Phenom II X4 965 better with 2 sticks or 4 sticks of ram

[deejayburnout]

Morning Peeps

Need some advice.

i have just ordered a new Phenom II X4 965 and at present i have 2 x 2GB ram sticks.

Thinking of buying another 2 sticks of the same ram to bump my system up to 8GB in total however i have heard that some chips like the phenom like 2 sticks better than 4?

Now i could be confuddling myself with my old chip the Phenom 9650.

My mobo is a GA-MA770-UD3.

Cheers everyone

 

[o1die]

I would try selling your old ram and go with a 2 x 4 gb kit of corsair, kingston, gskill, or crucial if your board supports it (check the board specs on their webpage here: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3621#ov. Mushkin also had some good reviews at newegg. Your gigabyte board will work with most brands.

 

[deejayburnout]

Thanks for the pointers.

with my board it only supports ddr2 ( http://www.gigabyte.eu/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3097#ov ) and the 2 extra 2gb sticks are cheap, probably cheaper than 2 new 4gb sticks.

will it make much of a difference having 2 x 4gbs

 

[deejayburnout]

Just been looking at 2 x 4gb 1066mhz ram that would fit my mobo and its costing over £100.

only £40 for the adata ones.

 

[das_stig]

I've never noticed any difference between 4x2GB and 2x4GB, although some motherboards can be touchy using 4 sticks if you overclock cpu.

Spend the £40 on DDR2, anything more is not a wise investment on something end of life.

 

[jeffredo]

I've never noticed any difference in OCing an X4 955 on an ASUS M4A79T Deluxe using two sticks or four. Max CPU OC is the same with either configuration. Of course, every system is different, but unless you're pushing for the absolute maximum RAM OC I don't think it matters much (I wasn't).

 

[deejayburnout]

I don't plan to OC as I am not 100% comfortable with it yet. Got a 3.4 processor so well fast enough for my needs.

The added memory will help. DDR 2 is expensive compaired to DDR3, probably due to it being phased out.

Heard that some memory controllers work better on 2 sticks than 4.

 

[deejayburnout]

I don't plan to OC as I am not 100% comfortable with it yet. Got a 3.4 processor so well fast enough for my needs.

The added memory will help. DDR 2 is expensive compaired to DDR3, probably due to it being phased out.

Heard that some memory controllers work better on 2 sticks than 4.

 

[o1die]

I didn't notice the ddr2 spec. So I wouldn't spend the money. Sell your old board and cpu and you should have enough to switch to am3 and ddr3.

 

[deejayburnout]

I have been thinking that, however in real terms, how much performance improvement, will i get with a AM3 mobo and ddr3 memory compaired with what i have got.

 

[esrever]

2x4 vs 4x2 is the same unless the ram doesn't match. I doubt you'd get much out of an AMD3 board especially since theres not much of a cpu upgrade path right now.

Just stick 2 more 2gb in there and you should be fine. Or maybe hold off and save for a new system all together in a bit since ddr2 is really overpriced for what it offers.

 

[o1die]

You can check craigslist for used ddr2; I've seen 4 gb as low as $40 where I live. DDR3 is faster, especially when overclocked with the cpu.

 

[deejayburnout]

Someone on ebay is selling 2 x 2GB of the same memory as i already have for 40 earth pounds, that will take me up to 8GB total.

I didn't use a swap file and 4GB was fine for me, but playing Skyrim and the release of the creation kit and the HD pack has pushed my 4GB to the max and i have had to turn the swap file back on.

£40 is far cheaper than a new mobo and memory, however the issues i have heard about memory controllers has made me question before i spend my cash.

 

[esrever]

the controller is fine unless you OC.

 

[deejayburnout]

might just go for it.

 

[deejayburnout]

i Now have the 8GB of DDR2 ram as that seemed to be the cheapest option for me.

Not going to OC so everything should be ok.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[deejayburnout]

Yes.