How expandable is the Acer Aspire 3 A315-54-50PG?

faq
faq Member Posts: 6

Tinkerer

Hi there,

I recently took my Acer Aspire 3 A315-54-50PG to the store to see about a memory upgrade. They told me this model did not have 2 x 4gb RAM but 1 x 8gb RAM. I was surprised to learn this as they offered to sell me a 16gb RAM expansion.

Does anyone here have experience upgrading the RAM on this specific model?

Also is it possible to add an extra SSD to compliment the 2Tb hard drive? What have other user's experience been with this? Is it easy for a first timer to do?

f.  

Best Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Original specs had a single replaceable DDR4 sodimm socket with either 4GB or 0GB soldered RAM socket with a maximum RAM of either 20GB or 16GB. So yes it's possible that you had a single 8GB sodimm if the mainboard had 0GB soldered RAM. The mainboard also has a single 2.5" HDD socket and a single m.2 card socket. If the m.2 socket is not equipped with an optane card to enhance the speed of the 2TB HDD, you can add an m.2 SATA card up to 2TB with no issues. You can check if you have the optane card installed by entering the BIOS menu with the F2 key on boot and check the SATA mode in the BIOS Information tab. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Thanks for reporting back with your progress on speeding things up. USB DVD R/Ws are super cheap these days. :)

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Original specs had a single replaceable DDR4 sodimm socket with either 4GB or 0GB soldered RAM socket with a maximum RAM of either 20GB or 16GB. So yes it's possible that you had a single 8GB sodimm if the mainboard had 0GB soldered RAM. The mainboard also has a single 2.5" HDD socket and a single m.2 card socket. If the m.2 socket is not equipped with an optane card to enhance the speed of the 2TB HDD, you can add an m.2 SATA card up to 2TB with no issues. You can check if you have the optane card installed by entering the BIOS menu with the F2 key on boot and check the SATA mode in the BIOS Information tab. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • faq
    faq Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for that. Am amazed a company would solder 0Gb in an expansion slot. Me and the technician were expecting 4gb in each slot but this apparently was not the case.

    I checked the BIOS and the SATA mode does have an Optane card. Guess the SSD will have to wait for a while. 

    Thanks again for your answers.

    f.
  • faq
    faq Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    Just been told the M.2 slot is expandable so can put a SSD there.

    How easy is it to do yourself?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Sure it's expandable. The easy part is physically replacing the optane memory cache m.2 card (if installed) with a normal SSD m.2 card.  The hard & uncertain part is changing the 2TB Windows boot HDD to operate without relying on the intel proprietary optane m.2 card as an external memory cache without corrupting the Windows installation. Check this link first before you get too excited about doing this anytime soon. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • faq
    faq Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    This is weird. When I spoke to the shop guys today, they said the M.2 card slot was empty, thus expandable.

    But the Bios says the SATA slot is occupied by the Optane card. Which is right?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Sorry, I would have to open the machine and see for myself to give you a 100% guaranteed answer. Especially if the BIOS is set to sata mode of irst with optane. Next best thing is for you to see for yourself that it's empty from the mainboard image shown below. If the m.2 socket is in fact empty, a normal m.2 SSD card might still run into issues with the BIOS set to essentially an optane-ready mode but less likely. I'd probably give it a normal m.2 SSD a try since optane technology is sort of a lame way to help speed up and extend the life of super-cheap/slow mechanical  hard drives that have little or no internal solid state cache memory. Jack E/NJ




    Jack E/NJ

  • faq
    faq Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    Just an update on this but I expanded my laptop to 16gb RAM and recently put in a 2TB m.2 SSD. Really impressed by the speed of the laptop now. I know this is a basic model but work needs required more speed and I'm impressed by it now. Can't imagine going back to a basic 8gb non-SSD laptop again. My only regret is the lack of DVD drive but such is progress... 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Thanks for reporting back with your progress on speeding things up. USB DVD R/Ws are super cheap these days. :)

    Jack E/NJ

  • OSerban
    OSerban Member Posts: 1 New User
    faq said:
    Just an update on this but I expanded my laptop to 16gb RAM and recently put in a 2TB m.2 SSD. Really impressed by the speed of the laptop now. I know this is a basic model but work needs required more speed and I'm impressed by it now. Can't imagine going back to a basic 8gb non-SSD laptop again. My only regret is the lack of DVD drive but such is progress... 
    Hello,
    I have the same model and i would like to upgrade from 8Gb RAM to 16Gb. Could you please guide me how to do it.
    Thank you in advance
  • faq
    faq Member Posts: 6

    Tinkerer

    OSerban said:
    Hello,
    I have the same model and i would like to upgrade from 8Gb RAM to 16Gb. Could you please guide me how to do it.
    Thank you in advance
    Sorry but I went to a small PC repair shop that did the work for me. Did an excellent job. Just a pity the rest of the laptop isn't built to last that long.