[SOLVED] Adding more RAM - need some clarifications.

[krstevski.milan]

Hi, my motherboard is Gigabyte X99 UD4 , and I currently have 32GB total - 4x8GB RAM (Kingston HyperX Fury Black 2666Mhz, CL15).

Due to certain circumstances, I'll be gifted another 8GB stick (exactly same type of memory, just 3000Mhz), so my question is:

will I have noticeable decrease in performance (I'm mainly using my workstation for graphic (Adobe) and audio (Cubase) work, and very little gaming) if I install this memory stick, since those 40GB will presumably be working in single channel? Or will it be smarter not to install it?

Up until couple of days, for the past 3-4 months I was using 3x8GB (24GB) since one of the memory sticks was faulty and was removed, but the performance wasn't drastically decreased compared to 32gb/dual channel setup, except Adobe taking more time for certain tasks.

Thanks in advance for your answers

 

[punkncat]

I would ask first...you mention having 4X the 2666, but mention something about a faulty stick? Did you RMA that and get one back that is (again) working properly in your system as 4x or are you still 3x?

More than likely it should work, but is of course going to run at the slower speed, if in XMP at all. I would use the "matched" sticks and put this one in the spare parts bin. A use will present itself.

 

[geofelt]

There is no guarantee that the new stick will run with your old.
Ram must be matched.
If it does it will run at the lower speed of your other sticks.
I think you have a 4 channel capability.
CPU-Z should tell you what you are running.
If you install one stick in each separate channel you will be running quad channel.

Intel ram controllers are very good at anticipating ram accesses so ram specs are not very important for most apps.

Whatever, you have the ability to try the new ram and see how you do.
You might want to run memtest86 to verify that you have no errors.

 

[krstevski.milan]

I would ask first...you mention having 4X the 2666, but mention something about a faulty stick? Did you RMA that and get one back that is (again) working properly in your system as 4x or are you still 3x?

Yeah, I RMA that one (was getting constant BSOD's and errors in memtest) but they returned the same one to me, saying that they tested it and it showed no errors.
It worked for couple of days, than I started getting BSOD's again, with tons of errors in memtest again.

Just to be sure that the memory port wasn't faulty, I tried the other sticks in that memory port and none of them showed errors in memtest - which made me believe the memory stick was faulty.

So I RMA that stick again, with the same results - tested and no errors.

So after that, I put it in a different port, started the memtest... and indeed it showed no errors. So as I type this, I'm using 4x ports (32GB total), but what I described is the reason for accepting the additional (3000Mhz stick), since I'm afraid BSOD's might start happening again.

I'm quite baffled is the stick indeed faulty or swapping it's place with some of the other sticks made some difference ( I do believe I swapped it before the first RMA but I can't really recall, it was a while ago).

More than likely it should work, but is of course going to run at the slower speed, if in XMP at all. I would use the "matched" sticks and put this one in the spare parts bin. A use will present itself.

Yeah, I'm aware it will run at slower speed, but I'm not concerned about that.

 

[punkncat]

I don't think you will harm anything by trying it and seeing what happens. My concern would be that you default all the way down to 1800/2133 area, and none of the sticks run in XMP. Assuming that newer stick is both faster and still CL15 I cannot imagine it not being able to match the timings of the slower stick.
If you are currently experiencing intermittent problems, what's the worst? You still have them or it doesn't work at all?

 

[krstevski.milan]

My concern would be that you default all the way down to 1800/2133 area, and none of the sticks run in XMP.

Is there a way to check this after I insert it?

Assuming that newer stick is both faster and still CL15 I cannot imagine it not being able to match the timings of the slower stick.

Yes, it's CL15, same brand (Kingston HyperX Fury Black), only difference should be the speed according to the specs.

If you are currently experiencing intermittent problems, what's the worst? You still have them or it doesn't work at all?

No problems as we speak, but the last time (after showing no errors in memtest) this stick worked 3-4 days with no issues before random BSODs started (and showing errors in memtest started). So far 2 days after inserting it in a different slot than the previous times, no issues.

 

[punkncat]

CPU-Z

 

[geofelt]

XMP technically overclocks standard ram speed from 2133/2400 @1.2v to a higher number.
The overclocking is what gets the ram to run at a higher speed.
You do not need it.
If you run cpu-Z there will be a memory tab which describes each of your ram sticks and what it is capable of. That is speed, timings and voltage.
You will also see if it is running single/dual or quad channel.

CPU-Z also has a simple stress test that you should run.

You mention memtest. I think memtest86 is what you want to run.
It boots from a usb stick and does not use windows.
If you can complete a full pass with NO errors, your ram and pc is basically sound.
If you thereafter have issues, it is likely to be windows or drivers.