manuals.
