Upgrade Questions - Nitro 5 An517-51 with 16GB ram and a not much storage

Clarkey1982

Good Morning All,

I have a Nitro 5 AN517-51 with 16GB ram and a not much storage (~250GB). I was looking to upgrade to make it a little more powerful for the coming year.

I was wondering if I were to upgrade to RAM to 32Gb (Extra 1x 16GB RAM) and add further storage (1/2TB) what else would you recommend?

• Storage - Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - Up to 560MB/s - CT1000MX500SSD1 (Acronis Edition)

• RAM - Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) Portable Memory CT16G4SFRA32A

I’ve seen people talking about 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe Internal SSD, would that be worth it too? What will this actually do for the Laptop?

Regards,

Chris

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

Accepted answers

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/695390/upgrade-questions-nitro-5-an517-51

The Ram supports 32GB of memory via two RAM DIMMs so 2x16GB that you planned is OK but they need to form a kit of 2 identical DDR4 modules, brand rank and CL, everything the same otherwise you won't be running in Dual Channel mode 2667 MHz.
This RAM is recommended: DDR4 PC4-21300 2666MHz Non-ECC SODIMM standard JEDEC like: https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct2k16g4sfra32a/ct18670675 ($80) that may even run at 3200 MHz but will probably be downclocked to 2667 MHz. Don't mix modules as that will run in Single Channel mode at half the speed.

On your SSD question: The laptop has 2x M.2 PCIe NVMe x4 slots, I recommend up to 1TB 2280 NVMe Gen3 SSD for either slot: One is PCIe only the other slot is PCIe/Sata Co-lay. You can install Gen4 SSD but it will run at Gen3 speed (half).
The 2.5 Sata-3 HDD you have can be replaced with a 2.5" up to 2TB Samsung 870 EVO V-NAND SSD that will be much faster.

You were also asking about the impact of PCIe M.2 SSDs on your system, these are 6 times faster than the 2.5" Sata-3 SSD: 560 megabytes per second (MB/s) vs. 3,500 MB/s and probably 100x faster than a Sata spinner HDD you have now.

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/695390/upgrade-questions-nitro-5-an517-51

The Ram supports 32GB of memory via two RAM DIMMs so 2x16GB that you planned is OK but they need to form a kit of 2 identical DDR4 modules, brand rank and CL, everything the same otherwise you won't be running in Dual Channel mode 2667 MHz.
This RAM is recommended: DDR4 PC4-21300 2666MHz Non-ECC SODIMM standard JEDEC like: https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct2k16g4sfra32a/ct18670675 ($80) that may even run at 3200 MHz but will probably be downclocked to 2667 MHz. Don't mix modules as that will run in Single Channel mode at half the speed.

On your SSD question: The laptop has 2x M.2 PCIe NVMe x4 slots, I recommend up to 1TB 2280 NVMe Gen3 SSD for either slot: One is PCIe only the other slot is PCIe/Sata Co-lay. You can install Gen4 SSD but it will run at Gen3 speed (half).
The 2.5 Sata-3 HDD you have can be replaced with a 2.5" up to 2TB Samsung 870 EVO V-NAND SSD that will be much faster.

You were also asking about the impact of PCIe M.2 SSDs on your system, these are 6 times faster than the 2.5" Sata-3 SSD: 560 megabytes per second (MB/s) vs. 3,500 MB/s and probably 100x faster than a Sata spinner HDD you have now.

Clarkey1982

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243053#Comment_1243053

Thankyou Puraw,

So is it worth going for 3200 or just sticking with the 2666 Version?

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243059#Comment_1243059

If the price is much lower, look for a good deal and buy 2666 MHz, I don't believe it will run at 3200Mhz. 😉

Clarkey1982

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243063#Comment_1243063

yeah I don’t either reading up on it but the price is much the same to be honest.

Actually the 2666 is more expensive 🤦‍♂️

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243064#Comment_1243064

Then buy the Crucial modules, that kit I posted, let me know if they run at 3200MHz or 2667MHz.

Clarkey1982

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243071#Comment_1243071

will do pal. Thankyou

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243072#Comment_1243072

You are welcome.

EpicBunty

I would like to add a few things-

Before upgrading step 1 is always finding out what you have and can support.

Use a software like hwinfo to see what speed your installed RAM is actually running at. With that information you can decide if you want to purchase an identical ram stick for your system which is cheaper or go for 2 entirely new 3200mhz sticks. Apart from being more expensive, another problem sometimes with this (I think) is if it's too high then the system just wont support it, but usually it will downclock to the highest supported speeds and timings, but better make sure they are returnable just in case!

As for storage if you have m.2 nvme slots then you should definitely go for one. It seems like you already have a 256Gb SSD installed but I don't know if it's the 2.5 inch sata one or an m. 2 one(which could also be an m.2 sata one instead of m.2 nvme) confused yet?

Your OS should always be installed on the fastest drive. Also, m. 2 nvme's should be for around the same prices as the sata ones currently. They are way faster, a gen 3 or gen 4 SSD running on gen 3 hardware will be as fast as 3,500 MB/s on read and writes(compare that to the sata's 550Mb/s). Mind you the reads are easier and the writes are tougher so write speeds might be lower.

Now what I mainly wanted to add, imho you should consider a 2tb gen 4 SSD. It will be an investment but extremely worthwhile. Gen 4 SSD means it will work at gen 3 speeds currently, but if you ever upgrade to newer hardware then it will run at gen 4 speeds which depending on the drive will be upto 7000 MB/s+ and they are not that much more expensive than the gen 3 ones. Also the bigger you go with ssd's the better value you get upto a certain sweet spot, which is 2tb right now imo(in my country, 128gb and 256gb SSD's cost the same right now!). So the slightly higher price you would pay for these things would be more than worth it in the long run.

Now, prices differ everywhere so everything depends. Also you have to know your own use case. Do you need 2 TB of storage? Would you ever upgrade to newer hardware within the next 5-7 years, and if so would you like even faster speeds then? If you answer no to any of those then don't worry about anything I said.

Either ways, m. 2 nvme speeds are way better than hdd or sata ssd speeds. Shifting the OS to it changes everything about the computer so much that it's incredible. One of the best innovations in technology in recent times for sure. No wonder all the current gen consoles shifted to it. just make sure you buy one which is reliable with dram, good speeds and a decently sized slc cache for which you will have to read reviews. Also don't forget to buy a heatsink for it which for laptops is just a thin bar of copper or something and comes with a thermal pad.

Sorry for the geeky infobomb drop lol.

I myself shifted to one very recently since we have sales going on here so I'm loaded with this. Make sure you have your backups and everything secure! After i did that I could mess around all I wanted. Reinstalled Windows 10 ,dual boot installed and used Linux for the first time, which was awesome. Windows 10 is running amazingly right now.

If you wanna know anything more just let us know maybe we can help!!

Cheers.

EpicBunty

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243071#Comment_1243071

I have wanted to know this for so long. Faced these same questions when I was upgrading to 32 GB. But instead of 2 new ones I just compromised and bought 1 16 GB 2666mhz one, because it said that my laptop only supports upto 2400mhz so I really wanted to check and surprise surprise, that stick actually ran at that speed. Wish I had gone for 2 3200 ones instead, now I'm stuck at 2400mhz ram speeds for now.

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