Does less ram sticks give better OC capability when upgrading ram size

bigjimmyauk · 16 Aug 2016 at 18:47

so seeing the recommended specs for future releases rising to 16gb it set me thinking.

Does less sticks but more ram give better stability or is it solely based on how much ram is in the system

example i currently have 4x4gb sticks if i upgraded to 2x16gb sticks should i see the same overclocks or will i just be putting extra strain on the cpu regardless of the number of sticks used.

just remembering back to my 955 phenom it didn't like 4x2gb sticks but it managed fine on 2x4gb sticks.

mmj_uk · 18 Aug 2016 at 19:54

Yes less sticks will be better for overclocking because there is less stress on the memory controller.

Greebo · 18 Aug 2016 at 20:34

in general more sticks and larger sticks equals lesser overclocks.

In the old days used to bench with the smallest single stick i could.

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 09:25

so if i wanted to upgrade to 32Gb at some point i'd be better off with 2x16gb sticks rather than 4x8gb sticks

Greebo · 19 Aug 2016 at 09:43

Except for max performance x99 require quad channel memory...............

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 09:59

Greebo said:
Except for max performance x99 require quad channel memory...............

so better to go with 4x8gb instead?

Greebo · 19 Aug 2016 at 13:45

thats what i did but only if you need 32gb. I jsut upgraded but prior to that i had 4 x 4gb.

The only reason i went 4 x 8gb was the memory i bought only comes in 8gb modules.

Silent_Scone · 19 Aug 2016 at 13:58

Greebo said:
in general more sticks and larger sticks equals lesser overclocks.

In the old days used to bench with the smallest single stick i could.

Depends on the platform, and also the motherboard vendor's topology layout.

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 14:02

Silent_Scone said:
Depends on the platform, and also the motherboard vendor's topology layout.

so would would be my best bet for 32gb on my rig in sig?

Silent_Scone · 19 Aug 2016 at 14:19

bigjimmyauk said:
so would would be my best bet for 32gb on my rig in sig?

X99 is a quad channel platform. 4x8GB in this instance will be eaiser than 8x4gb.

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 16:38

Silent_Scone said:
X99 is a quad channel platform. 4x8GB in this instance will be eaiser than 8x4gb.

but what about 2x16gb because you can run with just 2 sticks, i thought i'd get better overclocks with 2 sticks of 16gb rather than 4 stocks of 8gb

can anyone clarify

Greebo · 19 Aug 2016 at 16:55

I suspect it will be less of a strain on the memory controller and subsystems and potentially you might get slightly better overlcocks with two sticks but to what aim?

The difference between running memory as dual or quad channel explained here.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982...e-shocking-truth-about-their-performance.html

as you can see in games and apps and some benchmarks it makes no difference at all. In specific memory benchmarks it makes a massive difference running in quad over dual.

In fact apart from memory benchmarks it makes no practical difference whether you are running at 2400Mhz or 3200Mhz anyway never mind dual or quad.

So if going for some memory benchmark records then fewer sticks should in theory be better for maximum overclocks. In some memory benchmarks the extra speed will be wiped out be the lower bandwidth of running in dual anyway,

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 21:46

Greebo said:
I suspect it will be less of a strain on the memory controller and subsystems and potentially you might get slightly better overlcocks with two sticks but to what aim?

The difference between running memory as dual or quad channel explained here.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982...e-shocking-truth-about-their-performance.html

as you can see in games and apps and some benchmarks it makes no difference at all. In specific memory benchmarks it makes a massive difference running in quad over dual.

In fact apart from memory benchmarks it makes no practical difference whether you are running at 2400Mhz or 3200Mhz anyway never mind dual or quad.

So if going for some memory benchmark records then fewer sticks should in theory be better for maximum overclocks. In some memory benchmarks the extra speed will be wiped out be the lower bandwidth of running in dual anyway,

sounds like swings and roudabouts i'll just go with the quad kit because i can get that a bit cheaper and sell my 16gb kit on