Memory Q

[isekii]

Going from

4 x 4gb vs 2 x 8gb

Would I notice a difference?

DDR3 same speed.

 

[myocardia]

Yes, you would notice that you now had two open RAM slots, that you didn't have beforehand.

 

[MajinCry]

Ya would be able to get better clocks, and perhaps timings. With this here Phenom II, I'm locked in @ 1333mhz when using all four RAM slots. When I remove two of me sticks, I can get 1600mhz without any voltage bumping.

So yah. If you fancy buggering around with the clocks and timings, yes. Yes ya will.

 

[XavierMace]

In reality, when you actually notice the difference when using your computer? Not likely.

 

[isekii]

I was able to pick some up at a great price. $52 bucks shipped for 8g kit.
I guess i'll swap it out.

 

[sdifox]

Cant run 12gb?

I meant 24 :awe:

 

[LTC8K6]

I'd try to run 24gb with the two 8's and two of the 4's...

 

[Blain]

Going from

4 x 4gb vs 2 x 8gb

Would I notice a difference?

DDR3 same speed.

no

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you had an Intel rig, going from dual-rank to single-rank might cost you some performance.

Edit: I specifically did not mean "dual-channel". That's a separate issue. Google "dual rank DIMM" for more info if you don't know what "rank" refers to.

 

[isekii]

If you had an Intel rig, going from dual-rank to single-rank might cost you some performance.

Yea i'm not sure i'll' mix and match.

I think i'll just run 2 x 8gb sticks in dual channel until i can pickup another set of 16gb.

Next thing I got to try is overclocking my cpu.

 

[LTC8K6]

IIRC, modern Intel chipsets can run in DC mode with mixed size memory sticks. That is, you can take a 4 and an 8 and run 12gb in dual channel mode.

Also, two 8's in one set of slots, and two 4's in the other set of slots, would definitely still be dual channel.

 

[isekii]

IIRC, modern Intel chipsets can run in DC mode with mixed size memory sticks. That is, you can take a 4 and an 8 and run 12gb in dual channel mode.

Also, two 8's in one set of slots, and two 4's in the other set of slots, would definitely still be dual channel.

I'm running it in a Biostar TZ68a+ (Z68) Chipset. I wonder if that can do that with different sizes

 

[LTC8K6]

Try it, and run CPU-Z and see if it stays in Dual mode?

 

[isekii]

Also another question is, what's the likelyhood that Canonlake will use DDR3L ?
I'm thinking about grabbing another set of 16gb to max out to 32gb.

 

[myocardia]

IIRC, modern Intel chipsets can run in DC mode with mixed size memory sticks. That is, you can take a 4 and an 8 and run 12gb in dual channel mode.

Also, two 8's in one set of slots, and two 4's in the other set of slots, would definitely still be dual channel.

The difference between the two scenarios you've outlined here are the amount of RAM that will be in dual channel. An 8GB stick + a 4GB stick in each channel will give you 24 GB, all in dual-channel mode. Two 8GB sticks in one channel, plus two 4GB sticks in the other channel, will give you 16GB in dual-channel, and 8GB in single channel. The question though is, why in the world would anyone purposefully go out of their way not to run all of their RAM in dual-channel?