Have extra ram, should I use it?

[discoslice]

So I got a pair of new Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz for my MSI Z97 GAMING 5 motherboard, when I recently upgraded my computer. So now I'm at 16 gigs of ram.

I have 2 memory slots open, and have 2 older Corsair Vegeance memory sticks (1x 4 GB x 2) - so 8 additional ram.

Can I use them or should I just chuck them? It would bring me to 24 gigs ram - not sure if that kind of number is allowed.

 

[giantbucket]

use it

 

[discoslice]

Does slower ram though negatively impact the performance of the PC? Or is it only helpful?

 

[giantbucket]

on an intel it's unlikely to be a big deal, and sometimes more ram of any kind is better than less fast ram. is the other stuff 1333? can you overclock the slow stuff so that everything runs at 1600? give it a try!

 

[discoslice]

I haven't really messed with overclocking - either the processor or memoty heh. I use the MSI Genie for my motherboard. I think the next upgrade I need is a new video card. Right now I have two 770 GTX's SLI'd.

My older ram says 4 GB, 1600 MHZ - 1.50 v - ver 2.12 on it if that helps. It may be close to the same as my newer memory.

 

[giantbucket]

plug it in, make sure XMP is enabled, and have at it! it should all run at 1600 then.

 

[discoslice]

ok thanks giant - is there a way i can test the performance before and after - to see if it's an improvement? I have some random utilities like: UserBenchMark, HeavenBenchMark and PerformanceTest.

 

[giantbucket]

you could use benchmarks, but i just add in more ram and leave it at that. i guess if you use specific apps for video encoding or CAD work, you could try doing some before/after tests to see if you gained much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajyzZ-zaq0o

 

[Tradesman1]

Give it a try, no guarantee it will play with the new, if any problem try raising DRAM voltage + 0.05 and may need to try and set manually. Let us know what happens 😉

 

[discoslice]

thanks guys seems to be working ok so far.

 

[Tradesman1]

Glad to hear 😉

 

[discoslice]

New question - I have OCGenie running and I think it turned off XMP somehow. My memory shows it's running at 1600 mhz, and my processors are at 4400 mhz. It's a little confusing for me to know if OCGenie is actually running or not, lol. The icon doesn't show much. I think OCgenie supposedly takes over XMP duties - what do you suggest I do?

 

[Tradesman1]

Check what it's running at in CPU-Z, uou may be seeing defaults in OCGenie

 

[discoslice]

CPU-Z shows 800 mhz?!?!

here's a picture. i cant get the picture thing to work here 🙁

http://imgur.com/ebfgPYD

direct link above.

 

[Tradesman1]

It's DDR (DOUBLE data rate) so true freq (800) x 2 = effective data rate (1600) 😉