If you've bought the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-53E5 gaming laptop then chances are you were a bit surprised that it only came with 8 GB of RAM.
Sure, 8 GB might help you easily get by if you're going to use your laptop for stuff like browsing the web, streaming music, and watching a few movies but for more hardcore tasks such as gaming, video editing, and even photoshop work you'd do well to upgrade the memory to be able to tackle all these tasks without breaking a sweat and take full advantage of the 10th generation Core i5 processor and dedicated RTX 3050 graphics card.
But if you're not a computer geek like us don't worry, it's a very simple procedure, we'll have you in and out in less than 5 minutes wondering why you didn't upgrade the RAM of the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-53E5 sooner.
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-53E5 RAM Upgrade step-by-step
What type of RAM should you get?
The first thing you might be wondering is what type of RAM this particular Nitro 5 laptop takes. Specifically, its RAM controller can work with speeds of up to 2933 MHz so we're going to recommend purchasing a couple of DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Non-ECC SODIMM modules.
While clock-speed on these modules is slightly higher than the RAM controller manages, don't worry as the motherboard will simply take 2933 MHz out of these 3200 MHz modules. You could also buy specific compatible 2933 MHz modules but these are a bit more expensive and you won't really notice a difference. Also, the actual RAM on this notebook uses a 3200 MHz module.
How much RAM should I upgrade the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55-53E5 to?
As far as how much you should get. That's going to depend on your usage. This model supports a maximum of 32 GB, 16 GB on each of the available slots. Depending on how intent you are on future-proofing this laptop and the nature of the multitasking you perform you can make decision.
16 GB would be good to kicks things up a notch with two compatible 8 GB modules but for AAA games we would seriously encourage you to go all the way up to 32 GB with two compatible 16 GB modules of RAM.
How Do I upgrade the RAM on the AN515-55-53E5
You're going to need a Philips screwdriver and a plastic knife or device of some kind to remove the bottom lid of the device and expose the motherboard.
Step 1: Turn off your computer - not hibernate, off -. Place it upside down and remove the 11 screws using your Philips screwdriver. Once the screws are removed you're going to need to make use of a plastic knife or thin device of some kind that you will use to remove the bottom lid. It's important that you don't use anything metallic since metal is an electrical conductor and you could also easily scratch de laptop.
Step 2: Once the motherboard has been exposed it's generally a good idea to unplug the battery. In this case it's readily accessible so we would encourage you to do so.
Step 3: Locate the RAM slots. As you can see one of the RAM slots has already been filled so you're going to need to remove the onboard RAM if you're planning to upgrade to 32 GB of RAM.
Don't worry, it's not soldered onto the motherboard like other models so all you need to do is unclasp the clasps located on the sides of the RAM. To do so just pull gently but firmly to the opposite side of each clasp outwards and that will expose the RAM at a 45-degree angle.
Step 4: Now you want to place your new RAM modules in the available slots upside down. If you don't know which side is up here's a nifty trick. The RAM inserted makes use of 260 pins with a notch located close to the center. All you need to do is get your RAM's notch and the slots notch to align and you've inserted the RAM correctly.
Step 5: Now that you've placed your RAM modules you want to firmly press down on them and attach the clasps once again for the RAM to be properly connected to the device.
Step 6: Plug the battery on again and place the lid and screws back onto the lower side of the laptop. Turn the laptop on.
Step 7: Finally, to make sure the system has taken on the memory you'll need to go to "Device configuration" where you'll see a line that says "RAM" and should reflect the amount of RAM you've opted to place into the AN515-55-53E5.
You're done. You've successfully upgraded the memory in your system and you're going to be able to work on all sorts of RAM-intensive programs such as games and video editing without your laptop breaking a swear.