Question I want to upgrade to 32gb (4x8gb) should it always work?

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ovelionnn

ovelionnn

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Hi! So i have Ryzen 5 5600 and a Steel Legend B450m motherboard.

Right now im running 2x8GB 3600Mhz ram.Im planning to buy additional 2x8GB because i feel like nowadays game require so much ram, especially when i want to run obs too. Also im chrome enjoyer.
I remember also one time when playing EFT that i got a blue screen with 16GB when not setting file size properly

On the motherboard website it doesn't even show that it supports above 3200mhz but it still worked because i heard this OC is small and will work mostly on every motherboard nowadays.

Now i wanna upgrade to 32GB also have 4 sticks ram 4x8GB. The website shows that this even supports less MHz then the dual one.

So pretty much i can't be sure when i buy the 2 extra sticks, that it still will work with 3600Mhz right? Also probably will be "slower" because not dual rank?

Is it really much more worth to just buy 2x16gb and then selling my 2 old sticks?
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

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Adding new sticks to what you have may not work.
Or may only work partially.

RAM is sold as a set for a reason. Tested from the factory to work together.
Mixing often fails.


If at all possible, buy a set of 2x16GB (32GB total).
Sell or repurpose the ones you have.
 
ovelionnn

ovelionnn

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Ofc i will buy exact the same ram.... i bought a kit 2x8gb i will buy this kit again and run them all together. I know they have to be the same, i can't run 2 diffrent ram kits
 
kanewolf

kanewolf

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ovelionnn said:
Ofc i will buy exact the same ram.... i bought a kit 2x8gb i will buy this kit again and run them all together. I know they have to be the same, i can't run 2 diffrent ram kits
Click to expand...
You have no idea what parts changes have been made under the heat spreader for something sold by the same part number.
Read what @USAFRet said -- "tested and guaranteed by the manufacturer to work as a set". Two sets are NOT tested by the manufacturer. You take responsibility to make them work as a set. Good luck.
 
FAhentai

FAhentai

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Jul 3, 2016
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ovelionnn said:
Hi! So i have Ryzen 5 5600 and a Steel Legend B450m motherboard.

Right now im running 2x8GB 3600Mhz ram.Im planning to buy additional 2x8GB because i feel like nowadays game require so much ram, especially when i want to run obs too. Also im chrome enjoyer.
I remember also one time when playing EFT that i got a blue screen with 16GB when not setting file size properly

On the motherboard website it doesn't even show that it supports above 3200mhz but it still worked because i heard this OC is small and will work mostly on every motherboard nowadays.

Now i wanna upgrade to 32GB also have 4 sticks ram 4x8GB. The website shows that this even supports less MHz then the dual one.

So pretty much i can't be sure when i buy the 2 extra sticks, that it still will work with 3600Mhz right? Also probably will be "slower" because not dual rank?

Is it really much more worth to just buy 2x16gb and then selling my 2 old sticks?
Click to expand...
Well, it seems like you don't really have any insight-knowleage about ram, do you?
1st of all, you have to know that if you are using DDR3 ram or later, usually there are 2 standards about speed, latency (CL), one is called Jedec, which has strict standards, such as power votage, stability, yet less performance. Another is called XMP, which is a standard from Intel (nowadays there is EXPO from AMD, but after all they are almost the same and EXPO, as far as I know, only exisits on DDR5 RAMS), it is some how like pre-load over clock standard. Yes, it is in fact over clock, yet for most of the users you are expected to let your RAM runs on that speed, however, the stability could be a problem (the chance is very low tho), and usually the power votage is higher than Jedec standards, Eg some of the DDR4 ram can run up to 4800MHZ, yet its power voltage is preset to 1.6V while the Jedec standard requires 1.2V only. Remeber, that is still overclock, tho it is more or less like official overclock, just like those grahic cards back to the old days, for example, a GTX560TI usually runs at the speed of 800MHZ, however there are some GTX560TI can run at the speed of 1050MHZ by default. Then, 800MHZ is more or less like Jedec here while 1050MHZ is its "XMP" speed.
2ed,let's back to your case, it seems like you are using DDR4 3600 RAM. The highest standard for Jedec RAM is 3200MHZ, need less to say, this is XMP speed. If you want to enable 3600MHZ, you need 1）make sure that you have to turn on XMP on the BIOS and select the speed. 2) Make sure your motherboard supports that speed. I did check out the details for your motherboard, the link is here https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450M Steel Legend/index.asp#Specification
you will found out that your motherboard only supports upto DDR4 3200MHZ ram, of course, there is no such option for you to go higher even if you turn XMP on, the XMP can only help with latency (CL) yet it is not able to run any higher than 3200MHZ because your MB limits it.
3rd, about RAM expansion. Once again, XMP is still overclocking. What I did not mention above is that once you are using 4XRAM, the chance for you to turn on the XMP without any problem is lower. That is because once again XMP is more or less like official overclocking, if you go 4XRAM the system goes more complex, even if you have same 4XRAM there is still a chance for failing to turn on XMP, not mention you might have to use 2 different pairs. Nevertheless, since your MB limits RAM speed to 3200, you will found out that turning on XMP is not going to help you too much. Thus, Jedec 3200MHZ is what you want. Once you set your target is there, you will find that almost any DDR4 3200+ RAM will do. I personally tried so many times hardly any fail.
AND the last, my personal suggestion, go get 2XDDR4 4G 3200 Jedec ram. Make sure you install them in the sequence of 4G8G4G8G or 8G4G8G4G, go back to your BIOS, set the ram speed to Jedec 3200MHZ, it will work.
 
FAhentai

FAhentai

Distinguished
Jul 3, 2016
99
13
18,545
FAhentai said:
Well, it seems like you don't really have any insight-knowleage about ram, do you?
1st of all, you have to know that if you are using DDR3 ram or later, usually there are 2 standards about speed, latency (CL), one is called Jedec, which has strict standards, such as power votage, stability, yet less performance. Another is called XMP, which is a standard from Intel (nowadays there is EXPO from AMD, but after all they are almost the same and EXPO, as far as I know, only exisits on DDR5 RAMS), it is some how like pre-load over clock standard. Yes, it is in fact over clock, yet for most of the users you are expected to let your RAM runs on that speed, however, the stability could be a problem (the chance is very low tho), and usually the power votage is higher than Jedec standards, Eg some of the DDR4 ram can run up to 4800MHZ, yet its power voltage is preset to 1.6V while the Jedec standard requires 1.2V only. Remeber, that is still overclock, tho it is more or less like official overclock, just like those grahic cards back to the old days, for example, a GTX560TI usually runs at the speed of 800MHZ, however there are some GTX560TI can run at the speed of 1050MHZ by default. Then, 800MHZ is more or less like Jedec here while 1050MHZ is its "XMP" speed.
2ed,let's back to your case, it seems like you are using DDR4 3600 RAM. The highest standard for Jedec RAM is 3200MHZ, need less to say, this is XMP speed. If you want to enable 3600MHZ, you need 1）make sure that you have to turn on XMP on the BIOS and select the speed. 2) Make sure your motherboard supports that speed. I did check out the details for your motherboard, the link is here https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450M Steel Legend/index.asp#Specification
you will found out that your motherboard only supports upto DDR4 3200MHZ ram, of course, there is no such option for you to go higher even if you turn XMP on, the XMP can only help with latency (CL) yet it is not able to run any higher than 3200MHZ because your MB limits it.
3rd, about RAM expansion. Once again, XMP is still overclocking. What I did not mention above is that once you are using 4XRAM, the chance for you to turn on the XMP without any problem is lower. That is because once again XMP is more or less like official overclocking, if you go 4XRAM the system goes more complex, even if you have same 4XRAM there is still a chance for failing to turn on XMP, not mention you might have to use 2 different pairs. Nevertheless, since your MB limits RAM speed to 3200, you will found out that turning on XMP is not going to help you too much. Thus, Jedec 3200MHZ is what you want. Once you set your target is there, you will find that almost any DDR4 3200+ RAM will do. I personally tried so many times hardly any fail.
AND the last, my personal suggestion, go get 2XDDR4 4G 3200 Jedec ram. Make sure you install them in the sequence of 4G8G4G8G or 8G4G8G4G, go back to your BIOS, set the ram speed to Jedec 3200MHZ, it will work.
Click to expand...
And also please notice, those knowleages above do not apply to DDR5!!!!!
In fact, if you are using 4XRAM with DDR5, no matter if it is AM5 or LGA1700, most of the time you are not able to turn on XMP even if you are using 4 same ram sticks!!!!!! In the worst case, like I have expirenced before, if you are using 2 different pairs, your system will not boot even with Jedec.
 
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