Is 32 GB RAM bad for performance?

[Masque]

EDIT: Bought the 2x8, replaced the 2x4. After powering down now, and leaving it off overnight, my problem (three paragraphs down) is not fixed, not entirely. Now, at powerup, the PC first doesn't post, just spins the fans. Power down. Power up again, it posts, shows the BIOS screen, spins the Windows spinny thing, then powers down. Then it powers itself back up, does that again -- post, BIOS splash screen, and finally loads Windows and I'm good. This is different behavior than before. Now I don't have to take out 3 RAM sticks and make it post, power down, re-insert the 3 sticks, and power up. Now I just have to power up, power down, power up and wait for it to cycle two or three tries at posting before it finally loads fully.

Could this be a power supply issue? I have EVGA 600B Bronze 100-B1-0600-KR Power Supply, 600W.

I have 2x8 and 2x4 right now. The 4s are slower than the 8s, and I think that's why my PC sometimes doesn't want to post when I turn it on after turning it off (which I rarely do for this reason).

When that happens I have to power down, discharge, take the cover off, and remove all the RAM except one stick, and power up, boot, and it boots fine. Then I turn it off, put the three RAM sticks back in, and turn it on, and it boots fine until the next time it's been on for a few days or weeks.

This has happened three times, and I've been told that it's probably because I'm running two different RAM speeds.

So if I go to Amazon and get two more 8s, the same brand and model of my current 8s, I'll have 32 instead of 24 GB.

So my question is: is having that much RAM going to slow my performance down? I don't want to go down to 16 by just removing the 4s.

[End0fDayz]

No

[r.linder]

No, it's just pointless if you aren't going to be using most of it.

Also, more RAM slots filled of a higher capacity makes BIOS POST quite a bit slower.

[Masque]

I don't mind a slightly slower post time, just not the "will not post ever" that it does now.

Also I like to keep future-proof, and I like big numbers.

So you'd recommend I just ditch the 2x4 and stick with 16 GB?

[rawWwRrr]

i've got three builds with 32GB right now, no issues.

more ram doesn't slow a computer down.

[_I_]

more than whats needed = no difference
not enough = lowered performance

[Lord Flashheart]

Originally posted by Boofalo Soja:

I have 2x8 and 2x4 right now. The 4s are slower than the 8s, and I think that's why my PC sometimes doesn't want to post when I turn it on after turning it off (which I rarely do for this reason).

When that happens I have to power down, discharge, take the cover off, and remove all the RAM except one stick, and power up, boot, and it boots fine. Then I turn it off, put the three RAM sticks back in, and turn it on, and it boots fine until the next time it's been on for a few days or weeks.

This has happened three times, and I've been told that it's probably because I'm running two different RAM speeds.

So if I go to Amazon and get two more 8s, the same brand and model of my current 8s, I'll have 32 instead of 24 GB.

So my question is: is having that much RAM going to slow my performance down? I don't want to go down to 16 by just removing the 4s.

It should benefit performance. By how much is dependent on the games you play.

Then there is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMYmEu8gks

Apparently having 4 sticks instead of 2 can improve performance but not guaranteed.

A few months ago I went from 16GB to 32GB on my gaming machine.
Some games seemed snappier.
Was it more memory or the benefits of more sticks or both?

[Feudal]

Originally posted by Mamba Bajamba:

A few months ago I went from 16GB to 32GB on my gaming machine.
Some games seemed snappier.
Was it more memory or the benefits of more sticks or both?

If it's more memory that's easy to find out, just open task manager.

If it's the number of sticks, well same thing as above. If you hit 16GB, then it was just having more RAM that boosted performance. If you stay below 16GB, then it's having more sticks.

Personally I run 16GB and I've never gotten near full RAM usage, unless i was playing some HEAVILY modded Minecraft. Most mobo's I've heard make good use of multiple sticks of RAM and when Ryzen first came out I remember everybody saying that Ryzen chips are very responsive to multiple sticks/higher MHz speeds.

[Lord Flashheart]

Originally posted by Feudal Wulf:

Originally posted by Mamba Bajamba:

A few months ago I went from 16GB to 32GB on my gaming machine.
Some games seemed snappier.
Was it more memory or the benefits of more sticks or both?

If it's more memory that's easy to find out, just open task manager.

If it's the number of sticks, well same thing as above. If you hit 16GB, then it was just having more RAM that boosted performance. If you stay below 16GB, then it's having more sticks.

Personally I run 16GB and I've never gotten near full RAM usage, unless i was playing some HEAVILY modded Minecraft. Most mobo's I've heard make good use of multiple sticks of RAM and when Ryzen first came out I remember everybody saying that Ryzen chips are very responsive to multiple sticks/higher MHz speeds.

Not sure. Memory use can be about 22GB.
I use a program called primocache. 8GB is permanently allocated to cache the boot drive. It remembers & refills the cache on closedown/reboot.

[L37]

One thing people tend to forget about RAM - there is also disk cache in OS, which speeds stuff up quite a bit if enough RAM is available. And if most of RAM is used (like ~90%) lack of RAM for disk cache will noticably affect performance.
So no, if task manager shows that you have 10GB used by applications out of total 32GB it does not mean that those 32GB are entirely useless.

[Jelly Donut]

I have a 32GB ram system here.

Having more ram doesn't impact performance, in fact it does better but only if your workload does so.

Just because a game does not use a lot of ram, does not mean the actual usage is high.

There is also another value, that's Memory Commit.

A game like GTA 5 for instance, even though it uses about 9-10GB while I fly around Los Santos, the actual committed memory is 16-17GB. Because the game precaches or standby's another 6-7GB for shaders or etc.

Usually caching is already done for 16GB ram systems, which is on the Virtual Memory/Paging file usually done on the C Drive, but that's not to completely replace the ram.

So having more memory will load games faster (depending) since the SSD and/or hard drive doesn't need to be read as much and Windows can just cache the game in the RAM.

[iceman1980]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

i've got three builds with 32GB right now, no issues.

more ram doesn't slow a computer down.

Only time this happens is when ECC RAM is used with large amounts. As at boot time the system will perform a detailed diagnostic analysis of the system and RAM to check it's functionality.

[HunterOfPinkBunnyWabbits]

Let say one thing. Peoples who dont use multitasking and 4K says that 16 is enough.
But when multitasking and 4k gaming, 16 is not enough. I buyed more RAM because some GAMES SAID THAT RAM IS OUT..... so now 32 GB and I am happy, Games are happy, no more RAM IS OUT MESSAGES(Close some applications or lower settings, game is out off memory)
16 GB RAM - Just one Youtube video in 3rd display and Watchdog 2 at 4K BANG not enough memory....
32 GB RAM - no problemos

[Masque]

Bump, please see edit in OP