I need some advice, bit of a noob when it comes to memory

[ScarySquirrel]

Hi all,

I currently have 4gb (2 x 2Gb) Kingston HyperX PC8500 RAM in my machine. It was only about £40 or so when I bought it new from OcUK.

I would like to upgrade to 8Gb, because I do a lot of photo editing and Photoshop, Lightroom etc can become extremely slow when I have a few files open, I assume more RAM will help (as in my performance monitor my RAM is pretty much maxed out when using Photoshop).

I can't seem to find the same RAM any more, and anything similar seems to be about £80+ (why so much more expensive now?).

So, what shall I do? Will running 4 x 2Gb make things slower because it won't be running dual channel? Also, will it affect my CPU overclock (E8400 3Ghz @ 3.6Ghz)?

Thanks.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Depending on your motherboard, running DIMMs in all 4 slots should still allow you to run in dual channel mode. Your motherboard manual should have a page on this and will hopefully confirm this.

As long as you go for a memory kit that is rated to the same speed, you should be OK, this kit looks good. However, be prepared to drop the memory speed down, 4 DIMM setups put more strain on the memory controller.

As for the prices, there are a few reasons for the high price. First, DDR2 is not being produced as much these days (production is shifting to DDR3) so there isn't as much of it about and a lot of demand - so higher prices. Also, DRAM modules have been soaring in price recently, which has added a lot to the costs. Finally, these modules are sold in US dollars, so with a weaker pound we end up spending more.

As for your overclock, this will be affected by adding more DIMMs. Again, the memory controller is stressed more, which will limit your overclock more than before. You will still be able to overclock - and considering 3.6GHz is relatively conservative for an E8400 then you may be able to keep your current CPU with some tweaking.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Excellent, thanks for your help.

My motherboard is a ASUS P5Q