RAM upgrade to 12 GB or 20 GB?

[NemesisPrime_691]

Hi people! I have an Acer Aspire A515-51G laptop with the following specs:

 

Intel Core i5-8250u

Nvidia GeForce MX150 2GB GDDR5

1TB WD Blue HDD

240 GB M.2 WD Green SATA SSD

4GB soldered 2400MHz + 4GB ADATA 2133MHz DDR4

 

I recently found out that the only RAM slot in the laptop has infact only 4GB stick, and other 4GB is soldered onto mainboard. 

 

I was thinking of upgrading the RAM, however I am confused about what RAM capacity to go for.

 

If I got an 8GB stick, it totals to 12GB, which I do not think to be an upgrade enough from current 8GB. 

 

If I got a 16GB stick, i totals to 20GB, which would be a significant upgrade, but costs about double the 8gb stick.

 

I play games and multitask a lot, not at the same time though, and some games that I play such as BFV and NFS Payback/Heat stutter sometimes, even if installed onto the SSD. Also, I play a lot of BF1 multiplayer.

 

Which one do you think would be better for my case?

[JoostinOnline]

12GB is plenty. 8GB is probably enough too though. I seriously doubt that a lack of RAM is causing your stuttering.

[Eigenvektor]

Your sticks are different speed, so I guess you aren't using dual channel. Can you use CPUz to see if that is the case? I suspect dual channel would be more important than more RAM.

[NemesisPrime_691]

10 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Your sticks are different speed, so I guess you aren't using dual channel. Can you use CPUz to see if that is the case? I suspect dual channel would be more important than more RAM.

Yes. Task manager shows the RAM running at 2133MHz.

[NemesisPrime_691]

17 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

12GB is plenty. 8GB is probably enough too though. I seriously doubt that a lack of RAM is causing your stuttering.

Wouldn't 20GB be more, sorry have to use the F-word, future proof? I could probably also take this stick to any new machine that I would be upgrading to around Dec 2020-Jan 2021.

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, SpiderGuy said:

Yes. Task manager shows the RAM running at 2133MHz.

That is expected. If you have two sticks at different speeds, the memory controller will run at the lowest common speed. Like I said, use CPU-Z to see if RAM is running in dual channel mode.

 

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

 

If not, you could try to replace the second stick with one that matches the soldered stick's speed, timings and capacity.

[NemesisPrime_691]

7 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

That is expected. If you have two sticks at different speeds, the memory controller will run at the lowest common speed. Like I said, use CPU-Z to see if RAM is running in dual channel mode.

 

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

 

If not, you could try to replace the second stick with one that matches the soldered stick's speed, timings and capacity.

I will try CPU-Z when I get home. However, I do not have another RAM stick that matches the original's speed, timings or capacity.

[Eigenvektor]

12 minutes ago, SpiderGuy said:

Wouldn't 20GB be more, sorry have to use the F-word, future proof? I could probably also take this stick to any new machine that I would be upgrading to around Dec 2020-Jan 2021.

I wouldn't count on it. A new notebook might use DDR4L instead of DDR4, or even DDR5. It could have faster speeds or only a single slot. It would only be future proof if apps require more RAM without also requiring a faster CPU/GPU.

 

Unless you already have a specific system in mind, I wouldn't base purchase decisions on the hope that stuff is still compatible.

[Eigenvektor]

8 minutes ago, SpiderGuy said:

I will try CPU-Z when I get home. However, I do not have another RAM stick that matches the original's speed, timings or capacity.

What I'm trying to say is: If you're not running dual channel, a second matching stick may be a better upgrade in terms of speed than a second, larger stick.

 

More RAM will help if programs are slow because they lack memory. But it won't help if they're slow due to a lack of memory bandwidth.

[NemesisPrime_691]

39 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

What I'm trying to say is: If you're not running dual channel, a second matching stick may be a better upgrade in terms of speed than a second, larger stick.

 

More RAM will help if programs are slow because they lack memory. But it won't help if they're slow due to a lack of memory bandwidth.

Even if it does turn out that I am running in single channel, I am still leaning more towards RAM capacity as compared to dual channel. I don't think it would be worth to buy a similar 4GB stick to get dual channel config.

[JoostinOnline]

2 hours ago, SpiderGuy said:

Wouldn't 20GB be more, sorry have to use the F-word, future proof? I could probably also take this stick to any new machine that I would be upgrading to around Dec 2020-Jan 2021.

No, it wouldn't. You've basically got a GTX 750 Ti for a graphics card. That's what's slowing you down. I'd need to see some HWMonitor results to be sure, but I seriously doubt that 8GB of RAM is slowing you down. Just save your money and put that towards a better machine in a year.