I'm building a lab environment for virtualized routers, in prep for my next network cert. I have a Dell Poweredge 2970, but it only has 16G of RAM. I need to upgrade the RAM, to the max of 64GB, but the price for 8GB sticks is too killer to justify for self study.
Is there a functional consumer grade substitute?
The user manual states when all slots are populated with 8gb, it only runs at 533MHz, instead of the normal 667MHz. The specs show DDR2 PC2-5300. My google skills tell me no - this is not possible. However, I'm hoping there's a trick, or some other models that provides the functionality, without the "enterprise®" features. I just need the horsepower to run the VM(s).
Documentation that I referenced:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/poweredge-2970/manuals