Remember the memory controller is in the CPU. What effect this can have on overclocks and getting stable with voltage I do not know.
All that I can say about this comes from personal experience, tutored by our colleague IDontCare.
I had a choice of spending between $90 and $160 on a 2x8GB 16GB kit, or adding a second 2x4GB kit of the same RAM as originally used. I actually think I bought the second kit after an exchange with IDontCare in late 2011, hearing that he'd overclocked the same model G.SKILLs from 1600 to 1866 with all four slots filled. It can be done for those "GBRL" kits without increasing the voltage much beyond the stock 1.5V, with only a slight bump in the VCCIO voltage (from about 0.80V to 1.1V). We even set the CMD rate to 1.
I wouldn't know how that strains the memory controller; nothing is being overvolted. But I couldn't say.
I'd probably prefer a 2x8GB kit of G.SKILLs, but this solution is working fine for me right now.
Even so, if someone were going to buy the essential, first purchase of memory for a new Z77 board and for whichever processor (sandy v ivy), I'd say get the 2x8GB kit.
With 16GB, I've had memory usage climb to about 50% after continuous operation for days and a few TV recordings. I think there's still a memory leak in Media Center, or it doesn't release the RAM after a recording. But closing MC seems to clear the memory, and it drops back to maybe 25%.
Point being -- 16GB is plenty unless one is using virtual machines or doing certain kinds of RAM intensive work. And for doing the "right thing" when first building the system, you want to test that RAM -- maybe with HCI Memtest. It took me three days to complete the 1000% coverage in HCI Memtest for "thorough testing." It should probably take twice that long for 32GB.
So if you want it, you would have to have a solid reason for wanting it, or you would have to "need" it. I'd just say these are some factors you need to consider per the 16 versus 32GB question . . .
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