Increase RAM on older system

ittiandro said:

The information on the Web says that the PCI slot labeled PCI-E3 on the motherboard is 4 lanes and so it is the one to be used for the M.2 SSD and adapter.

At first, I thought that the PCI to M.2 adaptor is much too long to fit into the PCI-E3 slot, but looking at other videos, I realized that it can fit, because the contacts of the adaptor are only on its first section . The rest of the adaptor's length stays outside the PCI slot , so it doesn't matter.
I think, though, that in the end, the best solution is to install a 64-bits Windows 10, as somebody suggested. The M.2 SSD with the adaptor is perhaps feasible, but unnecessary. A bit too complicated and iffy. .

Thanks

Ittiandro
.

You have a few pcie x1 slots which is the early m.2 slot basically and you could put a m.2 drive there, without doing the math you wont get the full saturation of the drive though because you are only gen2.

You have a a barebones H61 with only Sata 2 and gen 2 we where well into gen 3 and Sata 3 and gen 4 at this point but gen 4 was only on high end systems. Not all H61 were like this most had sata 3 and gen 3. The board is kind of strange in that regard not sure on the reasoning tbh but it will be cost cutting you can tell by the pictures its a value board.

The main thing you want to do is 64 bit its like you chopped off one of your legs and are now only walking around with one leg.

I understand you mentioned not wanting to reinstall but your computer is DDR3 and 64bit. You are doing a disservice overall to the computer by running it like this. you miss out on the 4th page table and you miss out on faster, safer and more streamlined applications.

There is a line of thinking on old DDR2 machines that are 64bit but slow and resource heavy where putting 32bit on those computers helps improve ram utilization and cause applications and the OS to use less ram, its negligible results. This is kind of irrelevant to your situation but i am using it to set the tone here.

There is no reason to run a computer of this era on 32bit windows if it was common then you would see it being mentioned more often.

32 bit is basically phased out its dropped in Linux mostly where there is limited support by 3rd parties but most official distros have dropped support. IT systems are dropping support so like server software and infrastructure. Windows 11 has dropped support too so from 11 onward there will be no 32 bit offering. Many applications like web browsers are no longer maintain 32bit.

Why? because they don't make 32 bit processors in mass amounts anymore even embedded platforms use 64bit these days. 32 bit is fits inside 64 bit so this means there is minimal reasoning to support 32bit offerings.

The flip side using a 64bit CPU and using a 32 bit OS is not really beneficial its cutting any given memory address in half. With only 4GB addressed by windows, 64bit is basically unlimited headroom we will never need to leave x64 for the foreseeable future.

You can still use m.2 as a slave drive, i have some in my older computers set this way there is ways to enable NVME booting but imo its not worth it on this computer you probably won't get drastically different speeds and no where near the capability of the drive.

if you just want the extra space go for it.

Being gen 2 then you probably wont get much speed difference over a platter hard drive with a regular SSD either. It all boils down to more storage space being the primary factor after that.

I say forget PCIe M.2 SSDs for that old computer. Just get one or more 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. They are direct replacements for SATA hard drives. In words they use the same power and data connectors. The only gotcha is that they are smaller so you have to find a way to mount them. If the case does not have a way to mount 2.5-inch drives you can buy 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch adapters.

2.5-inch SATA SSD



2.5-inch to 3.5 inch drive adapter



2.5-inch SATA SSDs are much faster than the 3.5-inch SATA HDDs they replace.
Note: The tests were done using Crystal Disk Mark on the old computer shown at the end of this post.

WDC Caviar Blue 1TB (3.5-inch SATA HDD)



Samsung 870 EVO 1TB (2.5-inch SATA SSD)



Here are the upgrades I did for my old computer:

MBD: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
CPU: AMD Vishera FX-8350

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 RAM support:
4 x 1.5V DDR3 (max 32GB) 2000(OC)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz

Original RAM:
RAM: G.SKILL RIPJAW-X 4GB(2x2GB) DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800)

Current RAM:
RAM: G.SKILL RIPJAW-X 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800)

Original drives:
C: WDC Blue 1TB (3.5-inch SATA HDD)
D: WDC Caviar Blue 1TB (3.5-inch SATA HDD)
E: WDC Caviar Blue 1TB (3.5-inch SATA HDD)

Current drives:
C: Samsung 870 EVO 1TB (2.5-inch SATA SSD)
D: Samsung 870 EVO 1TB (2.5-inch SATA SSD)
E: Samsung 870 EVO 1TB (2.5-inch SATA SSD)

Original operating system:
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (1st HDD)

Current operating system:
Windows 10 Professional 64-bit (1st SSD)
Windows 7 Home 64-bit (3rd SSD)

In System settings click on "System" and on "Info"
Use HWINFO to find the installed RAM to avoid compatibility problems
Free Download HWiNFO Sofware | Installer & Portable for Windows, DOS
Did you download the Media Creation Tool 64 bit and did you select for a different PC?
In this forum you find a tutorial about a clean installation of WIN 10