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Differences in getting 8GB of RAM

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dc4517

Member
It's been a really long time since I last built a PC and things have certainly changed. I am looking to get 8GB of DDR3-1600. At one store that I'm looking at, I can buy 4x2GB of a particular brand for $180. At the same time, they're selling 2x2GB for $75. Wouldn't it make sense to buy 2 sets of the 2x2GB for $150? I was thinking I'm missing something here. Does the RAM need to be bought all together? Or is there really an arbitrage opportunity?
 
there are many different specs of ram within a brand in addition to frequency, primarily voltage and timing. I suspect the sticks in the two packages are not equivalent specs...the difference is probably in the details.

also, unless you *know* you need 8GB ram, you probably don't.
 
What is the voltage?

Does the MB support the modules in the amount you require?

All things being equal, go for the cheaper set.
 
Funnily enough, Xbitlabs did an article on 8GB vs 4GB.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/ssd-vs-8gb.html
Most of the time, 8GB won't do you much good, but if you use certain applications it might.

4GB sticks carry a premium because they use higher density memory chips, which are more expensive (top end stuff usually is). Using 4 sticks did used to require looser timings (2T command rate vs 1T), but I'm not sure if that's still true (might well be), so 2x4GB is better than 4x2GB in that respect, plus if means you could upgrade to 16GB if you ever felt the need, but 4GB is typically enough outside a few select applications.

If you do go for 2x2GB then you could always still get some more RAM later on, so 2x2GB is the cheaper and better option short term, and then you could get another 2x2 if you decide you need it, while still coming in at lower cost than 2x4GB, with pretty much 0 impact in other performance.
(My suggestion is to get 4GB total in 2x2 unless you use said selected applications which benefit from more).
 
Thanks guys. Actually, the newegg offer was what prompted me to ask. Didn't realize, though it had gone down to $65. However, now that I look at the specs for the 4x2 and the 2x2, I do see that they are different. A lot has changed since I built my PC with an AMD K6-2 350 MHz processor =P. All my subsequent PCs ended up being laptops. Now I have to go read up on quad channel and dual channel memory kits.
 
Don't spend too much time looking for quad channel info.

I think the i7s are the only ones using tri-channel right now.

The memory doesn't care how many channels it runs in. That's up to the CPU, the MB, and which DMM slots are populated.
 
Nicely said FishAK.


As for your question will you see a difference from 4GB to 8GB. No you wont unless you do video editing or run a DAW. Playing games 4GB is just fine no thrashing,, and general comp use 4GB is fine even on W7 but once you wanna do rendering etc multitasking 8GB will kick in.

As for what to buy. You should see what the max GB of RAM you can put on your mobo.
If it exceeds 8GB then if you get 2 x 2GBx2 then you wont have any slots left. Give it future proof. I say go 2 x 4GB for 8GB. and you have 2 slots open to go to 16GB if your mobo supports it. gl
 
Ok, for one thing ... holy crap.

Aside from 1 fringe situation, tweakboy has it right. You can commonly get faster RAM in lower densities, so you may chose to go with 4x2 to get that small speed boost.
 
As far as I know X58 runs tripped channel, most everything else dual for best performance even though they may include additional slots. I went for 2x4GB GSkill Ripjaws, $135 a few weeks ago. 2 slots left if I ever need them.....
 
Some people don't even run in dual channel mode (even though they have DC memory) because their mobo set the memory to unganged.
 
Arsynic said:
Some people don't even run in dual channel mode (even though they have DC memory) because their mobo set the memory to unganged.
Click to expand...

Unganged does not mean that dual-channel is not operating. Unganged, with dual-channel operation, means that the two independent 64-bit memory controllers can be accessing different addresses in memory at once, which is often better for multi-tasking with quad-cores.

Ganged mode means, that if two out of four cores request access to two different memory addresses, then one 128-bit wide access is done to the first memory location, and then a cycle later, another access is done to the second 128-bit wide location. So memory is accessed in bigger chunks in ganged mode, but it can increase the latency.
 
If you buy the same part number sets you will be fine.

Different brands even work sometimes as long as the timings and voltage are the exact same chances are good it will work.
 
Anyone running w/ all 4 slots filled? If I remembered correctly, there were stability issues when all were filled, or was that down to specific mbs?
 
There shouldn't be any issues when all slots are filled, unless you mixed different ram speeds or latencies. You might be thinking about overclocking with all slots filled, which in some occasions, may have held back overclocks (or so I hear).
 
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