Question New to PC upgrading

[Devo33]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for my question and I apologise if it isn't

I recently received a surprise PC from my wife for my b'day, which is awesome. She knows I used to play PC games a while back and so ordered a pre-built Lenovo (IdeaCentre Gaming5 17IAB7) as a surprise, and it seems to be a good little machine. But, it's a little bit underwhelming with only 8gb of ram. I'll post the benchmark test I just ran below.
UserBenchmarks: Game 64%, Desk 105%, Work 63%
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F - 96%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650S (Super) - 63.3%
SSD: Intel SSDPEKNU512GZL 512GB - 278.3%
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012) - 95.1%
RAM: Samsung M378A1K43EB2-CWE 1x8GB - 58.1%
MBD: Lenovo 90T1002WAU

I just realised how longwinded this post is getting so I'll get to the point. I made a hasty purchase last night of a 16gb ram stick with the intention of replacing the 8gb in the system entirely. Now, I realise that, unlike back in my day, it is now somewhat ok to mix ram sizes and brands (to some extent) and now I'm wondering if I should, or can, keep the 8gb in the 2nd slot with the new ram I just bought. This is the ram which will arrive tomorrow.

Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) Desktop Memory CT16G4DFRA32A - https://www.amazon.com.au/Crucial-16GB-Desktop-Memory-CT16G4DFRA32A/dp/B08C56GZGK?th=1

I cannot for the life of me find the timings for either ram module online. It's been a very long time.
Could anyone tell me if the 8gb Samsung already inside will be compatible with the new ram? Or should I just stick with the 16gb and forget about trying for 24?

Anyways, thanks for reading this wall of text. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[punkncat]

It is always best to use matching sticks of RAM. Intel has traditionally been far better at dealing with mismatched sticks. Since the case is that you have already purchased the new stick, it would be worth trying for compatibility.

Is it ideal? No

Could it work? Yes

 

[CountMike]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for my question and I apologise if it isn't

I recently received a surprise PC from my wife for my b'day, which is awesome. She knows I used to play PC games a while back and so ordered a pre-built Lenovo (IdeaCentre Gaming5 17IAB7) as a surprise, and it seems to be a good little machine. But, it's a little bit underwhelming with only 8gb of ram. I'll post the benchmark test I just ran below.
UserBenchmarks: Game 64%, Desk 105%, Work 63%
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F - 96%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650S (Super) - 63.3%
SSD: Intel SSDPEKNU512GZL 512GB - 278.3%
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012) - 95.1%
RAM: Samsung M378A1K43EB2-CWE 1x8GB - 58.1%
MBD: Lenovo 90T1002WAU

I just realised how longwinded this post is getting so I'll get to the point. I made a hasty purchase last night of a 16gb ram stick with the intention of replacing the 8gb in the system entirely. Now, I realise that, unlike back in my day, it is now somewhat ok to mix ram sizes and brands (to some extent) and now I'm wondering if I should, or can, keep the 8gb in the 2nd slot with the new ram I just bought. This is the ram which will arrive tomorrow.

Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) Desktop Memory CT16G4DFRA32A - https://www.amazon.com.au/Crucial-16GB-Desktop-Memory-CT16G4DFRA32A/dp/B08C56GZGK?th=1

I cannot for the life of me find the timings for either ram module online. It's been a very long time.
Could anyone tell me if the 8gb Samsung already inside will be compatible with the new ram? Or should I just stick with the 16gb and forget about trying for 24?

Anyways, thanks for reading this wall of text. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

8GB of RAM is a bit tight nowadays, specially if in single channel. loosing a lot of performance like that, specially for games.
Systems with DDR3 was pretty forgiving for mixing RAM because of memory controller and BIOS, DDR4 much less, practically a gamble.
Best option would be to get 2x8GB to replace yours and second best to get another 8GB stick of identical RAM you have now. Dual channel is substantial boost over single.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for my question and I apologise if it isn't

I recently received a surprise PC from my wife for my b'day, which is awesome. She knows I used to play PC games a while back and so ordered a pre-built Lenovo (IdeaCentre Gaming5 17IAB7) as a surprise, and it seems to be a good little machine. But, it's a little bit underwhelming with only 8gb of ram. I'll post the benchmark test I just ran below.
UserBenchmarks: Game 64%, Desk 105%, Work 63%
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F - 96%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650S (Super) - 63.3%
SSD: Intel SSDPEKNU512GZL 512GB - 278.3%
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012) - 95.1%
RAM: Samsung M378A1K43EB2-CWE 1x8GB - 58.1%
MBD: Lenovo 90T1002WAU

I just realised how longwinded this post is getting so I'll get to the point. I made a hasty purchase last night of a 16gb ram stick with the intention of replacing the 8gb in the system entirely. Now, I realise that, unlike back in my day, it is now somewhat ok to mix ram sizes and brands (to some extent) and now I'm wondering if I should, or can, keep the 8gb in the 2nd slot with the new ram I just bought. This is the ram which will arrive tomorrow.

Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) Desktop Memory CT16G4DFRA32A - https://www.amazon.com.au/Crucial-16GB-Desktop-Memory-CT16G4DFRA32A/dp/B08C56GZGK?th=1

I cannot for the life of me find the timings for either ram module online. It's been a very long time.
Could anyone tell me if the 8gb Samsung already inside will be compatible with the new ram? Or should I just stick with the 16gb and forget about trying for 24?

Anyways, thanks for reading this wall of text. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

Try it.

You might want to use memtest86 for testing so that you don't risk making a hash of your windows OS.

 

[hang-the-9]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for my question and I apologise if it isn't

I recently received a surprise PC from my wife for my b'day, which is awesome. She knows I used to play PC games a while back and so ordered a pre-built Lenovo (IdeaCentre Gaming5 17IAB7) as a surprise, and it seems to be a good little machine. But, it's a little bit underwhelming with only 8gb of ram. I'll post the benchmark test I just ran below.
UserBenchmarks: Game 64%, Desk 105%, Work 63%
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F - 96%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650S (Super) - 63.3%
SSD: Intel SSDPEKNU512GZL 512GB - 278.3%
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012) - 95.1%
RAM: Samsung M378A1K43EB2-CWE 1x8GB - 58.1%
MBD: Lenovo 90T1002WAU

I just realised how longwinded this post is getting so I'll get to the point. I made a hasty purchase last night of a 16gb ram stick with the intention of replacing the 8gb in the system entirely. Now, I realise that, unlike back in my day, it is now somewhat ok to mix ram sizes and brands (to some extent) and now I'm wondering if I should, or can, keep the 8gb in the 2nd slot with the new ram I just bought. This is the ram which will arrive tomorrow.

Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 (or 2933MHz or 2666MHz) Desktop Memory CT16G4DFRA32A - https://www.amazon.com.au/Crucial-16GB-Desktop-Memory-CT16G4DFRA32A/dp/B08C56GZGK?th=1

I cannot for the life of me find the timings for either ram module online. It's been a very long time.
Could anyone tell me if the 8gb Samsung already inside will be compatible with the new ram? Or should I just stick with the 16gb and forget about trying for 24?

Anyways, thanks for reading this wall of text. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

The best thing is to get a second matching 8 GB stick to run the system in dual channel mode. If you add a 16GB stick to the existing 8 it won't run quite as efficiently. You can always do some benchmark tests, not the userbenchmark one though. PassMark it easy to run, use that. Run it with the 8 GB stick you have 3x with a reboot in between runs. Run it same way 3x with the 16GB stick only, and then run it with both in the system. Compare the averages of each of those 3 runs. You want to run the benchmark 3 times with each configuration to rule out any small variances in the results.

 

[Devo33]

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys. I really appreciate it.
I've had a think about it and I'll probably just remove the 8gb and use the 16gb stick on its own for now. I know it is overkill on such a entry level machine, but I have persuaded my wife to let me buy another 16gb stick in the near future
So I'll have 32gb in the end - don't know why I want to, but I suppose that old itch of upgrading has got me again.
Thanks again!

 

[geofelt]

If it is difficult to return the ram, I would try it along with the current 8gb.
You can test for proper operation by running
memtest86 or memtest86+
They boot from a usb stick and do not use windows.
You can download them here:

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Memtest86+ | The Open-Source Memory Testing Tool

Memtest86+ is an advanced, free, open-source, stand-alone memory tester for 32- and 64-bit computers (UEFI & BIOS supported)

www.memtest.org

If you can run a full pass with NO errors, your ram should be ok.

Running several more passes will sometimes uncover an issue, but it takes more time.
Probably not worth it unless you really suspect a ram issue.

If it runs, the matching 16gb will run in faster dual channel mode, and the odd 8gb will run in single channel mode.
That is called flex mode.