Question How do i upgrade my 32GB RAM to 64GB at a later time ?

Mar 15, 2023
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Money constraints. That is why i just opted for a 32gb in the meantime so i can start on working.

I do After Effects (video renders & editing, motion graphics, animation), Photoshop, graphic designs, some 3d modeling & sculpting.

Recommended to me was to get a 64gb RAM for the creative work. Will use this all for work and no gaming.

I got a G.Skill Ripjaws 32gb Dual kit / 3600mhz / ddr4 / cl16.
Board- MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4
CPU- Intel i5 12600K

So.... how do i upgrade my 32gb RAM as 64gb at a later time?

1. is it better if i should just replace it with a new 64gb (16gb x4 sticks) later?

2. or can i just add another dual 32gb (of same specs) making them a total of 4 sticks (32gb dual + 32gb dual)

Will there be an issue with my option2?? ...since i know it is recommended to get RAMs by kits and not get mixed with others
 
Last edited:
Mar 15, 2023
2
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If you want 64 GB total, best idea would be one new kit containing 2 sticks, with 32 GB per stick. Don't reuse the existing 32 GB.

Budget might prevent you from doing that. Some other method MIGHT work OK.
Thank you for your response. But... this was the first time i have heard about not to "reuse the existing"? Ummm.... is there some sort of quality or performance issue if i reuse my existing sticks?
 
Thank you for your response. But... this was the first time i have heard about not to "reuse the existing"? Ummm.... is there some sort of quality or performance issue if i reuse my existing sticks?

Using sticks from 2 different RAM kits might result in performance issues.

It might not.

There's really no way to know without trying. If you don't want to take that risk, just use a single kit, preferably a kit of 2 x 32.

Of course, you can try anything you like.
 

blacknemesist

Distinguished
Oct 18, 2012
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Depends on where you live. If you are in europe just take the PC and have a store install the 32gb later on. If they test it and it shows issues they will replace it at any time. If you are in the US the good news is that that kit of ram is pretty popular and DDR4 is going nowhere soon.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Thank you for your response. But... this was the first time i have heard about not to "reuse the existing"? Ummm.... is there some sort of quality or performance issue if i reuse my existing sticks?
If you search this board for "RAM upgrade" you will see THOUSANDS of recommendations against using existing RAM with new RAM. Why? Because, even if you buy the exact part numbers there is no guarantee that the manufacturer hasn't changed part and the new and old RAM won't work as a set. Matched sets of RAM are sold because the manufacturer has tested all the RAM sticks as a set and guarantees them to work together. Buying two sets of RAM has no guarantee. It might work, or it might blue screen. There is no way to predict. The only guaranteed way is by buying a 64GB kit and replacing your 32GB.
 

newtechldtech

Prominent
Sep 21, 2022
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If you are running at stock speeds and not overclocking your chances will be much higher that mixed RAM will work together. but as I can see your RAM is Overclocked .. so better sell them and get a complete kit ... check the user manual for tested RAM kits if you want to use 4 dimms.
 

Misgar

Notable
Mar 2, 2023
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According to the Puget Systems web site, 32GB RAM should be enough for Adobe After Effects if you're working at 1080p with 60 seconds of continuous playback and a colour bit depth of 16bpc (bits per channel). The RAM requirements at 1080p increase to 64GB for 60s playback at 32 bpc.

However, if you're working on 4K UHD video, the RAM requirement for 60s continuous playback at 8bpc is 64GB. At 16bpc you need 128GB RAM for 60s. For 32bpc and 60s it's 256GB RAM. Nobody said video editing was cheap. It also helps if you've got a fast CPU and GPU.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...e-after-effects/hardware-recommendations/#ram

I installed 2x32GB of DDR5 RAM in my 7950X video editing rig and it's working OK at the moment. Given the price of DDR5, if I need any more RAM, I'm tempted to by a second pair of 32GB DIMMs to reach 128GB. I haven't checked to see if my motherboard can take individual 64GB DDR5 DIMMs.

I fully expect the UEFI/BIOS to relax the memory timings when it detects 4 DIMMs, but I'm running my existing DDR5 RAM at stock 4800MHz speed, because I value long term stabilty instead of possible system hangs due to memory overclocking.

In many tests, Puget benchmarks show very little improvement from RAM overclocking. You can download Puget's benchmark program and check out the effects of overclocking your RAM, CPU and GPU.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Does-RAM-speed-affect-video-editing-performance-1528/

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...5-Speed-on-Content-Creation-Performance-2300/

On significantly older DDR3 systems, I've successfully installed four DIMMs in many machines with no ill effects. I try to fit as near as possible "identical" DIMMs in all four slots, using AIDA64 RAM timing info as a guide, but even with mismatched DIMMs from different manufacturers, my DDR3 systems survive multiple runs of MemTest86+.

It's interesting to see the changes made by the UEFI/BIOS when it detects different sets of timings in dissimilar pairs. It tends to use the slowest timings from either DIMM when the machine POSTs. None of my DDR3 systems are used for vital work, but are handy to test software before installing on the main DDR4 or DDR5 systems.

For mission critical work, I agree that two DIMMs are better than four DIMMs, but if you're strapped for cash, you could add a second pair of 16GB DIMMs and run MemTest86+ for several complete cycles. If the machine proves unstable even at stock DDR4 memory speeds, you can always sell the old 2x16GB RAM (at a loss), RMA the new 2x16GB RAM and buy 2x32GB instead.

For the time being, try monitoring your memory use when running After Effects. If you still have several Gigabytes of free RAM during intensive tasks, you may not need an upgrade from 32GB to 64GB or higher. Good luck.
 

sitehostplus

Honorable
Jan 6, 2018
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Money constraints. That is why i just opted for a 32gb in the meantime so i can start on working.

I do After Effects (video renders & editing, motion graphics, animation), Photoshop, graphic designs, some 3d modeling & sculpting.

Recommended to me was to get a 64gb RAM for the creative work. Will use this all for work and no gaming.

I got a G.Skill Ripjaws 32gb Dual kit / 3600mhz / ddr4 / cl16.
Board- MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4
CPU- Intel i5 12600K

So.... how do i upgrade my 32gb RAM as 64gb at a later time?

1. is it better if i should just replace it with a new 64gb (16gb x4 sticks) later?

2. or can i just add another dual 32gb (of same specs) making them a total of 4 sticks (32gb dual + 32gb dual)

Will there be an issue with my option2?? ...since i know it is recommended to get RAMs by kits and not get mixed with others
At a later time, just buy 64gb of ram and replace all of it.

Unless you know for sure the memory you are adding is an exact match to the memory you already have onboard, it's going to be a can of worms at best.
 
Apr 24, 2023
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All of these suggestions are accurate, but they fail to mention is how mismatched memory kits work together. It depends on the motherboard, but most will work with different kits. They will show the RAM running in interleaved mode. I have numerous computers with RAM going all the way back to DDR1 and some are running mixed RAM with no problem. I use Gigabyte motherboards and most if not all of their boards support interleaved RAM. Gigabyte calls it interleaved but other brands may have a different name for it.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
All of these suggestions are accurate, but they fail to mention is how mismatched memory kits work together. It depends on the motherboard, but most will work with different kits. They will show the RAM running in interleaved mode. I have numerous computers with RAM going all the way back to DDR1 and some are running mixed RAM with no problem. I use Gigabyte motherboards and most if not all of their boards support interleaved RAM. Gigabyte calls it interleaved but other brands may have a different name for it.
The slower the RAM (DDR1) the less of an issue running non-matched RAM is. DDR4 with high clock speed and DDR5 do not tolerate random RAM sticks very well.