1 x 8Gb or 2 x 4Gb?

[lttlejoe]

Would it be better to fit a single 8Gb stick or 2 x 4Gb sticks into a new mobo I'm buying along with a new CPU. ( B450 and Ryzen 5 2600).

There are 4 ram slots in the mobo I'm about to buy but my budget is for 8gb of ram at the moment though I don't really envisage needing more than 16Gb in the foreseeable future.

So, 1 x 8Gb or 2 x 4Gb?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[lttlejoe]

Hi

if you use just a single 8GB in your motherboard you will be running single channel ram, this roughly causes a 10-15% downgrade in performance. It does give you the option of adding another stick of ram at another time. But this also has issues in that sometimes two sticks of ram that are not sold in a dual pack don't work well with each other. Having said that many are running unmatched ram.

Another thing, if you are going to be overclocking on that system and want maximum performance you really want to get your ram to run somewhere in between 3000-3200 mhz, now from my understanding the best ram for a ryzen build is Samsung B die ram, this gives you maximum chance to run at 3200mhz. Its basically the best compatible ram with a ryzen build only issue is that its expensive and only ever seen it as 16GB pairs.

Ryzen systems don't do well with all the ram slots populated, you should aim for only 2 of the 4 slots. Some have managed all the slots and it depends on how well the memory controller on your cpu is, general consensuses is not many chips exhibit this magic memory controller so its pot luck.

Ram prices could well rise again in the future, right now there are some great deals on OCUK.

Thanks for that. I thought from what I'd read in the past that it would only run as single channel ram and therefore less efficiently if a single stick was entered but just wanted to be sure. Buying two 4Gb sticks isn't an issue as it will leave space for at least another 8Gb or more should I need them.

I won't be overclocking unless I need more performance which is probably unlikely but I was looking at something like 3000 Mhz. As you say there are some pretty decent deals appearing regarding RAM. I notice that OCUK currently has some quite cheap TEAM GROUP RAM ...£120 gets you 16Gb of 3000Mhz RAM which is a pretty good price and if it's any good, it's worth stretching the budget a little now as I'm unlikely to ever need more but I'm more likely to want an extra 8Gb later so, it's probably a good idea to get it now rather than later.

 

[lttlejoe]

I really dont know much about that ram, only thing that I have noticed is that ram which is not Samsung B die will have trouble running the ram over 2900mhz if you get lucky that is. I don't know too much about ram computability and ryzen but generally everybody recommends ryzen B die. Even if you are not overclocking you want to run the ram somewhere in the region of 3000-3200mhs anything above is just diminishing returns with AMD system. Unfortunately Samsung B die ram is quite expensive.

so going from 2400mhz ram to 3000mhz give you good boost in performance without even overclocking.

You could always buy it and try and see what you get and if it does not work well with your system then just return it. Do try and buy a ram that is on your motherboards memory QVL list this should avoid any comparability issues.

Just an observation but I've noticed that OCUK bundle the Ryzen 2600 + Mobo with 8 or 16Gb of the same Team Group 3000Mhz RAM modules so they must think they're OK.

 

[lttlejoe]

Then you are good to go

That is assuming that the RAM is good!
I'm less concerned about speed than I am about stability and reliability.
I'm playin most popular games at good frame rates and no issues with just a Phenom 11 x4 CPU & 8Gb DDR3 (1600) and a GTX 1060 3Gb so with a Ryzen 2600 & 8Gb DDR4 in a B450 board & 1060 there has to be a substantial improvement in performance.