4 x 4GB DDR3 RAM?

[king3pj]

Amazon has the exact RAM I have in my gaming PC on sale in their Gold Box Deal of the Day. It's 2x 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Corsair Vengeance RAM. Like I said I already have two identical sticks of 4GB RAM in my PC.

I know that 8GB is enough for gaming so I don't need to buy this but it's pretty damn cheap. I've never used 4 RAM sticks though. Every PC I have ever built has always had 2. Is there any reason I shouldn't spend the $40 to double my RAM up to 16GB?

I suppose I could also look for deals on 2 x 8GB sticks and just replace my current RAM if that would be better. Maybe DDR3 RAM prices will drop after Zen comes out and retailers start shifting all their stock to DDR4. Here are my current specs.

i5-4690k @ 4.4GHz
GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK motherboard
2 X 4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
2 EVGA SC ACX 2.0 GTX 970 in SLI
EVGA G2 Supernova 850W
240GB SSD
2TB HDD

 

[KLawinger]

You could use the 2x4 and also buy a 2x8 kit of the same ram and have 24 gb, im not sure what your question is but 4x4 is fine

 

[blazorthon]

Unless it's also the exact same model number, then it isn't the exact same memory. Having the same brand name and frequency do not make it the same RAM. Also, even the same RAM from two kits can be incompatible in one system. RAM sold in a kit is guaranteed to work with other RAM in the kit, not any other RAM, including RAM of the same model from another kit.

RAM is very finnicky and the settings that are coded into the modules for two modules are not necessarily what they need to be for four modules. For example, some timings might need to be loosened manually, voltage might need slight adjustments (both the memory and the memory controller), and even then, the motherboard's BIOS might not be able to get the modules to cooperate.

If you already had the other kit and wanted to see if they'd work, that's fine because the worst case scenario is it doesn't work. Mixing kits doesn't harm anything. However, it is not recommended to buy a new kit expecting it to work because oftentimes they just don't work for little to no apparent reason. I recommend buying a single 2x8GB kit and reusing or selling your current memory if you want a guarantee backed by the manufacturer.

 

[Sakkura]

It's basically fine. Running 4 sticks instead of 2 can put a little more strain on the memory controller, but the memory controller in your CPU can very easily deal with this configuration. I recall some people having issues running DDR3-2133 with 4 sticks on an FX-8350, and having to set it to 1866 instead. Not gonna happen with a 4690K, and especially not with plain old DDR3-1600.

 

[blazorthon]

There's nothing wrong with running 4x4GB (like you said, the little more strain is not much of a problem since Intel's memory controllers are generally pretty rugged these days), but if they are from two kits, then they are not guaranteed to work and sometimes don't work under any circumstances (not even lowering frequency and other things).

 

[Sakkura]

There's nothing wrong with running 4x4GB (like you said, the little more strain is not much of a problem since Intel's memory controllers are generally pretty rugged these days), but if they are from two kits, then they are not guaranteed to work and sometimes don't work under any circumstances (not even lowering frequency and other things).

That's true, but most of the time it'll work just fine.

 

[Kurz]

I say go for it, I currently have 4x4GB Ram for the past 5 years. Its nice especially on Windows 10.
Note if you do run into issues with stability or the system doesn't turn on with the new sticks, take them out and run a BIOS update from Gigabyte (Hell you can do it before hand).

Very often BIOS updates fix memory incompatibility, also it improves system stability.

 

[king3pj]

Unless it's also the exact same model number, then it isn't the exact same memory. Having the same brand name and frequency do not make it the same RAM. Also, even the same RAM from two kits can be incompatible in one system. RAM sold in a kit is guaranteed to work with other RAM in the kit, not any other RAM, including RAM of the same model from another kit.

RAM is very finnicky and the settings that are coded into the modules for two modules are not necessarily what they need to be for four modules. For example, some timings might need to be loosened manually, voltage might need slight adjustments (both the memory and the memory controller), and even then, the motherboard's BIOS might not be able to get the modules to cooperate.

If you already had the other kit and wanted to see if they'd work, that's fine because the worst case scenario is it doesn't work. Mixing kits doesn't harm anything. However, it is not recommended to buy a new kit expecting it to work because oftentimes they just don't work for little to no apparent reason. I recommend buying a single 2x8GB kit and reusing or selling your current memory if you want a guarantee backed by the manufacturer.

There's nothing wrong with running 4x4GB (like you said, the little more strain is not much of a problem since Intel's memory controllers are generally pretty rugged these days), but if they are from two kits, then they are not guaranteed to work and sometimes don't work under any circumstances (not even lowering frequency and other things).

I thought they would be identical because when I built my PC I bought 2 x 4GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz RAM. This is the same package on sale. It's another 2 x 4GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz RAM. It's the same exact listing. Amazon even says "You bought this item on February 19, 2013." when I look at the item page.

I guess I wasn't aware that there could be differences when buying the same item again a couple years later.

 

[blazorthon]

Even having the same listing doesn't mean something hasn't changed. The memory chips are likely a newer revision unless Amazon has a lot of unsold stock from two years ago. Again, this doesn't mean it can't work nor that it must work, it's just something to consider. I've mixed RAM many times and sometimes it worked while other times it didn't. Sometimes you can get it to work by messing with settings, other times there's just nothing you can do. Sometimes it'll even work on one board while not on another and yes, BIOS updates can sometimes fix that.

I don't assume that it'll work because I've seen it not work and I've even read Tom's reviews where RAM just wouldn't work as expected on occasion. If you buy a 2x8GB kit, you have a guarantee that it'll work given to you by the manufacturer. If it doesn't work, then they have to fix the problem. If you buy a new 2x4GB kit to mix with yours and it works, then great, but if it doesn't, then the manufacturer can choose to do nothing about it and then you have to deal with it.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks for all the quick replies guys. I think I'll grab it and see what happens. If It doesn't work I have a PC that is used for office work with only 4GB of RAM. 4GB is enough for the programs I use on that PC a daily basis but it couldn't hurt to have 8GB there anyways.