Less but faster or More but slower?

[SafePin]

Hello everyone,

In my system i currently have 8 Gb 2400mhz. (2x4 DDR4)
I'm looking to upgrade it and im wondering if it would be more worthwhile adding more of the same lower speed ram or save them for another system and buy faster ram.
I would either be upgrading another 8 gb of 2400 for a total of 16 or going with 8 gb of something like 3200 mhz
Reason i ask is because the upgraded memory would give me more room for expansion later on where as im not sure if i get the other 8 gb of the slower ram if i will need any expansion at all.
I use my computer for productivity primarily. Programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, lighting fx, ect. I often find myself with a lot of programs open at once.
Other specs:
I5 8400 2.8 GHz
GTX 1070

My CPU and GPU are not failing me but i do feel like my memory is.

Thank you for all your advice!

 

[UsandThem]

I use my computer for productivity primarily. Programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, lighting fx, ect. I often find myself with a lot of programs open at once.
Other specs:
I5 8400 2.8 GHz
GTX 1070

My CPU and GPU are not failing me but i do feel like my memory is.

If it feels like your memory is "failing" you, that's likely because you need more RAM.

If you can't afford to get 16 GB+ of faster RAM right now, then add another 8 GB+ of the speed you have now.

 

[Dasa2]

3200 RAM can boost CPU performance up to ~10% while doing some tasks in photoshop which would bring it up to around the level of i5 8600 with 2400 RAM which is a barely noticeable improvement.
Having 16GB will be a huge help if you have a lot open and your SSD is starting to get flogged.

 

[DrMrLordX]

What's your budget? You should be able to get an 2x8GB kit without having to spend too much. That i5-8400 could use the extra bandwidth. DDR4-2400 is kinda slow by current standards.

 

[Dasa2]

Forgot to mention that the MB has to be Z370\Z390 or the max RAM speed will be 2666 which your 2400 kit is probably capable of overclocking to.

 

[gipper53]

8GB of any RAM won't be enough if you're heavily using the Adobe Suite. RAM speed doesn't matter if your PC is always out of memory. 16GB would be the bare minimum IMHO, get the fastest you can afford.

 

[Shmee]

What motherboard do you have? As mentioned, if it is not an unlocked chipset, you cannot run the RAM at higher frequency.

 

[SafePin]

I took all of your adviced into consideration here is what i did: I started in my BIOS and overclocked my ram and i ordered another 2 x 4 gb bc i that had in for a total of 16 gb im not worried about it because i have another 4 dims i can expand to 32 if the need should rise. Works beautifully thank you all for all the help