Hardware upgrades for roadhog 4

Question

I have many questions I haven't really thought to ask until now. As many people have noted, things like the patch window has always been very slow, but now the preferences window can be extremely slow as well. That got me thinking about the machine I already own... 
 Question 1: Can I upgrade the ram and SSD? I'm assuming I can go to 8GB and a 256GB SSD without much issue... why would I do this? Many reasons. This machine is over 10 years old and version 4.0 seems to be showing that more and more. 
 
 Question 2: Is there a drop in processor upgrade I can look for? I am plenty familiar with building pcs, putting an upgraded chip into a similar socket type is more of an AMD thing so I don't have much hope here. 
 
 Question 3: Can I simply drop in the motherboard from the RoadHog 4-21? It's nearly impossible to find actual documentation of the internals so I'm left asking the questions here. 
 
 Question 4: Can I install motorized faders in the roadhog 4? Again I can't see the internals of the hog 4 or 4-19, I'm not sure if there's extra hardware to control the motors themselves. If it's just an extra pcb... is there any way to install that into the roadhog? (I don't mean physically fit in in there, I know I could, there is a lot of empty space. I'm aware that the programming for the roadhog and hog 4 are a little different, pcbs a little different... does that make this upgrade impossible?

apollonus · Accepted Answer

Question 1 Part 1 Ram - Answer: 4GB 1066/1333 DDR3 per slot. We can get 8GB at 1333MHz or 16GB at 1066MHz 
 8GB (4GB x 2 Module) 240 Pin non-ECC DDR3 Kits can be picked up still new in the packaging for $10-$20. 
 Answer found here at the manufacturers website: 
 http://advdownload.advantech.com/productfile/Downloadfile5/1-123JVE0/AIMB-581_user_manual_Ed1.pdf 
 Page 10 Section 1.9 System Memory: 
 "AIMB-581 has four 240-pin memory sockets for 1066/1333 MHz memory modules with maximum capacity of 16GB(Maximum 4GB for each DIMM). AIMB-581QG2 supports only non-ECC DDR3 memory modules and do not support registered DIMMs (RDIMMs)" 
 From Crucials website: 
 Non-ECC (also called non-parity ) modules do not have this error-detecting feature. Any chip count not divisible by nine indicates a non-parity memory module. Using ECC decreases your computer's performance by about 2 percent.

apollonus · Answer

Question 1 Part 2 SSD - Answer: there is no problem installing as large as a 2TB SSD, they're just expensive. A 500GB to 1TB will be the most cost efficient. 
 
 Some pros about having a seemingly oversized drive: 
 1. Last much longer as it takes more time to write over the much larger number of memory locations. This comes up a lot in forums when discussing which M.2 NVMe drive to get and why. The rule of thumb was to get a small one just for the OS and a huge one for your main drive and throw in some SSD's for long term storage or RAID configuration. Now we shove the largest drive affordable everywhere. 
 2. Without going into insane detail, the speed of the larger drives is usually higher than the smaller ones, even if not specifically listed on packaging. This can help with things like boot time, extremely slow fixture library or preference window loading, and will even run ever so slightly cooler. 
 Cons: 
 They're not M.2, which at this point at cheaper and much faster, even the gen 1's...

apollonus · Answer

Question 2: Processors - Answer: This is a little more complicated, short answer is yes either an i7 or Xeon E3, long answer is maybe. 
 i7-2600 - $10-$30 if you can find it. Gives a noticeable bump in base clock, allows the machine to turbo and provides faster discrete graphics. 
 Xeon E3-1275 - $300, easy to find. Gives the same performance as the i7 but is rated for servers, so.... mo betta for a lighting console. 
 
 Location for this answer: 
 Based on the Motherboard manufacturers information: "The AIMB-581 is designed for LGA1155, Intel Xeon and Intel Core i7/Core i5/Core i3/ Pentium/Celeron processor" 
 The Actual list of these processors can be broken down into two categories 
 Server/Enterprise: Xeon E3-1275, Xeon E3-1225 
 Consumer grade: Core i7-2600, Core i5-2400, Core i3-2120, Pentium G850, Celeron G540 
 The RoadHog 4 uses a Pentium G850, the G here stands for Graphics and is most certainly a consumer grade component. It has a fixed clock of 2.9 GHz, 2 Cores, and a low level of cache. It's saving grace is its low TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 65W vs the 95W of every faster CPU in this line up. 
 The question then becomes one of can the power supply handle the extra 30W? Probably, but it's better to check. Other than that, they all use the same instruction sets, have all of the features of the G850 and more.

Hardware upgrades for roadhog 4

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