Does the amount of RAM affect overclocking RAM??

[GlassCannonGaming]

I am overclocking my overkill of vengeance lpx 3000MHz c15 16gbx4 and I just wanted to know if the amount of RAM your trying to overclock matters at all? I think the answer is no, but I just wanted to make sure because I have been having some difficulty in getting my OC stable and every search I do just shows results for amount of "speed" associated with overclocking. Thanks for all your help!

 

EDIT: You can tell I was in a rsuh writing this because I left out some pretty vital information. I'm running a Ryzen 2700x OC'd to 4.2 on a strix b450-f gaming MB.

          So what I'm seeing is I should go with just 2 sticks (cause I will never need anymore than 32GB)

Edited February 26, 2020 by GlassCannonGaming
Adding Info

[boggy77]

4 sticks are harder to overclock than 2 sticks

[Constantin]

10 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

4 sticks are harder to overclock than 2 sticks

I don't think so.

It should be the same i think.

[boggy77]

3 minutes ago, Constantin said:

I don't think so.

It should be the same i think.

not sure about intel but there is a problem with amd's memory controller. i think it's better with 3000 series, but the older ones struggle with 4 sticks.

[Constantin]

Just now, boggy77 said:

not sure about intel but there is a problem with amd's memory controller. i think it's better with 3000 series, but the older ones struggle with 4 sticks.

AMD in general have a compatibility issue with RAM

[nick name]

Yes, capacity will make it harder to overclock your RAM.  On top of that using 4 sticks also makes it harder.  

[Guest]

It actually depends on your Motherboard and how the traces are printed for your RAM. A daisy chain layout is better for 2 RAM sticks while T-topology layouts can achieve higher speeds with 4 sticks.

[spartaman64]

13 minutes ago, Constantin said:

I don't think so.

It should be the same i think.

its the silicon lottery. if 3 sticks have good chips that can overclock a lot and the 4th stick has bad chips that wont overclock that much then all 4 will be restricted to the speed of the 4th stick

[Constantin]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

its the silicon lottery. if 3 sticks have good chips that can overclock a lot and the 4th stick has bad chips that wont overclock that much then all 4 will be restricted to the speed of the 4th stick

Of course, that also.  silicon lottery is a fact in hardware.

[porina]

Capacity is only indirectly applicable, in that the number of modules, and/or the rank of the modules tend to go up to achieve higher total capacity. Both those could affect the overclocking limit of the ram in a given system. All else being equal, one module per channel of single rank ram is most likely to reach highest speeds. Running dual rank module, and/or two modules per channel may limit that.

 

Unless you need the fastest possible ram for some reason (competitive overclocking) it doesn't make a big difference even if you have a bit of a speed difference from ram configuration.

 

Note I found having more than one rank per channel gives an improvement to performance at a given speed/timing. This can be either by multiple modules or within a single module. If max performance is the goal it isn't necessarily achieved by max speed.

[GoldenLag]

23 minutes ago, Constantin said:

I don't think so.

It should be the same i think.

they are not the same. 2 sticks is easier to overclock than 4. that is inherent to how memmory topology, and tracing works. 

18 minutes ago, Constantin said:

AMD in general have a compatibility issue with RAM

1st and 2nd gen dont like anything faster than 3200mhz. and 3rd gen stops clocking at 3600mhz due IF being in 1:1 mode. 

 

38 minutes ago, GlassCannonGaming said:

I just wanted to know if the amount of RAM your trying to overclock matters at all?

more ram puts more strain on the memmory controller. so yes, the ammount of ram does affect how high you can overclock the memmory, or what voltage you need to use.