RM Ecoquiet - worth trying to upgrade the ram & find drivers?

[rpain]

Hi,

 

I've got an RM Ecoquiet 965 core 2 duo with 1gb ram (lucky me...). I'd like to upgrade the ram but I've not tried taking it apart yet (and don't have one of the particular screw drivers needed to open the back). Bearing in mind getting the drivers looks like a pain and our network is exclusively win 7 (so I doubt 1gb ram will really cut it) is it worth me trying to take the thing apart to add more ram or should I just get a recycling company to take it away?

 

Richard

[Arreks]

If it's anything like the ones we have here, it's pretty easy once you take the panel off - if it's only 1gb then you've probably only got one stick though I could be wrong. It's running a dual-channel motherboard IIRC so just get another 2gb stick or get 2x2gb sticks and pop them both in. Unless you have 64-bit Windows 7 there's no need to get anymore than that.

[rad]

If it is anything like our RM Ecoquiets then no. the most use they are is for computer lessons to take apart.

[ReBoot]

I've got a few of these with older processors. Run Win7 satisfactorily and performance can be improved with a cheap SSD and more RAM. Only thing I don't like with allot of RMs is that they are not easy to take apart and work on - would have thought this a key requirement when designing for schools.

[rpain]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll keep it in the cupboard for now then.

[truebluesteve]

I've got a few of these with older processors. Run Win7 satisfactorily and performance can be improved with a cheap SSD and more RAM. Only thing I don't like with allot of RMs is that they are not easy to take apart and work on - would have thought this a key requirement when designing for schools.

 

Agreed - although once you know how its not so bad. We've put SSD's in a number of ours to keep them going for a bit longer and it does help. The other thing about the Ecoquiet's is that some models can't be expanded beyond 2GB RAM

[Foresthippy]

Your average security bit set will have the right bits and the disassembly instructions may be on RM's website, depending on model. We upgraded a suite of various models of RM one in a few hours.

[burgemaster]

We have a few of these Ecoquiets and to be fair they look pretty neat and tidy, but their 2gb RAM and 2ghz dual core CPU doesnt really cut it.

 

Its a MiniATX board. Has anyone tried replacing the CPU/Mobo/RAM on these?????

 

Ive spotted you can get a bundle with an dual core 3.2ghz socket 1150 CPU/ 4gb RAM and mATX Mobo for about £70-£90 these days?

 

Do you think they have other propriety parts? Maybe the PSU ?

Might have a look at one as a little project.

[ReBoot]

If you're talking £90 for a motherboard upgrade I'd say its not worth the effort.

 

I've been buying Dell OptiPlex 780 USFFs on eBay for less than this complete with monitor, stand, keyboard and mouse.

 

3GHz C2Duo 4GB RAM and 320GB HDDs. Nice little machines and ideal for schools.

[Arthur]

It's a MiniATX board.

Ours had Micro ATX motherboards, although Mini ITX should also fit.

 

Do you think they have other proprietary parts? Maybe the PSU?

The PSU is standard SFX.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the CPU/Mobo/RAM on these?

We upgraded some of our RM Ones with the following parts. They are super fast now, although they don't look it from the outside.

 

• Intel Core i3-4130 inc. heatsink (£76.13)
  
• Asus H81M-Plus (£34.58)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,600MHz RAM (£14.25)
  
• 120GB Samsung SSD (£44.12)
  
• BeQuiet 300W SFX PSU (£33.33)
  
• 64-bit Windows (OEM) license (£56.63) - Upgradable to Windows 7 Enterprise/Windows 10 Education through EES.
  

You could save a bit of money by swapping the Core i3 for a £42 Pentium G3450 and the Samsung SSD for a £33.33 SanDisk to bring the total cost down to approx. £214.

 

That's only £64 more expensive than a Core 2 Duo-based Lenovo M58p with 4GB RAM, SSD, Windows 7 license and 3 year warranty from ICT Direct (which doesn't include a monitor).

Edited October 6, 2015 by Arthur

[burgemaster]

Hi Arthur,

Have you been intercepting my emails!?!?!?

 

Ordered some parts last night to test today. The motherboard is the exact same model as yours and we also went for the G3450 as you suggested too! We already have some SSDs and 1600 RAM. I looked at the I3 comparison on cpuboss and couldn't warrant the extra 40quid for what we need them for. No PSU ordered. Will see how it goes!

Cheers

Edited October 6, 2015 by burgemaster

[burgemaster]

Arthur, I don't suppose you can confirm that you can use the HDMI and DVI outputs at the same time? We have HDMI projectors and the built in screen is DVI. ?

[Arthur]

Have you been intercepting my emails!?!?!?

LOL. It must have something to do with great minds thinking alike?

 

I don't suppose you can confirm that you can use the HDMI and DVI outputs at the same time? We have HDMI projectors and the built in screen is DVI?

I think the built-in screens on our RM Ones are VGA. I will try and find out however.

[burgemaster]

Its OK mate, don't put yourself out I can test in the morning. Ours are 100% DVI. The motherboard came with a weird DVI card.

[burgemaster]

If you're talking £90 for a motherboard upgrade I'd say its not worth the effort.

 

I've been buying Dell OptiPlex 780 USFFs on eBay for less than this complete with monitor, stand, keyboard and mouse.

 

3GHz C2Duo 4GB RAM and 320GB HDDs. Nice little machines and ideal for schools.

 

Hi Reboot,

I can see where your coming from, but these look a lot tidier being an all in one machine, also for around £90 im running brand new parts with an opportunity to upgrade right up to the latest haswell i7 if needed. The Ram is also DDR3 which is faster and also cheaper to upgrade in the future than DDR2. If I remember these dells use a dell PSU, which although we only ever had a blow were a pain to get replaced without using a 2nd hand one off eBay.