I recently purchased a Dell Precision Workstation with the configuration listed below. I am running Bloomberg (with a lot of Launchpad components) various Excel instances, a Java-based trading platform and streaming a couple live TV channels alongside Outlook and ad-hoc browser sessions. Dell Precision T3610 Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1620 v2 (Quad Core HT, 3.7 GHz Turbo, 10 MB) 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600 MHz 500GB 3.5inch Serial ATA (7,200 Rpm) Hard Drive 2 GB NVIDIA® Quadro® K2000 Video Card Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit 3 x Dell UltraSharp 23.8" Monitor - U2414H 1 x Dell UltraSharp 27" Monitor - U2713HM The standard memory that came installed on the machine is peaking at about 75-80% capacity. I had hoped to buy the machine configured with at least 16 GB RAM, ideally 1866 MHz, but it wasn't available with the pre-configured machine that I wanted to buy. So now I am looking to upgrade the memory and wondering 1) to what capacity; 2) what type/speed; and 3) how many sticks (i.e if upgrading to 32 GB, should I go with 8GB x 4 or 16GB x 2)? Any suggestions/recommendations are very welcome! Thank you!
T3610 has 8 Dimm slots. You'll want to "populate in 4s"... 4x4GB, 4x8GB... or 8x4GB, 8x8GB, etc. Download and install a free system info utility called "SIV". In the memory section, it will tell you what you have installed. You'll want to buy more of what you already have as to speed, timings, and voltage. (You can't just use any old RAM you want.) Suggest not buying the RAM from Dell... too much markup. Try Newegg or other enthusiast site. Look for sale price and/or rebates. Brand doesn't matter. Timings and voltage do. If you're currently using 75-80% of your RAM's capability, doubling it should be adequate. If you're planning to run a RAM Disk, allow for that.
RAM is cheap, and your 8GB is definitely on the low side. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit supports up to 192 GB. That max would be an overkill, but 32 Gb would make your apps run much smoother. I don't think it matters whether it is 4x8 or 2x16. However, your machine is likely to have specific types of RAM slots, so you don't have any choice there.
It matters some. It's a "quad channel" mobo, so best performance will be had if "populated in 4s", like I said.
Thank you all for your feedback. I ended up replacing the existing memory with new and faster DIMMs for a total of 32GB (2x16) for now, leaving myself the option to upgrade to max 128GB supported by the machine without having to replace any more DIMMs in the future. The performance improvement is definitely noticeable! Thanks again for your feedback and help!
Should be even been faster if you "populate in 4s". With only 2 DIMMS, you're probably running in "dual-channel mode" on a quad-channel mobo". (might even be "single-channel mode"). Check user manual for "memory configuration". Maybe you should get 2 more 16MB chips?