4X4GB and 2X8GB, the only difference is the 2 empty slots you could have for another upgrade in the future. I would go with the 4GB Sticks. By that time, the 8GB sticks will have dropped in price to the point that you end up spending about the same amount over all. You have 4 slots. If you fill only the first 3 you will take advantage of triple channel memory. Although tri channel is not optimized by many applications it is technically the fastest way to go. I use 3 x 4GB sticks and do most my work in Photoshop/Lightroom. I think 3x4GB will be faster if any of your programs can take advantage of triple channel memory. 4x4GB is faster the second you use over 12GB of RAM. In all other cases they are exactly the same.
Life is short. Go 4x 8gb.![]()