Need Help upgrading RAM, info appreciated.

Tarnblade

Tarnblade

Tarnblade

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7 Oct 2009
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Hey peeps.

I'm currently on a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard with 6 Gb RAM + i7 920 Processor.

The board has 6 slots for RAM, 3 of which are in use, so I assume I'm currently on a 3 x 2 Gb setup.

My User manual says "Be sure to install DDR3 DIMM's on this Motherboard"


I use the computer primarily for gaming, I don't really mess with overclocking and would like some pointers on what sort of RAM I should go for.

I have looked over other topics but many people seem to have differing views on sticking with 8 Gb (faster RAM) v 16 Gb (slower RAM).

Price range ideally would be around the £100 - £200 mark though Id prefer to keep it low if possible. ;)

(I know I'm almost maxing out my RAM currently on wildstar, so personally I'm inclined to go higher and some sites claim the speed difference is minuscule.)
 
If I understand this correctly then. The more sticks you use the faster it is, as its acting like a lot of cable broadband using multiple downstream and upstream channels for greater speed?

i.e. 2 x 8 Gb sticks would be slower than 4 x 4 Gb sticks

: )

Just interested in wrapping my head around this.

p.s. Thanks for the help
 
Im not a expert when it comes to ram, and cant tell you the ins and outs.

But i do know that the example above

i.e. 2 x 8 Gb sticks would be slower than 4 x 4 Gb sticks
Click to expand...

in " real world " / gaming performance. you generally wont see a noticeable difference.

sure in synthetic benchmarks ect ram is very important as it is how all your components communicate, so for the likes of say 8pack who does world record benching ram is going to be of high importance

& The only " Real world / Gaming " situation i have seen where ( not quantity ) But speed of ram has made a noticeable difference was Battlefield 4.

http://www.corsair.com/en/blog/2013/october/battlefield-4-loves-high-speed-memory
 
Also the main site for my current motherboard lists DDR3 2100+

Does this mean I have to go with that as a minimum or can I get away with lower Mhz speeds?
 
Tarnblade said:
If I understand this correctly then. The more sticks you use the faster it is, as its acting like a lot of cable broadband using multiple downstream and upstream channels for greater speed?

i.e. 2 x 8 Gb sticks would be slower than 4 x 4 Gb sticks

: )

Just interested in wrapping my head around this.

p.s. Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
A given setup can support up to a certain number of channels. In your case you can run single, dual or triple channel memory. You can't run quad channel, so 4*4GB will not be any faster than 2*8GB if the memory is of the same speed & timings.
Generally, the more sticks you have the harder your memory controller has to work also, so the advice is normally that 2*8GB is better than 4*4GB (on boards that don't support quad channel).

On capacity vs speed: If you have insufficient RAM this'll hurt performance a lot, but spare RAM provides fairly little advantage so you want enough, as fast as possible. 6GB is enough for most users now (3*2GB in triple channel) but if you're worried about capacity you could get 8 GB (2*4GB in dual channel)

Tarnblade said:
Also the main site for my current motherboard lists DDR3 2100+

Does this mean I have to go with that as a minimum or can I get away with lower Mhz speeds?
Click to expand...

You can always go with lower speed RAM, or if you get high-speed RAM you can run it more slowly if you need to, e.g. I've got 2400MHz RAM running at 1900MHz in my rig.
 
I'm having the same upgrade thoughts ATM. I'm currently using 6 x 1GB dimms & wondering if my system is being bottlenecked. Doesn't seem that way but I have a nagging feeling that overall performance will be smoother with more memory
 
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