[SOLVED] Should I upgrade to 2x8gb RAM or should I just stick with my 1x16gb RAM stick?

leeroythepleb

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May 7, 2020
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Sup guys.

I've been wondering if I should upgrade my single 16gb ram stick to 2x8 gb ram. Right now my single 16gb of ram provides 2666 mhz which is the max for my motherboard and cpu. I dont know if it's worth the money since my cpu and motherboard max mhz is 2666. I've seen and read the benchmark testings between the single 16gb ram stick and the dual channel 16gb ram and the results are pretty amazing considering it's just ram. So my question is should I upgrade from single stick to dual channel?
 
Solution
Intel does not depend much on ram speed unless you are using integrated graphics.
More ram never hurts. but I think it unlikely to benefit much.
Here is an older study:

Try this simple test:

Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
Sup guys.

I've been wondering if I should upgrade my single 16gb ram stick to 2x8 gb ram. Right now my single 16gb of ram provides 2666 mhz which is the max for my motherboard and cpu. I dont know if it's worth the money since my cpu and motherboard max mhz is 2666. I've seen and read the benchmark testings between the single 16gb ram stick and the dual channel 16gb ram and the results are pretty amazing considering it's just ram. So my question is should I upgrade from single stick to dual channel?
Go for it.
If you don't you will always be wondering if the machine would run better if I had done it.
 
Is it really going to do much if you are using a 1060 instead of IGP?

Personally, I'd buy a single stick of 16GB from a local place with easy returns if it doesn't work with your current stick. Same price and even if you don't see much performance increase from dual-channel, you still end up with 32GB
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
A lot depends on the cpu. If it's an intel, you'll not see much, if any, difference. If the cpu is Ryzen 3x then you'll see a somewhat significant difference between dual channel and single channel. If the cpu is a 5x series Ryzen, that's the biggest jump, not only moving from 1x single channel dual rank, but dual channel dual rank ram. On a 5x series Ryzen 2x 16Gb gets higher performance than 4x8Gb, just because of the single/dual rank ram configuration.
the results are pretty amazing considering it's just ram.
As Yoda said..
"And that is why you fail...."
That's like given the choice between grandpa's old sedan and a new Lamborghini, shrugging your shoulders and saying 'it's just a car....'

There's a lot more to ram choice, sizes, timings etc than many give it credit for. 😉
 

leeroythepleb

Prominent
May 7, 2020
19
0
510
Sup again guys.

I forgot to put in my specs so here they are:
RTX 2070
i5 10400
16gb ram single channel
prime h410m-e asus motherboard

my main goal by upgrading ram is to get more fps. I play a lot of warzone and it's honestly not that fun with low fps. I run all settings low except for a few and in most big areas I rarely get over 80 fps. Right now I cant figure out if my single ram stick is running 2666 mhz but I believe it does because I overclocked it in the bios. I'm just trying to find out if upgrading to dual channel will help with performance in games.
 

TommyTwoTone66

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Apr 24, 2021
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Absolutely not. You will notice ZERO difference in games from doing this. At most, you can expect a 2-3% improvement in mathematics-based tasks such as Blender, Photoshop or Lightwave.

Going down from a 16GB dimm to 2 8GB dimms is a downgrade, not an upgrade. If you really want to "unleash" the very minor, almost imperceptable performance bump you get from going with dual-channel RAM, then put another 16GB stick in there.

RTX 2070
i5 10400
16gb ram single channel
prime h410m-e asus motherboard


That setup should work fine for Warzone, a 2070 is more than capable of playing that game, especially if you have settings on low. There must be something else going on in your PC that is hurting the performance. I'd start with a full reinstall of Windows, install only the Nivida Drivers, windows updates and the game itself. You should find you get good performance on that setup. Then start adding your other software and see if anything slows it down.

But honestly, if 80FPS is "bad" to you? And it only drops to 80FPS in "big" areas, then maybe you need to upgrade to an RTX 3080. Since 80FPS is pretty damn good imo. To get the crazy high framerates you need a crazy powerful GPU, and a 2070 is not a crazy powerful GPU. The rest of your system; CPU, RAM, Motherboard is all perfectly fine it's only the GPU that will make any difference in games at this point.
 
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Absolutely not. You will notice ZERO difference in games from doing this. At most, you can expect a 2-3% improvement in mathematics-based tasks such as Blender, Photoshop or Lightwave.

Going down from a 16GB dimm to 2 8GB dimms is a downgrade, not an upgrade. If you really want to "unleash" the very minor, almost imperceptable performance bump you get from going with dual-channel RAM, then put another 16GB stick in there.




That setup should work fine for Warzone, a 2070 is more than capable of playing that game, especially if you have settings on low. There must be something else going on in your PC that is hurting the performance. I'd start with a full reinstall of Windows, install only the Nivida Drivers, windows updates and the game itself. You should find you get good performance on that setup. Then start adding your other software and see if anything slows it down.

But honestly, if 80FPS is "bad" to you? And it only drops to 80FPS in "big" areas, then maybe you need to upgrade to an RTX 3080. Since 80FPS is pretty damn good imo. To get the crazy high framerates you need a crazy powerful GPU, and a 2070 is not a crazy powerful GPU. The rest of your system; CPU, RAM, Motherboard is all perfectly fine it's only the GPU that will make any difference in games at this point.
"Going down from a 16GB dimm to 2 8GB dimms is a downgrade, not an upgrade"

Years ago I went from single channel to dual channel.
Benchmarks showed about a 60% bump in ram data rate.
Did I see any difference in the stuff I ran?......nope.

I would not exactly call it a down grade.
 
Intel does not depend much on ram speed unless you are using integrated graphics.
More ram never hurts. but I think it unlikely to benefit much.
Here is an older study:

Try this simple test:

Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
 
Solution