I'm maintaining this as my own computer tech support thread. Popes and walls and beer aren't the main topics here, though derailing is, of course, expected. Well, beer is on topic as always, I guess.
OK, so I ordered a Dell Studio XPS 9100 last week, and I got it with 8GB of RAM (the minimum) with the intentions of ordering more on my own. I'd like to think that landing around 12~16GB would be ideal.
The XPS 9100 is listed as tri-channel memory on all BUT the 8GB configuration, where, as it shows in the screenshot above, it's listed as dual channel. I liked the idea of ordering it with 8GB because:
A- I'm not paying Dell's high prices
B- It shows that I'll have two free slots (the 9100 model has 6 DIMM slots) in a dual-channel mode allowing for me to add 2X 4GB sticks to the 4X 2GB already in place without me having to throw anything out.
Now I'm wondering if this thinking is faulty?
I'm wondering it the tri-channel mode is something that's inherent in the motherboard or something, and this particular configuration is ONLY dual channel because they happen to be giving me 4 sticks. Despite what the screenshot above says, is this system inherently tri-channel?
So the question is: Do I add 2X 4GB sticks to what's there, or do I just scrap it all and buy two kits
from Crucial...a 12GB and a 6GB?
The system will have an ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB video card, so I don't
think I'll need to lean into RAM for video performance (Photoshop and Lightroom work, no gaming).
I can download the auto-configuration tool at Crucial after
I receive and install the Dell, but I'd kinda like to order this Memory and a USB 3.0 card before the Dell gets here so I can install them before moving the computer into it's new home.
Any advice at all would be appreciated.
