Worth upgrading mixed ram?

[j.col]

Hi.
I recently bought a used complete system and was just looking through it when i noticed it has different sticks of ram.

Asus Tuf X570-Pro Wifi
Ryzen 5600G
32gb ram running at 2400mhz in cpu-z

I have
1 stick of Crucial ct16g4dfra32a.c16fn 3200mhz 16gb but i have noticed this is not running at XMP profile in cpu-z
2 sticks of Teamgroup-ud4-3000 2x8gb, these are running at XMP 2.0 in cpu-z

So, is it worth it buying a 32gb 3000mhz set for me or is the ram set up wrong in the bios etc.?

 

[j.col]

Thought so too.
I remember the guy saying he added the 16gb stick later to make it 32gb

 

[j.col]

Another option would be removing the Crucial stick, and just running the two TeamGroup sticks in the right slots for dual channel. Of course that only works if 16GB is enough for your usage (it might be). You could try it first and see, seeing as it's free to try.

Performance-wise, getting dual channel working is what's important here. That's significant. A few more mhz is secondary.

true, but i would prefer 32gb if possible

 

[j.col]

Should be able to get it to run dual channel with that setup if you put both 8gb in one channel and the 16gb in the other.

Never thought of that lol, it would be only 24gb but it may be enough.

Had a look, i can grab a 16gb stick of crucial for £27

 

[j.col]

Why would it be 24GB? You'd have 2x8 in one channel (16GB) and 1x16 in one channel (16GB), making a total of 32GB in dual channel.

Thanks for the explanation.
Sorry but i am trying to understand how ram actually works lol.
I presumed that when Dg834man said to run them in separate channels, he meant in the slots on the mobo ie. remove 1 stick of 8gb ram and just run 2 sticks, 1 x 16gb and 1 x 8gb.

If you inherited this system, what you you do ?

edit.
Just had a look at the mobo.
slot B1 (nearest cpu) is empty
B2 has 8gb
A1 has 16gb
A2 has 8gb

 

[j.col]

Never heard of anyone doing dual channel with 3 sticks before, which probably means it isn't good?

True, i am just trying to figure out the best way to utilise what ram i do have or to buy either another matching 16gb stick or a new 32gb set.

 

[j.col]

The memory controller is divided into two channels, A and B.

The channels can be either 1 slot or 2 slot each (depends on the board, but X570 is pretty much always 2 slot per channel, for a total of 4).

If you have an equal capacity of memory in each channel, then it will be run in dual channel mode across that entire capacity.

In other words: we don't care how many sticks per channel, just that the overall capacity, per channel, is equal.



2x8GB and 1x16.

The manual might tell you which slots to use, but I think B1 and B2 are channel B and A1 and A2 are channel A.

What I would do, is just move the 8GB stick in A2 to B1, unless you have ram clearance issues due to the cooler, in which case:
B1: Empty.
B2: 16GB.
A1: 8GB.
A2: 8GB.

Right now, I believe you have 24GB in one channel and 8GB in the other channel, which gives 16GB of dual channel and 16GB of single channel.

I tried what you suggested, to my eyes nothing has changed.

Is it ok as it is for now or would you recommend to buy either another matching 16gb stick or a new 32gb set?

 

[j.col]

I don't think it would look any different, because you were already in dual channel mode, but it should be across the whole capacity now instead of just half of it.



If it was me, I'd just leave it be now. If you're gaming, then achieving a higher frequency would be nice (e.g. 2933), but it depends how much you want to mess around with it.

Thanks for all your advice

 

[j.col]

Have you checked the 2 diffrent types memory can run at there rated speed seperatley ?

No i haven't, will have a look tomorrow when i get a chance

 

[j.col]

I agree.

At least if tested at there rated speeds will confirm they all working correctly then the tinkering starts .

I tested just the 2 sticks and they ran at 2400mhz.
I then tested the 1 stick and it ran at 3200mhz

Then i noticed DOCP was off, so i enable it.
The 2 sticks then ran at 3000mhz.
I didn't bother testing the 1 stick again.

So now with the 3 sticks back in, i am now running at 3000mhz

1 stick of ram only

2 sticks with DOCP OFF

2 sticks with DOCP ON

And finally all 3 sticks with DOCP ON

 

[j.col]

Is it using 1.35v?

lol havn't got a clue, off i go again to the bios to have a look

 

[j.col]

I suspect when you enabled DOCP it put the DRAM voltage to 1.35v, which is fine for the TEAMGROUP sticks, but strictly speaking an overvolt for the Crucial.

You are correct, is it ok to carry on in your opinion?

 

[j.col]

passmark ram test, only test i could think of atm

1 stick

Passmark 2 sticks only

passmark with 3 sticks (not much of a jump in performance tbh)

 

[j.col]

The PC will probably be obsolete before the ram dies, but if you don't care about the performance (e.g. this is an office PC and you don't play games, or only very light games) then I'd turn off DOCP.

Thanks again for all your help.
I will probably leave it on for now as i do play games on it.
I will keep an eye on the MM in case a set of ram pops up.

 

[j.col]

@j.col Great result and 1.35v will be fine as brother @Tetras pointed out but don't forget the 16gb is still in single channel configuration.

What gpu do you have ?

Just a 1070ti, it does the job for now