[SOLVED] Is it better to have 16gb of memory running in duel channel or 24gb of memory running in what ever channel that would be

DomisAcuteperson

Commendable
Oct 22, 2020
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1
1,535
Alright i got g.skill trident Z ram i got 16gb all together but my friend is getting rid of the same trident Z memory same clock speed and everything cant use both sticks because my cooler "No matter what way i set it" blocks one slot so i was wondering put one more stick in for 24gb of ram or no
 
Solution
It appears that if you have any modern processor, then it will run in asymmetric dual-channel, which means the first 16GB will have dual-channel bandwidth and the last 8GB single-channel, so there is no downside to 24GB.

Intel has bragged about their Flex Memory Technology since the i915 chipset for Pentium 4 in 2004 that allows for this.

With AMD it is less official but it appears that since AMD's 7xx northbridges for AM3 have operated RAM in unganged mode (that is, two independent 64-bit channels), benchmarks have shown that you do indeed get dual-channel bandwidth when mixing RAM sizes this way too, until the matched sizes run out.
Also if i should put in the 24gb stick what slot should they all go in? also its 8gb stick and the other sticks are 8gb
Depending on MB and it's BIOS and if everything works at all best you can hope for is two original sticks running in dual mode and third in single channel mode in second IMC. That would give you total RAM performance somewhere between single and dual channel mode.
So you will have to leverage RAM performance and RAM capacity, whatever is more important for your programs.
 
It appears that if you have any modern processor, then it will run in asymmetric dual-channel, which means the first 16GB will have dual-channel bandwidth and the last 8GB single-channel, so there is no downside to 24GB.

Intel has bragged about their Flex Memory Technology since the i915 chipset for Pentium 4 in 2004 that allows for this.

With AMD it is less official but it appears that since AMD's 7xx northbridges for AM3 have operated RAM in unganged mode (that is, two independent 64-bit channels), benchmarks have shown that you do indeed get dual-channel bandwidth when mixing RAM sizes this way too, until the matched sizes run out.
 
Solution

DomisAcuteperson

Commendable
Oct 22, 2020
44
1
1,535
It appears that if you have any modern processor, then it will run in asymmetric dual-channel, which means the first 16GB will have dual-channel bandwidth and the last 8GB single-channel, so there is no downside to 24GB.

Intel has bragged about their Flex Memory Technology since the i915 chipset for Pentium 4 in 2004 that allows for this.

With AMD it is less official but it appears that since AMD's 7xx northbridges for AM3 have operated RAM in unganged mode (that is, two independent 64-bit channels), benchmarks have shown that you do indeed get dual-channel bandwidth when mixing RAM sizes this way too, until the matched sizes run out.
I got a ryzen 5 3600 so is this worth it for me?
 
If they are all the same 8GB sticks then just put them wherever they'll fit. With a Ryzen that means the first 16GB will have exactly the same performance as you have now. You just get an additional 8GB of memory at half speed also.

Running out of memory sucks because the moment that happens it will swap to disk, which is 1000x slower for a SSD. Even though the extra memory won't run as fast as dual-channel, it's still 500x faster than not having it. So I'm not seeing any downside, unless adding the extra stick downclocks all of the memory.

You sure you can't trim that cooler some?