Predator Helios 500: upgrading RAM for 32GB total

_albie_

I used "CPU-Z" to identify the RAM in my latop :

DIMM # 1

SMBus address 0x51

Memory type DDR4

Module format SO-DIMM

Manufacturer (ID) Hyundai Electronics (AD00000000000000000000)

Size 8192 MBytes

Max bandwidth DDR4-2400 (1200 MHz)

Part number HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH

Serial number B0A31106

Manufacturing date Week 03/Year 18

Nominal Voltage 1.20 Volts

EPP no

XMP no

AMP no

JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency

JEDEC #1 10.0-10-10-24-34 @ 727 MHz

JEDEC #2 11.0-11-11-26-37 @ 800 MHz

JEDEC #3 12.0-12-12-28-40 @ 872 MHz

JEDEC #4 13.0-14-14-31-44 @ 945 MHz

JEDEC #5 14.0-14-14-33-47 @ 1018 MHz

JEDEC #6 15.0-15-15-35-50 @ 1090 MHz

JEDEC #7 16.0-16-16-38-54 @ 1163 MHz

JEDEC #8 17.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

JEDEC #9 18.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

DIMM # 2

SMBus address 0x53

Memory type DDR4

Module format SO-DIMM

Manufacturer (ID) Hyundai Electronics (AD00000000000000000000)

Size 8192 MBytes

Max bandwidth DDR4-2400 (1200 MHz)

Part number HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH

Serial number B0A31166

Manufacturing date Week 03/Year 18

Nominal Voltage 1.20 Volts

EPP no

XMP no

AMP no

JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency

JEDEC #1 10.0-10-10-24-34 @ 727 MHz

JEDEC #2 11.0-11-11-26-37 @ 800 MHz

JEDEC #3 12.0-12-12-28-40 @ 872 MHz

JEDEC #4 13.0-14-14-31-44 @ 945 MHz

JEDEC #5 14.0-14-14-33-47 @ 1018 MHz

JEDEC #6 15.0-15-15-35-50 @ 1090 MHz

JEDEC #7 16.0-16-16-38-54 @ 1163 MHz

JEDEC #8 17.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

JEDEC #9 18.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

QUESTION
to install another 16GB into the (easy to reach slots #3 and #4) do I simply buy two of these (link below) and pop them in?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADRH7F58461

Accepted answers

All comments

Jack22

@albie
May i have the unit model number

_albie_

The model number is: N17Q11

Commodore_1995#

Is your model PH517-51? If it supports this type of memory:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/1i/0bn883u0urbm.png

Jack22

Model number starts with PH

_albie_

that's funny, on the bottom, the sticker shows MODEL NO. N17Q11
but yes, PH517-51-98Y7 shows above the S/N

Red-Sand

_albie_ said:

I used "CPU-Z" to identify the RAM in my latop :

DIMM # 1
SMBus address 0x51
Memory type DDR4
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Hyundai Electronics (AD00000000000000000000)
Size 8192 MBytes
Max bandwidth DDR4-2400 (1200 MHz)
Part number HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH
Serial number B0A31106
Manufacturing date Week 03/Year 18
Nominal Voltage 1.20 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
AMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 10.0-10-10-24-34 @ 727 MHz
JEDEC #2 11.0-11-11-26-37 @ 800 MHz
JEDEC #3 12.0-12-12-28-40 @ 872 MHz
JEDEC #4 13.0-14-14-31-44 @ 945 MHz
JEDEC #5 14.0-14-14-33-47 @ 1018 MHz
JEDEC #6 15.0-15-15-35-50 @ 1090 MHz
JEDEC #7 16.0-16-16-38-54 @ 1163 MHz
JEDEC #8 17.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz
JEDEC #9 18.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

DIMM # 2
SMBus address 0x53
Memory type DDR4
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Hyundai Electronics (AD00000000000000000000)
Size 8192 MBytes
Max bandwidth DDR4-2400 (1200 MHz)
Part number HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH
Serial number B0A31166
Manufacturing date Week 03/Year 18
Nominal Voltage 1.20 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
AMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 10.0-10-10-24-34 @ 727 MHz
JEDEC #2 11.0-11-11-26-37 @ 800 MHz
JEDEC #3 12.0-12-12-28-40 @ 872 MHz
JEDEC #4 13.0-14-14-31-44 @ 945 MHz
JEDEC #5 14.0-14-14-33-47 @ 1018 MHz
JEDEC #6 15.0-15-15-35-50 @ 1090 MHz
JEDEC #7 16.0-16-16-38-54 @ 1163 MHz
JEDEC #8 17.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz
JEDEC #9 18.0-17-17-39-55 @ 1200 MHz

QUESTION
to install another 16GB into the (easy to reach slots #3 and #4) do I simply buy two of these (link below) and pop them in?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADRH7F58461

Hard to tell really since specs are not listed on the newegg page..

I know typically you want to add RAM that has the same timings, cas latency, voltages and of the same size (so duel 8gb is good).

It may not have as much of an effect due to extra slots in their own channel so it may not be subject to being of the same specs so maybe someone else can chime in there.. but my OCD wouldn't allow it so I would do as I described! 😂

Commodore_1995#

I agree with colleague @ Red-Sand! You should buy two memories of 8GB of RAM, with the same casency latency and voltage so that you can use the dual-channel!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/7v/m56jsco6pltf.png

_albie_

I agree, I heard the same thing - that the memory types should essentially be the same for best performance.
That's why I resorted to "CPU-Z" to get the technical details so that I can order the exact same 8GB modules.

Commodore_1995#

Do you fru list it up?

Red-Sand

_albie_ said:

I agree, I heard the same thing - that the memory types should essentially be the same for best performance.
That's why I resorted to "CPU-Z" to get the technical details so that I can order the exact same 8GB modules.

As long as the models match then thats a good bet!

vanadium

I added 2x16GB RAM Gskill (found for 170€ on ebay) in addition to 2x8GB Hynix RAM already installed. No problem at all, each memory channel is filled with 24GB. I run all the RAM at 2666Mhz. Performance is great!

Commodore_1995#

Great, my friend! Congratulations on getting those rams memories!

Commodore_1995#

It is a service guide that are made available to ACE users! Acer releases service guides so these ACE users can help other users, so the Acer community is considered a peer to peer community!

Acer prohibits the distribution of service guides outside the community!

PredatorHelios500

Hi, egydioceolho.

It looks like you are replying to my message, which seems to have been removed.

How does an ACE community member get the service guide? Also why is my RAM at 2666MHz if the Helios 500 wants 2400MHz RAM?

Cheers,

Helios 500 Owner

vanadium

Helios 500 equiped with a 8750h officially supports RAM speed up to 2666Mhz according to CPU specs. But if you mix 2400 and 2666Mhz RAM, it's most likely the RAM will run at the lower speed for stability reasons.

EDIT: and dual channel works fine as long as you put 2 dimms with same size in those empty slots. Either 2x8GB if you want 32GB or RAM total, or 2x16GB RAM if you want to have 48GB RAM total.

Commodore_1995#

When a user contributes to the community consistently and with quality, he receives the ACE! When the user receives this badge, he receives a user and password to access the service guides! However I can not distribute these service guides in an environment that is outside the Acer community!

Sometimes the service guides do not show all information about the model! When I showed the fru list of the rams memories, you will see that it is compatible with the rams memories of 2666mhz! However, if you have two rams memories, one with 2400mhz and one with 2666mhz, both will only work at the speed of 2400mhz as said colleague @vanadium!

Commodore_1995#

@PredatorHelios500! Can you tell which is the exact model of your notebook?

PredatorHelios500

Hi, everybody. Thank you for your replies.

Here are stock parts that came with my PH517-51:

Intel Core i9-8950HK 2.90GHz
32 Gb RAM = 2x16Gb Kingston DDR4 2667MHz (ACR26D4S9D8MD-16)
Toshiba 512Gb M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD THNSN5512GPU7
Western Digital Blue Mobile 1Tb HDD WDC WD10SPZX
NVIDIA GTX 1070 8Gb DDR5
Killer Wireless-AC 1550i Adapter 9560NGW
Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
17.3-inch 1080p HD display

The part I'm still puzzled about is why the ram is running at 1200mV which is lower than the 1250mV minimum recommended by the RAM itself. Did Acer purposely undervolt the RAM to keep thermals under control?

wmic MEMORYCHIP get<br>Attributes  BankLabel  Capacity     Caption          ConfiguredClockSpeed  ConfiguredVoltage  CreationClassName     DataWidth  Description      DeviceLocator   FormFactor  HotSwappable  InstallDate  InterleaveDataDepth  InterleavePosition  Manufacturer  MaxVoltage  MemoryType  MinVoltage  Model  Name             OtherIdentifyingInfo  PartNumber        PositionInRow  PoweredOn  Removable  Replaceable  SerialNumber  SKU  SMBIOSMemoryType  Speed  Status  Tag                TotalWidth  TypeDetail  Version  <br>2           BANK 1     17179869184  Physical Memory  2667                  1200               Win32_PhysicalMemory  64         Physical Memory  ChannelA-DIMM1  12                                                                              Kingston      1500        0           1250               Physical Memory                        ACR26D4S9D8MD-16                                                    2336D9ED           26                8400           Physical Memory 1  64          128                  <br>2           BANK 3     17179869184  Physical Memory  2667                  1200               Win32_PhysicalMemory  64         Physical Memory  ChannelB-DIMM1  12                                                                              Kingston      1500        0           1250               Physical Memory                        ACR26D4S9D8MD-16                                                    2236DAED           26                8400           Physical Memory 3  64          128                  <br><br>

It's a fantastic machine as is but I want to beef it up in the coming months. And after tinkering with Windows games for a while I'm going to install Linux and it will become my main machine for coding... hopefully it will be good enough to last ten years or so. I'm old and my strategy with laptops has been to buy the top of the line consumer laptop every 10 years or so rather than a lower tier laptop which needs to be replaced every 3 or 4 years. So far I'm extremely happy with the Helios 500. It's the best designed laptop I've ever had. Acer has a real winner here. It seems like it would be very easy for Acer to support Linux on it. If I found a magic lamp, that's what I'd wish for.

Pretty much the only issue I've had is that the black case makes dust very visible so I often find myself cleaning the surface. Hopefully the look keeps its luster as the years go by. I'd also recommend a sliding door for the web cam. I HATE a web cam staring me in the face. I don't want anybody seeing me without my explicit choice and there are just too many ways for crackers to access the webcam. Seems no big OEM puts these on their laptops though... so sticker over the web cam yet again.

Cheers,

Helios 500 Owner

PS Why does Acer even want to keep the service manual secret? I can't imagine service makes them that much money to make this practice a good

Commodore_1995#

This model supports voltage from 1.14 to 1.26v! Did you show us the specification of this memory?

PredatorHelios500

egydiocoelho said:

This model supports voltage from 1.14 to 1.26v! Did you show us the specification of this memory?

All the information I have is in the output listing from wmic I gave. Windows reports a MaxVoltage of 1500mV and a MinVoltage of 1250mV but a ConfiguredVoltage of 1200mV. So for whatever reason the RAM is undervolted by 0.050mV. There are no spec sheets for this RAM I can find. I asked Acer customer support about this RAM but they only referred me to their parts store if I wanted more RAM and provided no more information. I also asked Kingston who appears to be the manufactor but haven't heard back yet. That part number is not in Kingston's "Memory Finder" database yet, nor is the Helios 500 although the Helios 300 is.