Can RAM slow down a computer?

[Guest]

I installed a RAM stick today. It's either the same speed as the ones that were already in the computer, or it's faster. It definitely not slower than any of them.

Could installing it still slow down the computer, even though it's not slower than the other ram sticks on its own?

I expected the computer to be slightly smoother/faster. But I don't see that. It might actually be slower. Though it's hard to tell.

Currently there's a total of 16GB on the computer. The OS is Windows 8.1 64-bit.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... If you went from 8 to 16 you will not see a speed difference... you Can open more Tasks smoother. CPU and SSD will be the Speed difference after 8gb of ram.

 

[Tradesman1]

What all DRAM do you have? and mobo/CPU (model #s) The BIOS may have lowered the freq when adding the new DRAM, also if you were in dual channel and it dropped all to single that could affect things

 

[synphul]

Like the posters above said, if it's slower than the original memory, it could have downclocked what you had to match (ram speeds adjust to the lowest common denominator). It used to be - and I'm not sure how noticeable it really is anymore given the speed of modern systems, that yes. Adding ram you don't need would have an impact on performance. To try and give an extreme case, let's say you only 'need' 8gb of ram. If you install 64gb of ram and your ram usage never exceeds say 6gb at any given time, never even hits 9gb of usage - windows still has to address all 64gb of that memory. Theoretically it could cause more lag than a system where windows only had to address the amount of memory you actually used.

So in a case like that, 64gb could impact rather than improve performance. Similar to having to carry around a big phone book that's blank except for a couple of names and numbers. It would be much less work on you to just write those down on a 3x5 index card and carry it in your pocket.

What I'm unsure of is what actual perceivable impact there is even under that situation considering how much faster and wider data buses and bandwidth channels are and modern processing speeds. It might not be noticeable anymore (like it used to be 6-10yrs ago).

 

[AchillesSidney]

If the ram is the same speed as the current or faster as you are saying, it may just be the same speed and your just thinking its slower because you were expecting a speed pick up. All I say to that is the RAM alone doesn't determine speed, the RAM was probably not slowing down your computer to begin with, 8 GB is more than enough for most people.