Adding more ram to my PC

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:20

Hi all, new to this forum so I hope this post is in the right place.

I have a PC with 16GB of ram in it and I'm trying to work out if I can put another 16gb in and what type I need to buy. Here is a screeshot of current specs...

It says I have two slots spare and I think my PC can take 32GB (64-bit Windows 10 can take that, right?) but I have a couple of questions...

A) Do I have to match the existing ram brand/speed etc? I know it has to be DDR3 but I've read something in the past about slots 1/3 having to match and 2/4 having to match. Is this true? In which case, what needs to match?

B) What speed is my current ram? It says 666 but that seems way too low, I swear it was 1666 or 2000 but that number must mean something different. It's a PITA getting the box apart to look so I only want to have to do that once if possible when I buy the RAM.

Is there anything else I need to consider?

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:23

Says XMP 2400 which means you can run it at 2400mhz with 1.65v

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:25

Why do you want to add more ram? What do you use the machine for? No game I know uses 16gb, Lightroom will use everything you have as will some other apps.

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:31

I'm getting 32GB for my new build. I chose capacity over speed. I've got 16GB of RAM in current machine which I assembled 7.5 years ago when 8GB was the norm, now 16GB is the norm. 32GB should last me years.

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:33

nlel1975 said:
Says XMP 2400 which means you can run it at 2400mhz with 1.65v

Thanks, so I just buy 2 8GB sticks at 2400mhz of any brand and stick them in the 2 remaining slots?

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:35

nlel1975 said:
I'm getting 32GB for my new build. I chose capacity over speed. I've got 16GB of RAM in current machine which I assembled 7.5 years ago when 8GB was the norm, now 16GB is the norm. 32GB should last me years.

That depends in most stuff faster memory over capacity will give you the best performance, whats the point having 32gb if you never consume more than 12gb? Under these circumstances then you want speed. If like me you have different requirements then you might choose capacity and speed, fwiw I run 64gb of ddr4 3466 as it's required for my workload. If you looking at 32gb for gaming then you might be doing it wrong.

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:35

Vince said:
Why do you want to add more ram? What do you use the machine for? No game I know uses 16gb, Lightroom will use everything you have as will some other apps.

Nothing to do with games, it's a work PC and I am a heavy user of multiple desktops for different project. Each project gets a desktop and each one has mutliple programs and many many browser tabs open on it. Just makes it easier not to have to close everything down when switching between projects. As you can see from the screengrab, I'r running at 80% already and I don't even have Photoshop open yet

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:37

jonhobbs said:
Nothing to do with games, it's a work PC and I am a heavy user of multiple desktops for different project. Each project gets a desktop and each one has mutliple programs and many many browser tabs open on it. Just makes it easier not to have to close everything down when switching between projects. As you can see from the screengrab, I'r running at 80% already and I don't even have Photoshop open yet

Then you are doing it right.

fwiw you can literally stick anything in and it will work. You don't really have to match speed/density as the faster chips will just run at the slower speed. There are some exceptions where things just don't like each other but for the most part you should be ok.

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 13:39

Vince said:
That depends in most stuff faster memory over capacity will give you the best performance, whats the point having 32gb if you never consume more than 12gb? Under these circumstances then you want speed. If like me you have different requirements then you might choose capacity and speed, fwiw I run 64gb of ddr4 3466 as it's required for my workload. If you looking at 32gb for gaming then you might be doing it wrong.

According to this YouTube video games don't really take advantage of higher memory speed unless you have an 1080 graphics card...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4k_ErEg-FU

I've got an RX 580 and don't envisage upgrading it for at least 5 years, so for me slower 32GB is preferable to faster 16GB. You could say what's the point of buying fast 16GB when you could get cheaper stuff and put the rest of the money towards better CPU or GPU.

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:04

nlel1975 said:
According to this YouTube video games don't really take advantage of higher memory speed unless you have an 1080 graphics card...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4k_ErEg-FU

I've got an RX 580 and don't envisage upgrading it for at least 5 years, so for me slower 32GB is preferable to faster 16GB. You could say what's the point of buying fast 16GB when you could get cheaper stuff and put the rest of the money towards better CPU or GPU.

Depends on what CPU you are rocking and if the cpu scales with memory speed.

For example my CPU (TR 1950x) scales very nicely with memory. Just from memory alone you could gain 10% or more between 2133mhz memory and 3200+ memory speeds. That scaling is also relevant for workloads that are not games

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:07

Vince said:
Depends on what CPU you are rocking and of the cpu scales with memory speed.

Not interested in the top end kit to get 20% more performance, I'll be rocking a Ryzen 5 2600 at stock speeds. Its better than my old i5-2500k at multicore stuff, on single core stuff not much difference.

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:09

nlel1975 said:
Not interested in the top end kit to get 20% more performance, I'll be rocking a Ryzen 5 2600 at stock speeds. Its better than my old i5-2500k at multicore stuff, on single core stuff not much difference.

With that ryzen you will want 3200 memory to get the very best out of it, above that scaling drops off somewhat tbh. Is always worth noting though that the AMD CPU arch scales much more on memory than intels at this moment in time.

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:11

Vince said:
With that ryzen you will want 3200 memory to get the very best out of it, above that scaling drops off somewhat tbh. Is always worth noting though that the AMD CPU arch scales much more on memory than intels at this moment in time.

That's a bit of a myth especially for gaming as that youtube video I linked to proves. As I said I'm not interested in 10% more performance for significantly more money.

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:20

Vince said:
Then you are doing it right. fwiw you can literally stick anything in and it will work. You don't really have to match speed/density as the faster chips will just run at the slower speed. There are some exceptions where things just don't like each other but for the most part you should be ok.

Excellent, thanks for that.

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:24

Just one more thing, could anybody confirm what speed my current ram is because 666Mhz dowsn't match what I was expecting at all.

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:28

Just remember it's double data rate DDR so 666 is 1333 but like I said your memory can do 1200 therefore 2400 at DDR rates.

jonhobbs · 18 Sep 2018 at 14:38

nlel1975 said:
Just remember it's double data rate DDR so 666 is 1333 but like I said your memory can do 1200 therefore 2400 at DDR rates.

Ok, cool, I thought I'd bought faster RAM than that when I bought the PC so I was confused, but obviously I didn't. DDR3 ram seems to be expensive now so I won't be buying the faster ram anyway, especially if it runs slower when paired with slower ram.

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 16:46

nlel1975 said:
That's a bit of a myth especially for gaming as that youtube video I linked to proves. As I said I'm not interested in 10% more performance for significantly more money.

I'm not talking gaming I'm talking huge database/compiling/rendering workloads so actual productivity. Regardless the difference in performance is like 10 to 15% between 2133 quad channel to 3200 quad channel. If I push my ryzen threadripper past 3200 towards 3466 then gains drop off.

Either way you look at it ryzen scales on memory speed. My source? Well I spent basically a grand on ram and tested it in my lab.

nlel1975 · 18 Sep 2018 at 16:58

Vince said:
I'm not talking gaming I'm talking huge database/compiling/rendering workloads so actual productivity. Regardless the difference in performance is like 10 to 15% between 2133 quad channel to 3200 quad channel. If I push my ryzen threadripper past 3200 towards 3466 then gains drop off.

Either way you look at it ryzen scales on memory speed. My source? Well I spent basically a grand on ram and tested it in my lab.

I don't do any of that kind of productivity stuff though and 10% to 15% isn't a hell of a lot in my opinion especially for the money. This 3200 stuff which seems quite popular is £ 229.99 inc VAT for 2x 8GB...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...3200mhz-dual-channel-kit-black-my-08l-tg.html

I paid £ 193.80 inc VAT for 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR4 2133 that has decent Micron chips. I'd rather have 32GB of this cheaper stuff than 16GB of the faster stuff which is only going to give me 10% to 15% more in productivity apps and virtually nothing in games with the GPU I have.

Vince · 18 Sep 2018 at 17:03

nlel1975 said:
I don't do any of that kind of productivity stuff though and 10% to 15% isn't a hell of a lot in my opinion especially for the money. This 3200 stuff which seems quite popular is £ 229.99 inc VAT for 2x 8GB...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...3200mhz-dual-channel-kit-black-my-08l-tg.html

I paid £ 193.80 inc VAT for 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR 2133 that has decent Micron chips. I'd rather have 32GB of this cheaper stuff than 16GB of the faster stuff which is only going to give me 10% to 15% more in productivity apps and virtually nothing in games with the GPU I have.

To be honest it's certainly not the end of the world, as you say even at lower speeds in the ram department you will still get perfectly good performance. On top of that when prices come down which of course they will eventually there is scope to squeeze a little more out of it.

Given this thread is talking ddr3 the best bet is just wack another 16gb of 1666 cheap ram in and be done with it