Ram (it in there).

[little P]

Ok, question time again!

Wappy has kindly donated me some old Ram for what I have dubbed the "Frankenstein" PC build.

Here's the thing, everyone is telling me I need 8gb of ram ideally due to windows 7 and more headroom for gaming etc.

Thanks to Wappy I have 2x2gb of corsair cm3 x 2048-1600 c9dhx. I believe this is actually 1333mhz according to wappy.

I was advised to get a mobo with 4 slots for memory to upgrade this with another 2x2gb sticks when I get the cash.

I can't find these sticks for sale anywhere! The best I could find was some used sticks on flea-bay, but no part number was specified and the seller hasn't responded to me asking him for this. Besides, it's one thing accepting used Ram from a fellow fragtard, quite another from some random stranger. I have no idea if he's overclocked them etc. Saying that, the sticks I received in the post were stuck together with some unidentified white sticky substance, but it was easily licked off by the dog so all good there...

** EDIT: Found an identical pair to the ones now sitting on my desk;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CORSAIR-CM3X2048-1600C9DHX-2GBX2-4GB-1045-Memory-RAM-/130958659447?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item1e7dbe8f77

Still, they are used, and quite expensive no? **

So I'm going to use Wappy's ram for now, but when I can afford to upgrade I'm reading a lot of good things about Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 1600.

My question is - is it better to get two sticks of 4gb or one stick of 8gb?

They are priced the same (£50), and my mobo supports up to 32gb of ram. So is there any downside to having one stick of 8gb over 2 sticks of 4gb?

I mean, to me, it's a no brainer because it allows for more ram to be installed in total, bearing in mind the mobo has 4 slots. But... I'm no expert, and am still learning as I go along.

So chaps (and chapettes), your opinions and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Wappy for sending me the ram - lol @ the "Mr.P" on the label :lol:

 

[Wotan]

2x4GB is better, because they are faster than one single 8GB stick. 2x8GB would be better still ^^

 

[Ogami Itto]

People seem to forget that computer purchases actually represent real money. There is no real need for 2x8 GB at this time, period. But Wotan is correct in that on a dual-channel board 2x4 GB will be faster than 1x8 GB.

 

[HaJa]

I don't agree completely about the RAM size.
If fi. you want to run without page file 8Gb is not enough or if
you'd like a RAM disk for the Temp/page file 8GB is not enough.

It all comes down to what software you want to run and if you
run al lot of software/heavy software at the same time. Photo or
video editing and such.

I have turned of page file now and it wasn't possible with DCS with 8GB
as an example. So with software that loads a lot of data in memory
it's better to have real memory than lettign it swap out to fake memory
on a hard drive.

It's the same with GPU memory, 1GB is not enough any more and soon 2GB
won't be enough since more and more loads into RAM.

Then on the other hand, you'll have to pay heed to what memory and how
much of it the OS actually can handle. Max memory for W7 Home premium
is 16GB so no need to go more there

Also check the MB manual to see where and at which memory size the
MB stops allowing you to use all 4 slots (if it does). Mine stops using
all 4 slots when mem speeds got to past 1800. Then I can use only one
slot on each channel!

 

[mondo]

People seem to forget that computer purchases actually represent real money. There is no real need for 2x8 GB at this time, period. But Wotan is correct in that on a dual-channel board 2x4 GB will be faster than 1x8 GB.

You can utilise it through RAM drives which is good for anything that needs to cache. I've got 16GB, 8GB is a RAM drive which I've mounted all my caches/temporary files etc. onto. It makes quite a difference, especially if you put anything that needs to cache regularly onto it like games, browsers, Windows etc. The only downside is boot up time to load the image from the HDD and shut down when the image saves. You can have it not save the image which means you're computer cleans itself on shutdown as anything you've directed to that drive gets wiped entirely.

The added bonus is that if you're caching to RAM, you're not caching to the SSD so it saves on its life a little.

 

[little P]

Hmmm... interesting stuff. When (if) I've got the wonga to upgrade it certainly won't be any more than 8gb. So from what I understand 8gb is borderline acceptable for gaming at the moment, but 16gb is preferable. So if my mobo has 4 slots I have headroom to expand.

I haven't got an SSD nor will I have for the immediate future, the whole SSD thing is like voodoo magic to a relative PC n00b like me...

I'm not going to preted I understand everything written (RAM drives/caching etc.) but what I do is mark it for reading up on and understanding at a later date.

When I think how much I know now compared to two weeks ago (hardly anything compared to nothing) it's incredible. Fascinating little universe inside that little black case eh? Thanks for your advice guys, and please continue debating stuff like this, the more the hardware section is active the more I learn!

 

[HaJa]

8GB will do fine, I have 16GB just because I want to get rid of page file
and the possibility to use other software with multiple instances at the
same time.

W7 64 with all set to standard without tweaking anything plus the necessary
background stuf to game and then DCS cranked up to high takes 5-6 GB RAM
and then the OS locks 4GB more for just wanting to (at least in my system).

That is why W7 sets a standard page file of 4GB and dynamic upper limit.
As a thumb rule if you have less than 8GB RAM the page file should be
twice the memory. W7 64 lets programs have more than the old limit of
2GB RAM allocated.

 

[Wapwap]

You're welcome Mr. P

In theory, you don't need matching sticks of RAM in all channels in order to have them run in dual channel. As long as the sticks in the same channel (A or B) are identical. However, I would choose the same brand, speed and set it at the same timings.

 

[mondo]

Don't worry about SSDs to much. They're nice to have and they load stuff fast however if you're playing a multiplayer game, you'll have to wait for the count down timer at the start of a match anyway.

 

[little P]

Don't worry about SSDs to much. They're nice to have and they load stuff fast however if you're playing a multiplayer game, you'll have to wait for the count down timer at the start of a match anyway.

This is British thinking. Very true.