Inspiron 3531 Memory Upgrade

[Inspiron3531]

Hi gang,

I'm about to upgrade an Inspiron 3531 to 8GB. I know I need a single DDR3L module to do this. I was just wondering if anyone knows enough about these rigs to definitively say whether there's any benefit to me getting DDR3L-1866, over the DDRL3-1600 type?

Does the motherboard, cpu and bios combo for these have the ability to benefit from that higher speed RAM? Anything you can point to as actual proof of your answer is appreciated.

I'll also be looking to upgrade the hard drive to SSD. The unit in question has a blank out plate where the optical drive would go. Does anyone know if there's a way to rig a second hard drive in the optical bay behind this factory blank out plate? And what, if any, options will the BIOS have for 2 drives? Any chance this thing can do RAID 0 via the chipset? Would that provide any real world speed advantage over a single SSD?

Thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm about to upgrade an Inspiron 3531 to 8GB. I know I need a single DDR3L module to do this. I was just wondering if anyone knows enough about these rigs to definitively say whether there's any benefit to me getting DDR3L-1866, over the DDRL3-1600 type?

Does the motherboard, cpu and bios combo for these have the ability to benefit from that higher speed RAM? Anything you can point to as actual proof of your answer is appreciated.

OEM systems, especially laptops, offer pretty-much ZERO support for tweaking, much less RAM timing / freq / voltage tweaking.

For best results, best to match your selection of RAM as closely as possible to the OEM stick. That means, same voltage / freq, and similar timings.

I'll also be looking to upgrade the hard drive to SSD. The unit in question has a blank out plate where the optical drive would go. Does anyone know if there's a way to rig a second hard drive in the optical bay behind this factory blank out plate? And what, if any, options will the BIOS have for 2 drives? Any chance this thing can do RAID 0 via the chipset? Would that provide any real world speed advantage over a single SSD?

Thanks

You will have to check if the laptop came with a blank optical drive spacer plate, whether it actually is wired for an optical drive. I've got a Dell, that lacks the SATA/power plugs, and a Lenovo that has them. Both shipped with a dummy optical spacer.

Unlikely it can do RAID-0, and even more unlikely that it would provide any more real-world performance boost than a single SSD.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Blac...d-Drive-and-Windows-8.1-DVD-CD-DRIVE/37065080

Is that the one you have? I think my Dell that I upgraded is similar, if not that exact model.

The optical slot LACKS the proper SATA/power plugs internally. So that's a no-go on installing a DVD drive or a secondary HDD.

Also, the BIOS does NOT allow for RAID-0, or any type of RAM tweaking.

I would recommend the GSkill 8GB DDR3L-1600 CAS9 SO-DIMM at Newegg for roughly $30.

The good news is that I've upgraded several of these, and they have an access panel on the back side for the RAM and HDD. It's pretty trivial to swap them.

Make sure to make a recovery USB drive before removing the HDD, if you want to put the factory OS on the new SSD.

I put a Samsung 850 EVO 120GB in mine, although any SATA 2.5" SSD should work, for the most part. I don't remember whether the drive has to be 7mm, 9.5mm, or 12.5mm in thickness.