Benefits of adding another 2 sticks of ram

deejayburnout

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
129
0
18,690
Morning Peeps

Quick question.

I have at the moment 2 x 2GB sticks of Ram in my Rig. As its 800mhz i want to get it up to 1333mhz as thats the maximum my board will take.

However, i am better getting 4 sticks of ram using all 4 slots on my mobo or just using 2 slots. My plan is to get 4 x 2GB in the future.

Also what does all this dual channel and unganged stuff mean in real terms.

Cheers in advance.
 

wurkfur

Distinguished
Dec 27, 2011
336
1
18,965
If you have a dual channel build and you plan on pushing your memory to its limits, don't use more than 2 sticks. Heck you can get 2 x 4GB sticks of 1600mhz for about $40 from muskin or kingston. I spend more than that on alcohol in a week. Keeps the wife looking good.

Good luck!
 

Well, make sure u have x64bit Windows to maximize the RAM.

8GB and more of the RAM is great for the smoothness of the Windows running everyday tasks and games.

As far as OC of the RAM, the gain is small and u will see it only in the benchmarks.
 

deejayburnout

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
129
0
18,690
My board is a Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3.

It has 4 slots for mem and am toying with the idea to add more ram to no more than 8GB.

I am upgrading all my components as my rig is a bit dated.
 

If I would be u, I would fill the RAM and get cheap small ~50GB SSD like Vertex2. That will give u the best kick in the performance of the PC that u have.

Next would be a latest CPU!
 

deejayburnout

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
129
0
18,690
i have got a 60GB Vertex SSD for a Windows boot drive.

Next is a Phenom II x4 955 or above

I might just buy another 2 x 2GB ram sticks to upgrade if the mhz difference shows no obvious improvement.
 

More RAM, yes u will benefit.

Faster RAM, yes u will benefit too in range of seconds to milliseconds. Something hard to notice.

My 2 cents... : )
 

aasgoroth

Distinguished
Dec 28, 2011
2
0
18,510
Your MB supports only DDR2, it costs about 2x more and will not make that huge of a difference. I rarely see RAM usage in excess of ~3GB, except on my DAW.
 

I use daily more than 10GB of RAM all day long... I wouldn't, if I would not have it.
 

aasgoroth

Distinguished
Dec 28, 2011
2
0
18,510

I don't imply that no one needs that much RAM. Depends on what software you use. I have 12 gigs in my rig and the only times RAM usage jumps above ~30% is when I use DAW.
 

I am just saying that its better, to have more than less,

especially when RAM is so cheap : )
 

deejayburnout

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
129
0
18,690
I have never saw my rig use more than 2.5 GB at any one time.

My rig is being geared towards gaming, however I like my computer to be quick and responsive.

Is is work paying for new RAM which probably only 266mhz faster if I go for 1066mhz. Will the payoff be worth it. It it better to buy another 2 sticks of 800mhz instead

If not I might just stick with what I have got, and concentrate on a new Phenom II

Thanks Peeps.
 

Well, all that is up to u : )
 

deejayburnout

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
129
0
18,690


Totally.

Been looking into it a bit more and the best way forward to make my system faster is get a new Phenom II.

80 earth pounds will buy me 8GB of faster mem that will give me very little improvement

80 earth pounds would also buy me a Phenom II X4 965 3.4G that will be a big improvement.

A no brainer really

CPU it is.

Thanks for all you help here guys