Dual Channel Separate Sticks Or Kit Really Needed?

[TheNamelessOne]

Hello everyone. I have a question that I would like someone with a lot more knowledge than me to help me with.

I'm about to purchase a new rig and I want to get 32GB of RAM, 2 sticks of 16GB each to run in dual channel.

My question is do I Really need to buy a kit (so 2x16GB) to run in dual channel or can I just order 2 separate sticks of 16GB of the same model? 

I ask this question because getting the 2 separate sticks (16GB each) is literally the equivalent of 60$ less than getting the kit.

As far I know from an old friend the kit guarantees to work in dual channel and at the frequencies the manufactures says, but getting individual sticks and putting them together is not, so they might work or might not work. Is that really true? Do I really need to spend 60$ more just to be sure that dual channel and the advertised frequencies work?

 

Thanks in advance.

[KarathKasun]

Same model single sticks are fine.

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Manufacturers claim that the sticks from kits are all from the same batch and hence have the same tolerances etc, improving stability and performance etc etc.

Personally I've never seen any difference compared to individually purchased sticks of the same model.

 

Perhaps this would be a good topic for an LTT "$h!t manufacturers say" video? 

[WoodenMarker]

14 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Manufacturers claim that the sticks from kits are all from the same batch and hence have the same tolerances etc, improving stability and performance etc etc.

Personally I've never seen any difference compared to individually purchased sticks of the same model.

Just because it usually works doesn't mean it always works. 

It's similar to how you're supposed to do a fresh install of Windows with a new motherboard. It usually works even if you don't but it's not surprising when it doesn't work. 

 

The kits are guaranteed to work according to the manufacturer. The same doesn't go for mixing and matching sticks. 

[KarathKasun]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Just because it usually works doesn't mean it always works. 

It's similar to how you're supposed to do a fresh install of Windows with a new motherboard. It usually works even if you don't but it's not surprising when it doesn't work. 

 

The kits are guaranteed to work according to the manufacturer. The same doesn't go for mixing and matching sticks. 

Not mixing sticks, using 2x of the exact same stick because its cheaper.

[Vejnemojnen]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

Not mixing sticks, using 2x of the exact same stick because its cheaper.

as far as I am aware of, even that might not run in dual channel mode. Only kits are guaranteed to work flawlessly. You might have problems with exactly the same2 sticks bought together.

 

regards.

[KarathKasun]

1 minute ago, Vejnemojnen said:

as far as I am aware of, even that might not run in dual channel mode. Only kits are guaranteed to work flawlessly. You might have problems with exactly the same2 sticks bought together.

 

regards.

Negative.

 

The only problem is when you have different timings.

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, KarathKasun said:

Not mixing sticks, using 2x of the exact same stick because its cheaper.

By sticks, I was mainly referring to kits of ram. 

To elaborate, mixing kits will generally work but they're not guaranteed to work with the advertised settings. 

The default speed for ram is essentially stock speed and the advertised speeds are effectively tested oc's. If you've ever looked into oc'ing ram, you'll know that it's much easier to oc with fewer sticks as opposed to more. The same issue of maintaining clock speeds and timings can arise when adding more sticks to a given configuration. There are plenty of examples online of higher clocked ram kits not working well together and users having to return the kits for a single, larger kit instead. There's an example in the comments here: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57038-Don%92t-combine-memory-kits!-The-meat-and-potatoes-overview

[TheNamelessOne]

So basically it should work, but like all things it's not 100% certain that it will, right?

The kit is a 100% guaranteed, but separate sticks even if it's the same model is not.

But who decides what runs in dual channel and at the advertised speeds and timings? The motherboard or the ram sticks themselves?