Question Buy single or kit?

[Teknoman2]

A couple of weeks ago i turned off my pc and when i came back from work it wasn't booting anymore. After several tests i found that the PSU died and took with it the motherboard (MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk) and one of the 2 RAM modules (G.Skill F5-6000J3238F16GX2-TZ5NR). I got a new motherboard, same model, and ran memtest on the one working RAM module which gave no errors. Should i get a single new module of the same type to replace the fried? Is it better to get a kit of 2 and put away the one that works? Or should i get a kit of 2 and have 3 modules installed?

 

[Lafong]

I'd get a new kit of 2 sticks to avoid any possible issues.

If you are feeling lucky, do something else.

 

[geofelt]

Buy a supported 2 stick kit replacement.
Ram is fussy about ram and unmatched ram may not work properly.
Keep the old as a spare; you would not get much from the effort in selling it.

 

[Teknoman2]

Buy a supported 2 stick kit replacement.
Ram is fussy about ram and unmatched ram may not work properly.
Keep the old as a spare; you would not get much from the effort in selling it.

I know its the safest option and i was planning to get the exact same kit. What about option 3 though? Would there be any demerit in plugging the new kit in dual channel and inserting the old module in another slot?

 

[CountMike]

I know its the safest option and i was planning to get the exact same kit. What about option 3 though? Would there be any demerit in plugging the new kit in dual channel and inserting the old module in another slot?

Same applies to mixing memory between both channels. Result is hardly predictable.

 

[Teknoman2]

I just checked on MSI's site and it says that for this RAM model its not advised to plug in more than 2.
Maybe i should get a set of Kingston Fury Beast (KF560C36BBEAK2-32)

 

[SkyNetRising]

What about option 3 though? Would there be any demerit in plugging the new kit in dual channel and inserting the old module in another slot?

You'd loose dual channel operating mode.
It would either work all in single channel mode or
in flex mode - part in dual, part in single channel mode.

 

[Teknoman2]

I think i'll follow geofelt's advice and get me a kit of the same model so i can keep the module i have as a spare.

 

[geofelt]

I don't know if ryzen supports flex mode(like intel) where two sticks operate in dual channel mode and the odd stick operates in single channel mode.
But, since you have the stick, you could experiment trying it.

 

[CountMike]

I don't know if ryzen supports flex mode(like intel) where two sticks operate in dual channel mode and the odd stick operates in single channel mode.
But, since you have the stick, you could experiment trying it.

It does support Flex mode but BIOS have to agree to that,

 

[DSzymborski]

I'd get a new kit, but you can at least *try*to run with the third stick and see what happens. While only matched kits are guaranteed to work together, it still *could* work for you. Hell, I'm running a 48 GB FrankenRAM situation in my main rig, due to an accidental purchase, and I've run a battery of tests, and the sticks are getting along quite well.

 

[Teknoman2]

It does support Flex mode but BIOS have to agree to that,

I just installed the latest BIOS for my board but i don't know if it supports it. May god bless whoever invented the BIOS flashback button though. There was a sudden power outage while the update was at 90% and if not for the flashback button i'd have a bricked mobo on my hands.

 

[CountMike]

I just installed the latest BIOS for my board but i don't know if it supports it. May god bless whoever invented the BIOS flashback button though. There was a sudden power outage while the update was at 90% and if not for the flashback button i'd have a bricked mobo on my hands.

You can test for flex mode, I doubt there would be listed option in BIOS.
As for flashback button, yes. it's right there with sliced bread and hot water inventions.

 

[punkncat]

In a gaming rig use case, do not use the third stick of RAM.
If you are using it in a more workload related mode, only use the additional stick if you are running out of memory for the programs or rendering etc being performed.

A matched pair is the safest bet.

 

[Karadjgne]

The model of ram is meaningless. As is the brand. What is everything is the ram chips themselves. Ram is made from sheets of silicon, and every sheet has slightly different impurities as no silicon is 100% pure. It's those tiny amounts of impurities that affect everything. So you get the best compatibility from chips that come from the same sheet, and thats what is tested at the factory. If you buy a kit, the ram is almost guaranteed to be from the same sheet, usually sequential in serial number.

So if you buy singles, chances are better than very good that the ram itself is from a different sheet, even if you buy 2 sticks from the same store, same shelf, one next to the other, on the same day, at the same time.

Since Samsung and SkHynix both manufacture gskill products, and also manufacture Corsair, Patriot, and several dozen other 'brands', what you get is the same chips used by different brands and models, so your original stick that still works has exactly the same chances of compatibility with the new kit, as using a kit of Corsair LPX or Patriot Elite etc, which is to say it'll work, it'll work with adjustments or it doesn't work.

As far as using the old stick in flex, there's only one benefit, total ram size. All other conditions will either be moot or a detriment. The cpu will use the dual channel memory first, it has priority. It'll basically ignore the single channel ram as much as possible. The only time that ram will see any use is if the program that's run can actually make use of more ram, and would ordinarily saturate the dual channel amount, at which point the program slows down slightly as the cpu is also now dealing with single channel bandwidth as well as the dual channel bandwidth. That slowdown may not be as much as the possible slowdown if just the dual channel ram gets saturated, so would be an overall benefit to you.

You currently have 32Gb of ram in dual channel. I can't think of any game that can saturate 32Gb and would see a benefit to fps by the use of 48Gb in flex. Although it would be helpful in running multiple Virtual Machines or some production programs.