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16gb Memory configuration: 2x8gb or 4x4gb?

post #1 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:20am
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking about a memory upgrade, and curious to know whether a 2x8gb configuration has any benefit over a 4x4gb configuration (other than the fact that with 2x8gb I could potentially upgrade to more in the future).

I've got an Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821
Current memory is G.SKILL Ripjaws 2x4gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
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Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
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Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
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Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
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post #2 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:22am
The only real downside to using 4 sticks as opposed to 2 (besides using all your RAM slots) is that it can potentially limit your cpu's overclocking ability. I would choose the 2x8GB option.

Oh, and welcome to OCN thumb.gif
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Intel Core i7 3770k P8Z68-V GEN3 MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition G. Skill Ripjaws X 
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Corsair Force Series 3 Seagate Barracuda ASUS DVD Burner Corsair H100 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 3770k P8Z68-V GEN3 MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition G. Skill Ripjaws X 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Corsair Force Series 3 Seagate Barracuda ASUS DVD Burner Corsair H100 
OSMonitorMonitorPower
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Samsung EX2220 21.5" 1920x1080 Acer 21.5" 1920x1080 Corsair HX750 
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post #3 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:31am
Definitely 2x8GB. Less stress on the memory controller.
Animal Mother
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C2Q9550 E0 @ 4.25Ghz (1.344v) LLC ON Gigabyte EP45 UD3R rev1.1 500Mhz FSB (1.42v NB) EVGA GTX480 @ 850.1700.2000Mhz 1.138v  Corsair DHX DDR2 @ 1000Mhz 4x1GB 5.6.5.16 (2.08v) 
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WD 2x640GB RAID0, 320GB, 640GB, 1TB & 3TB  LG DVD-RW  T.R.U.E. w/ washer mod & 2x Kaze 3k @ 2k RPM Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 
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Animal Mother
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C2Q9550 E0 @ 4.25Ghz (1.344v) LLC ON Gigabyte EP45 UD3R rev1.1 500Mhz FSB (1.42v NB) EVGA GTX480 @ 850.1700.2000Mhz 1.138v  Corsair DHX DDR2 @ 1000Mhz 4x1GB 5.6.5.16 (2.08v) 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
WD 2x640GB RAID0, 320GB, 640GB, 1TB & 3TB  LG DVD-RW  T.R.U.E. w/ washer mod & 2x Kaze 3k @ 2k RPM Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 
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post #4 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bgineng View Post

Oh, and welcome to OCN thumb.gif
Thanks!

Great, good to know. Now... what to do with the old 2x4GB? smile.gif
My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
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My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
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Logitech G500 
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post #5 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:38am
Go with 2x8gb. It will put less stress on the cpu's imc. Running 4 sticks can hurt your overclocking potential.

Also welcome to OCN.
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post #6 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xverdxse View Post

Now... what to do with the old 2x4GB? smile.gif

Sell them, save them for a later build, or store them away so you can pull them out for your grandchildren and tell them how 4GB sticks was normal "back in my day" so you can watch their faces as they look at you with disbelief. biggrin.gif
My Rig
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 3770k P8Z68-V GEN3 MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition G. Skill Ripjaws X 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Corsair Force Series 3 Seagate Barracuda ASUS DVD Burner Corsair H100 
OSMonitorMonitorPower
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Samsung EX2220 21.5" 1920x1080 Acer 21.5" 1920x1080 Corsair HX750 
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NZXT Tempest 410 Elite 
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My Rig
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 3770k P8Z68-V GEN3 MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition G. Skill Ripjaws X 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Corsair Force Series 3 Seagate Barracuda ASUS DVD Burner Corsair H100 
OSMonitorMonitorPower
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Samsung EX2220 21.5" 1920x1080 Acer 21.5" 1920x1080 Corsair HX750 
Case
NZXT Tempest 410 Elite 
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post #7 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:40am
Are you planning to upgrade to 32GB?
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
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(21 items)
 
For Sale: [For Sale] [Global] iPod Nano 4th Generation 8GB Blue
£29.99 (GBP) or best offer
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
[Intel] Core i7 3930K [ASUS] RAMPAGE IV EXTREME [EVGA] GeForce GTX 670 4GB SuperClocked+ with b... [G.Skill] RipjawsZ 16GB 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
[Samsung] 830 256GB [Samsung] 840 500GB [Sony] El cheapo CD reader [Corsair] H100 
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4x [Corsair] Air Series SP120 High Performance [Lamptron] FC6 [Microsoft] Windows 8 Pro x86-64 [Mint] Linux Mint 13 running on [Microsoft] HyperV 
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[Dell] U2312HM [Razer] BlackWidow [Corsair] AX750 [NZXT] Switch 810 
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Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Overkill FTW!
(21 items)
 
For Sale: [For Sale] [Global] iPod Nano 4th Generation 8GB Blue
£29.99 (GBP) or best offer
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
[Intel] Core i7 3930K [ASUS] RAMPAGE IV EXTREME [EVGA] GeForce GTX 670 4GB SuperClocked+ with b... [G.Skill] RipjawsZ 16GB 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
[Samsung] 830 256GB [Samsung] 840 500GB [Sony] El cheapo CD reader [Corsair] H100 
CoolingCoolingOSOS
4x [Corsair] Air Series SP120 High Performance [Lamptron] FC6 [Microsoft] Windows 8 Pro x86-64 [Mint] Linux Mint 13 running on [Microsoft] HyperV 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
[Dell] U2312HM [Razer] BlackWidow [Corsair] AX750 [NZXT] Switch 810 
MouseMouse PadAudioAudio
[Corsair] M60 [IKEA] Table. [ASUS] Xonar DX [Creative] T3130 
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post #8 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:46am
Thread Starter 
I don't really need 32GB, maybe eventually, and having the option to upgrade is nice. I don't want to overload the cpu with more ram than necessary. Even just 8GB is adequate for most of what I do.
My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
Mouse
Logitech G500 
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My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
Mouse
Logitech G500 
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Reply
post #9 of 13
7/19/12 at 7:54am
Then why do you want to upgrade? confused.gif
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Overkill FTW!
(21 items)
 
For Sale: [For Sale] [Global] iPod Nano 4th Generation 8GB Blue
£29.99 (GBP) or best offer
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
[Intel] Core i7 3930K [ASUS] RAMPAGE IV EXTREME [EVGA] GeForce GTX 670 4GB SuperClocked+ with b... [G.Skill] RipjawsZ 16GB 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
[Samsung] 830 256GB [Samsung] 840 500GB [Sony] El cheapo CD reader [Corsair] H100 
CoolingCoolingOSOS
4x [Corsair] Air Series SP120 High Performance [Lamptron] FC6 [Microsoft] Windows 8 Pro x86-64 [Mint] Linux Mint 13 running on [Microsoft] HyperV 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
[Dell] U2312HM [Razer] BlackWidow [Corsair] AX750 [NZXT] Switch 810 
MouseMouse PadAudioAudio
[Corsair] M60 [IKEA] Table. [ASUS] Xonar DX [Creative] T3130 
Audio
[JVC] HA-RX700 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM
Overkill FTW!
(21 items)
 
For Sale: [For Sale] [Global] iPod Nano 4th Generation 8GB Blue
£29.99 (GBP) or best offer
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
[Intel] Core i7 3930K [ASUS] RAMPAGE IV EXTREME [EVGA] GeForce GTX 670 4GB SuperClocked+ with b... [G.Skill] RipjawsZ 16GB 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
[Samsung] 830 256GB [Samsung] 840 500GB [Sony] El cheapo CD reader [Corsair] H100 
CoolingCoolingOSOS
4x [Corsair] Air Series SP120 High Performance [Lamptron] FC6 [Microsoft] Windows 8 Pro x86-64 [Mint] Linux Mint 13 running on [Microsoft] HyperV 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
[Dell] U2312HM [Razer] BlackWidow [Corsair] AX750 [NZXT] Switch 810 
MouseMouse PadAudioAudio
[Corsair] M60 [IKEA] Table. [ASUS] Xonar DX [Creative] T3130 
Audio
[JVC] HA-RX700 
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  hide details  
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post #10 of 13
7/19/12 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
Mainly for the small amount of video and photo editing I do.
My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
Mouse
Logitech G500 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
My Rig
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K SABERTOOTH Z77 Radeon HD 6970 Crossfire G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Crucial M4 64GB SSD Samsung Spinpoint F3 RAID 0 Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Cooler Master Hyper 212 
OSMonitorPowerCase
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit iMac 27" 2560x1440 Corsair HX750 Lian LI Lancool PC-K62 
Mouse
Logitech G500 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
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