Memory Amount and Number Questions

[Poorman65]

Picked up G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 7-8-7-24-2N 1.6V CL7 for my system. Going to be running Win7 64bit.

I miss-read when ordering and thought I was getting 8GB not 4GB.

Heavily used for Games but tend to have other stuff running in the background.

Is 4GB enough?

If not, then am I better off getting another set of 2X2GB so that I am running 4X2GB total or returning this set and getting a pair of something else?

 

[Poorman65]

Sorry! Should be under sub-catagory of memory but I can't figure out how to correct it.

 

[COLGeek]

4GB should be fine for the most games.

 

[Poorman65]

Does adding another pair of identical memory have any negative impact on the performance?

 

[COLGeek]

The real answer is this, "it depends". Some chipsets actually have limits on how much memory they can effectively manage. There can also be issues with some motherboards and having all memory slots populated from both power and a speed aspects.

For most uses, 4GB is fine. If you are doing a lot of multi-tasking, then 8GB is better. Going beyond 8GB, unless you are doing some heavy multi-tasking, is really overkill in the majority of cases.

What is it that you are trying to do?

 

[Poorman65]

I tend to have a lot of stuff running on my system. With this rebuild I will also add HTPC stuff but I don't think that uses a lot of memory. I do have some background tasks that will doing post-processing of the recorded TV.

I play a lot of system intensive games as well.

4GB may very well be enough but i was considering whether I would be better off adding another 4GB of the same, returning the 4GB I have and getting an 8GB pair, or just keeping the 4GB and leaving it at that.

Like you said, 4GB is probably fine but I was considering the options since I am doing a new build.

 

[COLGeek]

Memory is inexpensive, so 8GB is affordable and will certainly not hurt anything. For what you described, I would stop at 8GB. Still, 4GB will meet your needs for now. Really just a matter of whether to spend the $$$ now or not.

 

[Poorman65]

Best answer selected by Poorman65.