I was always running 32 GB RAM ECC RAM so far (check out my post that describes the system hardware). However, with more and more services being added through Docker 🐳 (my dockerfiles), the RAM was running low sometimes. In particular, when the ZFS file system got hungry too during intense disk IO.

Sooo… 🥁, I decided to upgrade. On eBay Kleinanzeigen, I found a fairly priced set of 64 GB RAM. Specifically, 8 modules with 8 GB 2Rx8 PC4 DDR4 of 2133 MHz. Because I have 8 modules in total, I thought nice! That will work 👍. I paid € 105 in total including shipping, which deemed a fair price.

Just now I installed it. The system boots fine (thank you seller, no crappy modules 😉) ✅. However, I only see 32 GB RAM 😳!

After some digging 🕵️‍♂️, I found

Total Slots : 8 (4-channel per CPU, 4 DIMM per CPU)

on the motherboards specification page. Great… I bought the wrong number of modules / module capacity configuration. Four modules of 16 GB RAM each would have been the better choice.

Now I have two options moving forward:

1. Sell the RAM again and get the right set.
2. Buy a CPU 🎉 (or 🤦‍♂️)

It is likely that I won’t get such a budget offer for the RAM again. So probably, a new kit of 4x 16GB RAM would cost me around € 150. The CPU on the other hand is really cheap: I found one on eBay for € 34,90 (and € 3,95 for shipping 🚢📦). On Arctic’s eBay shop, I found the bigger brother of my current CPU cooler, the Freezer 34 CO 🧊. It is listed for € 21,02 (including shipping). Grand total € 59,87.

A quick calculation: spend € 60 on a CPU + cooler and have a 2nd CPU, or expect to buy and sell RAM with losses of ~ € 50. Ok, let’s buy 💰 the CPU + cooler ☺️🤑.

Second thought 🤔💭: energy consumption ⚡️ will increase 📈. By how much? I think the fan will probably use 1-2 W. The CPU in idle (which basically it will most of the time) shouldn’t be more than 3 W. So let’s say 5 W more. That is 43,8 kWh in a year. We roughly pay € 0,32 / kWh right now, so that would roughly € 14 per year. That is ok.

Third thought 🤔💭: will the CPU cooler fit? This wouldn’t be my first endeavor where the CPU cooler didn’t fit the case 🙈. But this also checks out. I should have about 3 cm extra space.