Question Should I upgrade the amount of RAM in my PC ?

[toastedfsh]

hi guys

I just played Helldivers 2 and noticed i was using 13.6GB of the 16GB installed RAM.
Is it time to upgrade it and if so what compatibility factors do i have to consider aside from the amount of sticks i can install (I have an itx motherboard i think, so only two slots).

All i know about my PC is that it has:
Ryzen 5 5600 CPU
RTX 4070 GPU
16GB DDR4 RAM at 2400Mhz

 

[punkncat]

hi guys

I just played Helldivers 2 and noticed i was using 13.6GB of the 16GB installed RAM.
Is it time to upgrade it and if so what compatibility factors do i have to consider aside from the amount of sticks i can install (I have an itx motherboard i think, so only two slots).

All i know about my PC is that it has:
Ryzen 5 5600 CPU
RTX 4070 GPU
16GB DDR4 RAM at 2400Mhz

It would be best to buy a matched set at least 3200 speed rather than trying to "match" this older kit.

 

[JayGau]

Get a 3600 MHz CL16 2x16GB kit. Something like this: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-ddr4-3600/p/N82E16820232907

That's the sweet spot for the AM4 platform.

 

[toastedfsh]

Get a 3600 MHz CL16 2x16GB kit. Something like this: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-ddr4-3600/p/N82E16820232907

That's the sweet spot for the AM4 platform.

It would be best to buy a matched set at least 3200 speed rather than trying to "match" this older kit.

cheers guys, what do i have to look at compatibility wise anything to do with the motherboard or just cpu stuff and the CL number or CAS latency?

 

[punkncat]

That GSkill will be a good match for the price. AMD and GSkill play nice most of the time.

 

[JayGau]

If you get this kit, don't forget to load the auto overclock (the name for this depends on your motherboard) in the BIOS. If you just install the sticks and boot without doing anything it will run at the 2400MHz default speed.

 

[Kona45primo]

I doubt it'll make a difference. Think of ram like a toilet. You have 16GB's of room before your PC Ram overflows. You still have room at 13.6GB & even if it does overflow the PC has towels ready. Not ideal, but not really noticeable either. I play the same game, rarely if ever do I go over 16GB with Excel, Word and 6-8 Chrome tabs open.

That being said, I did upgrade from 16GB to 32GB, it feels good but I can't say there was an actual increase in performance when increasing ram capacity.

For the price it's not a horrible upgrade, assuming it runs stable at XMP speeds you'll probably get a little fps bump from the ram speed.

 

[beyondlogic]

hi guys, i just played helldivers 2 and noticed i was using 13.6gb of the 16gb of ram i have is it time for an upgrade and if so what compatibility factors do i have to consider aside from the amount of sticks i can install (i have an itx motherboard i think so only two slots) all i know about my pc is that it is an rtx 4070 with a r5 5600 and 16 gb of ddr4 ram at 2400 mhz

So some fun facts ram increase from 16gb to 32gb will make some games run smoother.

E.g hogwarts legacy. And games that demand alot of vram simulations or city builder games that heavily smack CPU and ram.

Ram compatibility can be hit and miss.

Kingston I find works on most boards.
Klevv and patriot ram works well with gigabyte boards.

G skill is hit and miss with amd dunno why same with Corsair memory.

​

 

[Darkbreeze]

That GSkill will be a good match for the price. AMD and GSkill play nice most of the time.

That specific kit is very much Ryzen compatible. I've used it on at least three or four Ryzen systems that were Zen 2 and Zen 3. Plus one of my own systems that's in my garage.

 

[Darkbreeze]

G skill is hit and miss with amd dunno why same with Corsair memory.

G.Skill is more hit with more models on more Ryzen platforms than any other memory brand. Period. And not just if you buy models that are Neos or other AMD specific kits, but an awful lot of their kits will work on Ryzen platforms. Kingston, sorry, I've seen, both real world and on this forum, FAR more people have trouble trying to use Kingston kits on Ryzen platforms than almost any other major brand. And for Corsair, it's really just their Vengeance kits that have problems, especially the Vengeance LPX kits. Even if it's on the QVL or on Corsair's initial compatibility list, or if somebody listed it elsewhere as a compatible kit, because Corsair changes the composition of most of the LPX a lot between production runs because it's cheap memory and they'll use whatever configurations and IC's they can do cheaply, and not change the kit model when they do so. So a kit you bought a year ago that worked on a specific board with a specific CPU installed may not be a workable combination of parts if you were to buy the same model kit a year later and try using it with the same exact hardware.

 

[beyondlogic]

G.Skill is more hit with more models on more Ryzen platforms than any other memory brand. Period. And not just if you buy models that are Neos or other AMD specific kits, but an awful lot of their kits will work on Ryzen platforms. Kingston, sorry, I've seen, both real world and on this forum, FAR more people have trouble trying to use Kingston kits on Ryzen platforms than almost any other major brand. And for Corsair, it's really just their Vengeance kits that have problems, especially the Vengeance LPX kits. Even if it's on the QVL or on Corsair's initial compatibility list, or if somebody listed it elsewhere as a compatible kit, because Corsair changes the composition of most of the LPX a lot between production runs because it's cheap memory and they'll use whatever configurations and IC's they can do cheaply, and not change the kit model when they do so. So a kit you bought a year ago that worked on a specific board with a specific CPU installed may not be a workable combination of parts if you were to buy the same model kit a year later and try using it with the same exact hardware.

I've seen opposite with g skill not sure why just the boards and kits I find it mainly on Asus and MSI that's at least the boards that I've had brought to me anyway.

Dunno what Kingston ram people have had issues with but any build I've put together for customers and the like I've used Kingston. Which I use gigabyte boards and asrock mainly. Won't touch MSI as they keep coming back.

I'll also state that I get it direct from there website that states expo compatible not xmp though they do have spread sheets what models work best.

I agree with Corsair lpx are just cursed.

 

[RodroX]

hi guys

I just played Helldivers 2 and noticed i was using 13.6GB of the 16GB installed RAM.
Is it time to upgrade it and if so what compatibility factors do i have to consider aside from the amount of sticks i can install (I have an itx motherboard i think, so only two slots).

All i know about my PC is that it has:
Ryzen 5 5600 CPU
RTX 4070 GPU
16GB DDR4 RAM at 2400Mhz

Can you post the complete brand and model of your motherboard?

Also brand and model of your RAM?, Are you sure its only 2400?, or maybe the XMP/DOCP is not enable in BIOS and could run at faster trasnfer speeds?

Are you using the cpu stock cooler? Some old tower coolers may have issues with high RAM kits.

Finally, and to add to the brands discussion, I have built many Ryzen PCs, all of them with Kinsgton and a few with Adata (XPG) and never had any issues with them. I usually go with Asus or Gigabyte for the motherboard. I have never used Asrock nor MSI. I guess picking "the brand" is not a rule you can apply that easy.

 

[logainofhades]

I have never had an issue with G-Skill Ripjaws 5 3200mhz and AM4, even with Gen 1 Ryzen, on cheap Asrock B450 boards. I highly doubt a 3600 kit with a 5000 series Ryzen would have any issues either.

 

[punkncat]

The really neat part about that particular G Skill kit is it is available in the same speed and timings and their Trident line just without the neat heat sink and lighting, well less expensive.

As to the above, the only RAM I have consistently seen cause issue with Ryzen as an otherwise good kit is Corsair. We see that a LOT around here.

 

[geofelt]

Task manager can be misleading if it is used to assess ram use.
Windows stores unused code in ram in anticipation of quick reuse.
If an app tries to access code that is not currently resident in ram, it needs to fetch it from the page file and write some older data to the page file to make room. That is called a hard page fault and while the fault is not resolved, the app stops dead.
Resolution can be painful if the page file is on a HDD.

In task manager, open the resource monitor/memory tab while under load.
Look at the hard fault rate column.
If you see anything much more than zero, you can use more ram.