Upgradability Assistance Needed

[Yodaskool]

Hey, I'm currently looking into upgrading my PC, and I my feel like my RAM is prone to this change as well. I've currently got 8GB (2x4GB) of RAM with a Motherboard supporting a total of 4 slots. If we were to consider long-time upgradability, what would be better: A) buying another set of 4GBx2, allowing for a total of 16GB or B) purchasing a completely new set of ram, eventually enabling a total of 32GB. A) would be a lot more price-friendly, but B) would help me a long way down the road. Anyone mind giving hand?

 

[geofelt]

What is the main usage of your pc?
What is your motherboard?

If, for example your usage is for gaming, no game will use more than 2-3gb by itself.
If your usage is photoshop or such, massive ram can be used for workfiles.

Regardless, there are potential upgrading issues.

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards can be very sensitive to this.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

Are you running a os that will support 32gb?
Windows 7 home premium will not.

 

[Yodaskool]

What is the main usage of your pc?
What is your motherboard?

If, for example your usage is for gaming, no game will use more than 2-3gb by itself.
If your usage is photoshop or such, massive ram can be used for workfiles.

Regardless, there are potential upgrading issues.

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards can be very sensitive to this.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

Are you running a os that will support 32gb?
Windows 7 home premium will not.

My motherboard is a GA-Z87-DS3H by Gigabyte and I use my PC all the same for productivity and gaming. If I were to buy another set of RAM as before (2x4GB G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 1600MHz), would it still work without problems? And yes, my OS is Windows 7 Home Premium.

 

[Tradesman1]

There's no guarantees when mixing sets of DRAM - even two of the same exact model # - mixing is a crapshoot, they may play, they might not