I want to upgrade my RAM, but should i get 2x4gb or 1x8gb?

[BarbaricSoul]

^what he said. Aside for the GTX780ti, my full 3930k system was bought used. No issues in the 2 years and 10 months I've had it so far, and buying used saved me about $1500 in total.

 

[winterwonderland]

excellent. do you got any tips on how i can find the right G.SKILL ram that i need? just go by the newegg-link barbaricsoul provided me with? what about 1x16gb? or will 2x8gb work better? edit: also, any other alternatives for 16gb if not G.SKILL 2x8gb??

the reason i got this for about $400, was because of 1) it's missing an internal hdd, with the exception of that 250gb ssd, 2) i got no windows with it, 3) it was supposed to be a display pc (stationed behind a store window), but they never got that far and 3) since it's been powered up before, technically, it goes under the term "used", so that dragged the price down as well. still, all in all, i believe it was a fairly good deal, considering i also got the attached stuff with the buy (keyboard, mouse and 2tb external hdd).

 

[BarbaricSoul]

excellent. do you got any tips on how i can find the right G.SKILL ram that i need? just go by the newegg-link barbaricsoul provided me with? what about 1x16gb? or will 2x8gb work better?
.

The memory kit I linked was the least expensive 2*8gb set of DDR4 2133 available according to PC Partpicker. You do want to go with 2*8 instead of 1*16 so it will run in dual channel mode, unless you plan to upgrade to 32gb, which then you could just add a 2nd 16gb stick later.

the reason i got this for about $400, was because of 1) it's missing an internal hdd, with the exception of that 250gb ssd, 2) i got no windows with it, 3) it was supposed to be a display pc (stationed behind a store window), but they never got that far and 3) since it's been powered up before, technically, it goes under the term "used", so that dragged the price down as well. still, all in all, i believe it was a fairly good deal, considering i also got the attached stuff with the buy (keyboard, mouse and 2tb external hdd).

But with the SSD, it did have a system drive to act as a HD, especailly with the external 2tb HD included in the deal. You actually got you a nice little gaming system there for a very good price. Should do pretty nice video editing(an i7 would definitely be better though), especially if you use software that uses Nvidia CUDA.

 

[eidairaman1]

Wait until you can afford a 16GB 8x2 Kit.

 

[Flow]

I had 4x2GB sticks and logically went 2x8 for having 16GB ram. But if I already had 2x4GB sticks, I would have gotten another pair of them.
Just make sure voltage and cas timings are the same because the slowest part is what you have to set for all.
If you got 4 ram slots, then that's for a reason, fill them up as you please.

 

[winterwonderland]

The memory kit I linked was the least expensive 2*8gb set of DDR4 2133 available according to PC Partpicker. You do want to go with 2*8 instead of 1*16 so it will run in dual channel mode, unless you plan to upgrade to 32gb, which then you could just add a 2nd 16gb stick later.

But with the SSD, it did have a system drive to act as a HD, especailly with the external 2tb HD included in the deal. You actually got you a nice little gaming system there for a very good price. Should do pretty nice video editing(an i7 would definitely be better though), especially if you use software that uses Nvidia CUDA.

yes, that is why i asked in my hdd-thread (located here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/need-a-new-hdd-for-my-pc-minimum-2tb.231280) if i should keep the ssd as a stand alone OS-only hdd OR if i can split it up to say 2 partitions where i use 1 partition of say 100gb to my OS and the rest for random stuff on another partition. how does that sound?

and yes, i think i will be happy with i5 for now. im not going THAT heavy on the video editing, but yeah, im pretty sure ill survive on this for quite some time, don't you think so too?

also, 2*8gb sounds great, yes. ill see what i can find. how much ram CAN i have on this motherboard? it seems like i've got 4 slots on it... so 32gb right?

Wait until you can afford a 16GB 8x2 Kit.

yes, that is what i will be doing. thanks. from my understanding, the kit is because it guarantees that the ram will work together, while 2 separate ones do not guarantee that?

 

[Flow]

........
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from my understanding, the kit is because it guarantees that the ram will work together, while 2 separate ones do not guarantee that?

yes it does. But mixed ram will work just as well also. I had a 2x2 kit, and 2 years later bought the same 2x2 kit to have 8GB. While technically the same 4 sticks, they came in 2 separate kits. Worked fine.
We used to have different ram from crucial mixed, carefully setting the correct timings and voltage and they always worked flawless. As a matter of fact, we disassembled an old amd pc last year wich had 3 ram sticks, 2x2 and 1x4. 2 crucial and 1 corsair stick.
But if you can get the same ram then that's preferable. There is always the odd chance ofcourse.

Anyways, it's all in the budget. If your current ram is cheap and slow, then no sense in keeping it. But if it's fast and quality ram, then it would be a waste putting it in the drawer.

ps. when buying ram it's important to note that dual channel ram is faster and smoother compared to 1 stick (single channel).
Do not go for 1 stick of ram.

 

[winterwonderland]

yes it does. But mixed ram will work just as well also. I had a 2x2 kit, and 2 years later bought the same 2x2 kit to have 8GB. While technically the same 4 sticks, they came in 2 separate kits. Worked fine.
We used to have different ram from crucial mixed, carefully setting the correct timings and voltage and they always worked flawless. As a matter of fact, we disassembled an old amd pc last year wich had 3 ram sticks, 2x2 and 1x4. 2 crucial and 1 corsair stick.
But if you can get the same ram then that's preferable. There is always the odd chance ofcourse.

Anyways, it's all in the budget. If your current ram is cheap and slow, then no sense in keeping it. But if it's fast and quality ram, then it would be a waste putting it in the drawer.

ps. when buying ram it's important to note that dual channel ram is faster and smoother compared to 1 stick (single channel).
Do not go for 1 stick of ram.

well, according to previous notes, it seems like i have quite okay RAM for now, right? Kingston 2x4GB 2133MHz (PC4-17000) DDR4 CL15 is what i have now.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I just bought ddr4. Was gonna buy 2*4gb but thought feck it and bought 2*8 instead. It was 60/114 and is corsair lpx 2400

 

[Flow]

well, according to previous notes, it seems like i have quite okay RAM for now, right? Kingston 2x4GB 2133MHz (PC4-17000) DDR4 CL15 is what i have now.

Yep. Choice is yours if you want to spend more money on a 2x8GB kit or less on an extra 2x4 kit. Ofcourse when the price difference isn't that big, you could always get that 2x8GB and add your present 2x4GB to have 24GB.
It all depends on what you want to do with it. But for photo and video editing more ram is always better.

But do keep in mind that the cas timings and required voltage is more or less the same.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Always opt for 2 sticks over 4 sticks of the same amount of memory. On boards with 4 dimms, it opens the possibility of upgrading memory even further, as well uses less parts in your rig meaning things may be easier to troubleshoot and if overclocking easier to get 2 sticks stable over 4. ALWAYS double the memory that you feel you actually need. (Think you want 8GB, shoot for 16) This will help some with longevity.

 

[P4-630]

(Think you want 8GB, shoot for 16)

Ok.. If your budget allows...

My budget was for 16GB, wanted 2x8GB but those on the QVL were not available in my country so I ended up with 4x4 3000MHz sticks so all slots filled,
however I do think 16GB is quite enough for a while luckily. I'm not doing any video editing so I'm good for now.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Ok.. If your budget allows...

Agreed. Just use some common sense in the end is all.

 

[winterwonderland]

awesome. by 4 dimms i believe you are talking about the slots no?

i think i will stick with 2x4gb for now and rather push my budget to get myself another internal hdd, considering that i only got 1x 250gb ssd right now. and then afterwards, ill opt for 2x8gb once my budget affords that.

that sounds like a good common sense yes?

thank you all for such good advises, for the millionth time.

 

[winterwonderland]

i have to revoke this thread again...

Always opt for 2 sticks over 4 sticks of the same amount of memory. On boards with 4 dimms, it opens the possibility of upgrading memory even further, as well uses less parts in your rig meaning things may be easier to troubleshoot and if overclocking easier to get 2 sticks stable over 4. ALWAYS double the memory that you feel you actually need. (Think you want 8GB, shoot for 16) This will help some with longevity.

so, since i already have 2x4gb now, i should "trash" that and god for 2x8gb to get 16gb in total?

also, should i stick to Kingston 2x8GB 2133MHz (PC4-17000) DDR4 CL15 or should i go for different 2x8 RAM, maybe? EDIT: Maybe this one would work even better, or: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 PC24000/3000MHz CL15 2x8GBB? Im asking because that one is about $30 cheaper than the Kingston..

any thoughts?

 

[BarbaricSoul]

i have to revoke this thread again...



so, since i already have 2x4gb now, i should "trash" that and god for 2x8gb to get 16gb in total?

also, should i stick to Kingston 2x8GB 2133MHz (PC4-17000) DDR4 CL15 or should i go for different 2x8 RAM, maybe? EDIT: Maybe this one would work even better, or: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 PC24000/3000MHz CL15 2x8GBB? Im asking because that one is about $30 cheaper than the Kingston..

any thoughts?

I wouldn't trash the RAM you have. What Jr said is true, but not to the point that it's worth trashing your current RAM that is perfectly fine.

Personally, I would prefer to have Corsair RAM over Kingston. But then again, in a non-OC'ing system, RAM is RAM, so long as it works at it's stock speeds.

As for getting the faster RAM, not worth it unless you're OC'ing, and since you have a non-K Intel i5 in a B150 motherboard, you're not OC'ing.

 

[winterwonderland]

I wouldn't trash the RAM you have. What Jr said is true, but not to the point that it's worth trashing your current RAM that is perfectly fine.

Personally, I would prefer to have Corsair RAM over Kingston. But then again, in a non-OC'ing system, RAM is RAM, so long as it works at it's stock speeds.

As for getting the faster RAM, not worth it unless you're OC'ing, and since you have a non-K Intel i5 in a B150 motherboard, you're not OC'ing.

much appreciated for that info, soulguy. i ended up buying another kingston 2x4gb kit, so now i will have 16gb (4x4gb)