4X4 or 8X2

[GagaTroll]

whats better ? what are the cons and pros for each?

 

[RetiredChief]

My preference is 4 x 4.
Most MBs do NOT have 8 slots.

DUH - maybe you mean 2 x 8 gigs modules, in which case I'd select the 2 8gig modules.
Primary reason is down stream you may want to increase ram above 16 gigs - Cheaper in the long run.
Side Note: currently 8 gigs is the sweet spot and 16 gig (except for some apps) is generally overkill - But just as the saying goes for HDDs - "you can never have to many Gigabytes" so it also goes for Ram - I can remember when they said "WHO would ever ned more than 1 MEGabyte of memory, and here we are NOW talking GIGabytes.

 

[Asuveroz]

2x8.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Another reason to go 2x8 instead of 4x4 is I've seen some benches that show a *very* slight performance degradation if you go 4x4 due to overhead with multiple banks. You'd never notice it in day to day ops, but if it costs the same or less to go 2x8, why not?

 

[Trenchcoat]

Also 4x4 can affect CPU overclocks. Perhaps it's because more voltage has to be passed through 4 sets of memory than 2. I'm by no means an expert on RAM but on the leading UK overclocking site; using 4 slots always returns a lower maximum CPU clock rate than 2.

 

[GagaTroll]

so 2X8 it is
now the question is 1333 or 1600?

 

[Trenchcoat]

so 2X8 it is
now the question is 1333 or 1600?

Depends on your motherboard but...... A Tom's hardware article recently said that a decent brand of 1600 memory was cheaper than any 1333 equivalent and even if your motherboard only supports slower than 1600 RAM the faster stuff will still work at 1333.

 

[g-unit1111]

so 2X8 it is
now the question is 1333 or 1600?

Depends on your motherboard but...... A Tom's hardware article recently said that a decent brand of 1600 memory was cheaper than any 1333 equivalent and even if your motherboard only supports slower than 1600 RAM the faster stuff will still work at 1333.

I'm guessing that article is a bit outdated. RAM prices are double and in some cases triple from what they were a year ago, that may no longer be the case.

 

[thdarkshadow]

so 2X8 it is
now the question is 1333 or 1600?

Depends on your motherboard but...... A Tom's hardware article recently said that a decent brand of 1600 memory was cheaper than any 1333 equivalent and even if your motherboard only supports slower than 1600 RAM the faster stuff will still work at 1333.

I'm guessing that article is a bit outdated. RAM prices are double and in some cases triple from what they were a year ago, that may no longer be the case.

Yeah I bought my ram a while back for 40 bucks and it was just a few dollars off normal. I was shocked when I looked at ram prices the other day.
I would go with 2 8gb sticks. Less ram sticks mean less things to go wrong and as others have said it may have better performance

 

[Quaddro]

well, my computer run 4x4gb memory..

And it seems a little bit more responsive when i was run at 2x4 gb rather than this 4x4gb..

More banks need more power processor..

go with the highest frequency you can go..because memory is investment..
if you go to the newer systems later, you can keep this memory.

Ddr4 will became majority at 2016 or even longer, so don't worry. your new ddr3 memory is not out dated very quickly..

 

[GagaTroll]

thanks everyone

 

[Trenchcoat]

so 2X8 it is
now the question is 1333 or 1600?

Depends on your motherboard but...... A Tom's hardware article recently said that a decent brand of 1600 memory was cheaper than any 1333 equivalent and even if your motherboard only supports slower than 1600 RAM the faster stuff will still work at 1333.

I'm guessing that article is a bit outdated. RAM prices are double and in some cases triple from what they were a year ago, that may no longer be the case.

It was less than two months ago, shortly after or during the MATX build off.

 

[tctbullet]

My preference is 4 x 4.
Most MBs do NOT have 8 slots.

DUH - maybe you mean 2 x 8 gigs modules, in which case I'd select the 2 8gig modules.
Primary reason is down stream you may want to increase ram above 16 gigs - Cheaper in the long run.
Side Note: currently 8 gigs is the sweet spot and 16 gig (except for some apps) is generally overkill - But just as the saying goes for HDDs - "you can never have to many Gigabytes" so it also goes for Ram - I can remember when they said "WHO would ever ned more than 1 MEGabyte of memory, and here we are NOW talking GIGabytes.

I am wondering the same thing on a board that has 8 slots and quad channel (MSI X79A-GD45 PLUS Intel X79 Motherboard) is 8 x2gig sticks better than 4 x 4 gig sticks? not worried about future upgrades.

 

[Tradesman1]

For a dual channel mobo like 1150 or 1155 (or AMD) 2x8GB is best if the mobo supports it - 2 main reasons - less stress on the MC (memory controller) and it will be slightly faster - with a quad channel mobo (socket 2011 X79) then 4x4GB, the bandwidth increase in quad over dual very good, and actually better for the MC as those CPUs are native to quad channel and optimized for it