Is it worth adding spare RAM to my system?

bainbridge · 12 Sep 2012 at 23:33

As per my sig I'm currently running this RAM@1600mhz using the XMP profile & 1.5v:

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

I also have this RAM spare:

Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Now, this Corsair RAM was intended for another system but never ended up being used. I didn't think it'd fit my current system due to the heat spreaders, but looking in the case I think if I moved the Kingston RAM to slots 1 & 3 I'd just be able to squeeze the Corsair RAM into slots 2 & 4. It will stick up in front of the CPU cooler slightly but temps aren't a problem & theres plenty of fresh air getting in there. I'm pretty sure I can run both sets together, but what I'd like to know is:

Is there any point in doing this?

8GB seems fine for gaming & I'm unsure if having a larger amount of mixed memory will benefit. I have done quite a lot of CPU overclocking but with the RAM I've always just entered whatever the timings are into BIOS, so don't really know much about tweaking memory. I notice the 2 sets of memory differ in as much as one is C8 & the other is C9. I don't know what impact this will have if I run them both together.

If it is worth adding the Corsair kit & doing some tweaking please can someone tell me what to do?

Thanks

mickyflinn · 12 Sep 2012 at 23:41

For gaming 8gb of ram is more than enough.

leezer3 · 13 Sep 2012 at 01:18

You can never have too much RAM

Generally speaking, you'll probably see little to no difference in everyday usage, but occasionally you'll probably find a use for it. Better than it sitting in a drawer anyway IMHO!
(Also, to an extent if you have extra 'spare' RAM, Windows will make use of it. Basically preloading programs and stuff so they load faster)

-Leezer-

Mei · 13 Sep 2012 at 01:36

ramdisk for league of legends^^

trickynickyuk · 13 Sep 2012 at 10:51

if you have it spare i would add it

dacads · 13 Sep 2012 at 10:53

Use it or sell it

Catanonia · 13 Sep 2012 at 17:16

I have 32GB ram and a 10GB Ramdisk for pagefile (4GB) and work area for processing 6GB

Nightglow · 13 Sep 2012 at 18:19

I also run 32gb of memory, split 12gb for pc, & 20gb for a ram disk which is used for Firefox cache, Photoshop work,etc.

bainbridge · 13 Sep 2012 at 22:48

I know its best to "slam in the RAM" but will the differing types cause problems if I run them both @ 1600mhz?

Also, will 12 GB give me enough memory to start messing about using RAM for the pagefile & still leave enough to run windows well?

I'm still without an SSD so anything to speed things up will be a bonus

eddyr · 14 Sep 2012 at 00:18

No point using a ramdisk just to set up a pagefile. Its a bit of a self defeating excersise.

If they are both rated at the same speed then it should be no prob. Ensure they get the volts they require. You may need to fiddle with your oc settings/volts, but tbh I have no experience with sandy/ivy clocking so things may be diff now.