buy 32GB or 16GB to add to existing 16GB?

T

tantalus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
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My memory usage is consistently over 80%, and I'm getting little lags that are annoying. I have a ton of tabs open at all times, but that's how I roll and I'm not going to change. I have 16gb of ADATA DDR4 3000 in my rig currently. Should I add 2X8 GB (which would be enough), or buy 2X16GB and a) add to existing 16 (for a total of 48GB), or b) replace 16 gb (for a total of 32GB)? I can't find the exact RAM I have, I can only find ADATA 3200. If I could buy the exact same RAM I'd do it. 16GB is about $40, 32 is about $60: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...dacaef70INT&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1

I web browse with a crap ton of tabs, but also play games (Elden Ring, Diablo IV, etc.) at 1080p.

Thanks for your advice!
 
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Do you run your 3200 kit at 3000 because it fail to reach 3200 ?

When you do not mind running at very reasonable speed (like 3000), going over 2 slots, mix-match, etc... is less an issue (usually the issue is that you cannot achieve your 3200 speed anymore, not that it will not work which is much rarer).

You can add 2x16 and go to 48 (something I did for a while) and if there is any major issue with the setup, at least you can go and just use the new 2x16 and have 32 gig.
 
If it were me, I'd get the 2x16GB and get 3600mhz ram. Then write down all my timings from the 3000mhz kit. Put the 3600mhz in and manually input all the timings from the 3000 kit in.

OR

Just roll with the 32.

I'm not sure I'd worry much about mismatched ram. there are videos out there that talk about it and show it isn't that big of a deal. And then, even if you buy matched ram, it might not be matched anyway. The corsair 3600mhz DDR4 that best buy sells...I have several kits and I know there are at least three different variations. Some are even dual ranked and some are single.
 
Ok, thanks to both of you for the help. Just to clarify, the ram I have right now is ADATA 3000. It's not purchasable anymore, so I'd have to mix with ADATA 3200. Or I could just buy whatever and throw it together. Sounds like just getting the 32 is the best idea. My time is valuable to me, so I don't want to fart around with it. If mixing doesn't work, I can just use the 32 GB.
 
If the old RAM is CL 16 and new RAM CL 18 is it still worth it to copy over the timings? I'm capable enough to copy timings, but not capable enough to know if it's worthwhile, lol.
 
does your system actually need more ram? adding more when it doesnt wont do shit. faster would help though...
 
The CPU is a 9600K? I was going to say just drop in another two sticks and let them run at the slower speed, and then I saw "I don't want to fart around with it." For minimum farting-around, even if it's only potential farting-around, pull the old 2 and install a new 2x16.
 
Personally I'd add the 2x16 to get 48 GB total.
In terms of matching sticks: one option is to go the eBay route. I wanted to grow my Proxmox server from 32 GB to 64GB, and found a lot of potentially matching sticks on eBay. Looking at the seller photos I purchased the sticks that were closest to my existing pair's manufacturing date. The screenprinting on the heat spreaders is a little bit different (you can really only tell when they're all installed and the alignment is slightly off) but examining what's visible of the PCB and the microchips, they appear to have the same PCB layout as the originals.
 
In some mobo's, mixing different ram works fine, in others it can cause major stability issues, and using all 4 ram slots can have some side effects too.

Generally, regardless of the amount, using only 2 slots is usually the easiest, most stable option, unless of course, you can only reach the total amount you need by using all 4 slots...

It just depends on how picky your memory controller is and if it can or cannot handle the variations in speeds, timings, voltages ect between the different sticks...And given the age of your rig, I would not count on 4 sticks being stable though...

I know that in every system I have ever built (>100) for myself & my clients in the past 10 years and in the present day, where all 4 slots were utilized, I ALWAYS used matching sets that were all purchased at the same time, and have never had any issues whatsoever...Note that the majority of these rigs were spec'd for 32-64GB, due to the client's work requirements.

And until recently, 16GB was the largest size sticks available, but thankfully that era is over, so the last 4 rigs all had 128GB, via 4x 32GB sticks :D
 
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