1x16gb RAM VS 2x8?

[-Callous-]

Read the title bub

[PepuroniPeetsa]

2x8

[Monk]

2x8 so you can run in dual channel, while the difference is minor Vs a single dimm, it is still worth doing given the option, so the memory runs at its best.
Also, while your at it, remember to enable xmp in your bios so the memory runs at its stated speeds.

[[☥] - CJ -]

2x8

And theres the possibility of the motherboard not liking a 16GB stick, so theres that to consider as well.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

If you have 4 slots, go with a 4x4GB kit.

[schplorf]

1x16 if you ever want to upgrade, if you have no plan to or have plenty if slots go 2x8

[King_BR0K]

Originally posted by The Spoopy Kitteh:

If you have 4 slots, go with a 4x4GB kit.

That just kills your upgrade path, Quad channel ram is only available in hedts like i9 and threadripper

[Monk]

Originally posted by schplorf:

1x16 if you ever want to upgrade, if you have no plan to or have plenty if slots go 2x8

This is the exact opposite of what you should be advising, the overwhelmingly vast majority will never need more than 16GB, atleast for the foreseeable future, by the time 32GB becomes the average and needed, any system built today will be very out of date anyway.

With that said, you are best to not go with 4x4GB sticks as if you do find yourself wanting or needing to upgrade, you will need to replace all of your RAM instead of just popping in two extra sticks and it has no real performance gains to run 4 sticks, only reason I run 8x4GB sticks in my rig is it looks cool, and there is no way I'll need to go beyond 32GB for the lifetime of the system.

[Sticky Honeybuns]

Originally posted by AKing1:

Originally posted by The Spoopy Kitteh:

If you have 4 slots, go with a 4x4GB kit.

That just kills your upgrade path, Quad channel ram is only available in hedts like i9 and threadripper

No. He is talking about dual channel RAM, four slots a and b. 16 GB is a fine limit to build to and does not limit his upgrade path. One of my gaming PC's has 16GB and the other has 32GB. For gaming 16 is more than enough.

[Monk]

I think kings point was using 4 sticks has no benefit as there is no quad channel option and it heavily limits future upgrades.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Originally posted by Sticky Honeybuns:

Originally posted by AKing1:

That just kills your upgrade path, Quad channel ram is only available in hedts like i9 and threadripper

No. He is talking about dual channel RAM, four slots a and b. 16 GB is a fine limit to build to and does not limit his upgrade path. One of my gaming PC's has 16GB and the other has 32GB. For gaming 16 is more than enough.

I'm well aware of it. Using all 4 slots and a kit that uses them ensures that the same make and model RAM Modules can stay the same speed.

Originally posted by Monk:

I think kings point was using 4 sticks has no benefit as there is no quad channel option and it heavily limits future upgrades.

Using a 4 stick kit for a 4 slot motherboard makes sure that each upgrade to RAM stays consistent. It's never a good idea to mismatch speeds, nor is it a good idea to mix brands because different brands often use different chip manufacturers. I have Corsair Vengence LPX modules...which use Samsung chips. Crucial uses Cynix. Different manufacturing methods can vary the performance of differently branded modules.

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Crucial always uses their very own Micron chips as I know.
I also have a Corsair Vengeance LPX and it uses also Micron chips (8GB B-Die 20nm), but perhaps some may use Samsung chips.

4x4 is a pretty bad choice anyways, it kills the option to upgrade for 32GB eventually. 2x8GB and dual channel kits in general are the most ideal, modern mainboards are literally built for this option.

[tacoshy]

4 modules are worse then 2 modules because it is ehavier for the memory controller to handle.

You can mismatch speed and timings. In both cases the worst timings and speed going to be chosen by memory controller.
Only advantage of 4 modules is the look of a complete set.


Not only HEDT's like an i9 or TR offer quad channel. "Cheap" i7's like the 7800X is also quad channel capable. That CPU went cheaper then a 7700K for a time then the 7700K and is merely on a level with the 8700K.


No Crucial uses Hynix chips (I hope you emnt this with Cynix). If you would know who Crucial is as company then you would know that Crucial isnt a Company at all. Crucial is a Brand of Micron. And as bein a Micron company of course they only using Micron chips...So you're right with that Astaea

http://pics.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/images/ext/crucial_logo.png

Clearly says: by Micron. And on the Homepage fo Crucial the owner is named as: Micron Technology Inc.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Originally posted by tacoshy:

4 modules are worse then 2 modules because it is ehavier for the memory controller to handle.

You can mismatch speed and timings. In both cases the worst timings and speed going to be chosen by memory controller.
Only advantage of 4 modules is the look of a complete set.


Not only HEDT's like an i9 or TR offer quad channel. "Cheap" i7's like the 7800X is also quad channel capable. That CPU went cheaper then a 7700K for a time then the 7700K and is merely on a level with the 8700K.


No Crucial uses Hynix chips (I hope you emnt this with Cynix). If you would know who Crucial is as company then you would know that Crucial isnt a Company at all. Crucial is a Brand of Micron. And as bein a Micron company of course they only using Micron chips...So you're right with that Astaea

http://pics.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/images/ext/crucial_logo.png

Clearly says: by Micron. And on the Homepage fo Crucial the owner is named as: Micron Technology Inc.

It may be "harder" on the DMA (it isn't really)...but honestly it does ensure that no mixing of RAM happens on a per chip basis.

2x8GB will work - in dual channel, but don't count on just adding another stick here or 2 sticks there, mixing DRAM can be and often is problematic, even with identical sets of the same model. It's not like many seem to think that you can just throw any old sticks in together, it's a crapshoot, they might play they might not. That's why DRAM is offered in such a wide variety of sets, the sticks in a given package are tested to work together, which is also why a 4 stick package often runs more than two sets of 2 stick packages of the same model - the additioanl teting to group 4 sticks that play together takes longer than finding two sticks.

Getting a 4x4GB kit will help the OP remember to buy a whole kit for the next upgrade..and that is the point I was trying to make. This is because DRAM is serialized sequentially when sold in kits, so that it is faster to set up Dual Channel Mode.

https://imgur.com/a/JCeWr?desktop=1

Beside all that however, the perofromance gain you get from 2x8GB vs 4x4GB is not noticable. You would have to literally slow down time to see it..or use a really super high framerate camera that could capture things travling near the speed of light.

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Note that also its cheaper to get a kit of two modules, as to buy two in separate. Especially now with the crazy RAM prices.

[InfinityJosh]

Originally posted by tacoshy:

4 modules are worse then 2 modules because it is ehavier for the memory controller to handle.

You can mismatch speed and timings. In both cases the worst timings and speed going to be chosen by memory controller.
Only advantage of 4 modules is the look of a complete set.


Not only HEDT's like an i9 or TR offer quad channel. "Cheap" i7's like the 7800X is also quad channel capable. That CPU went cheaper then a 7700K for a time then the 7700K and is merely on a level with the 8700K.


No Crucial uses Hynix chips (I hope you emnt this with Cynix). If you would know who Crucial is as company then you would know that Crucial isnt a Company at all. Crucial is a Brand of Micron. And as bein a Micron company of course they only using Micron chips...So you're right with that Astaea

http://pics.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/images/ext/crucial_logo.png

Clearly says: by Micron. And on the Homepage fo Crucial the owner is named as: Micron Technology Inc.

With 4 RAM modules if something goes wrong with 1 module you can still have 3 modules (12 GB RAM which are still enough to run 1080p high).
It is like HDDs, I always suggest multiple HDDs instead of only one because due to mechanical high probability of failure of HDDs having other HDDs available is a safe choice.
4XRAM modules and 4X1TB HDDs are the ways to go.