RAM upgrade - a bit confused

[GavinR]

Hi LTT forums,

 

Wondering if anyone can help me - relatively new to hardware.

 

I have a computer that was mainly pre-built from around 18 months ago.

 

It currently has 16gb RAM (2x8gb sticks) and I want to upgrade, however I am really confused as to what will be compatible. I want to buy 2x16gb sticks.

 

My mother board (according to CPU-Z) is a Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming-CF. I have pasted a CPU-Z export at the bottom of this with RAM details. I have tried finding specifications and I am just confusing myself further!

 

Not sure if it matters but my CPU is an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X.

 

So I have a couple of questions:

 

1) What RAM is compatible with my system? I know it is DDR4 but are all DDR4 sticks compatible, or only certain ones?

2) If I buy 2x16gb sticks, should I remove the 2x8 sticks and just have the 32 total, or should I leave them in to give me 48gb total?

3) Any recommendations for best "bang for buck" stick that would meet my needs?

 

Really grateful for any pointers here!

 

Thanks :)

 

    SMBus address        0x52
    Memory type        DDR4
    Module format        UDIMM
    Module Manufacturer(ID)    Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000000000)
    SDRAM Manufacturer (ID)    SK Hynix (AD00000000000000000000)
    Size            8192 MBytes
    Max bandwidth        DDR4-2132 (1066 MHz)
    Part number        CMK16GX4M2B3200C16  
    Nominal Voltage        1.20 Volts
    EPP            no
    XMP            yes
    XMP revision        2.0
    AMP            no

[Dedayog]

Looks like you already have 3200MHz RAM according to the part number.  I would personally get another kit (2x8GB) of the same part number rather than buying all new 2x16 and then trying to sell these or go up to 48GB which is overkill. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-3200MHz-Desktop-Memory/dp/B0143UM4TC/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=CMK16GX4M2B3200C16&qid=1585950033&sr=8-3

 

Your motherboard can handle all 4 sticks fine, and if 32GB isn't enough for you... what are you wanting to upgrade the RAM for anyway?  Do you need more or not sure if it's fast enough?

 

There are other areas to get more performance possibly, can you list your entire spec sheet?

[GavinR]

Hey jstudrawa,

 

Thanks for much for the quick reply.

 

That's a good point to be fair - saves me a bit of money too!

 

Well I run 2x monitors plus a TV from my setup at the moment.

 

The TV is generally running a stream of some sort (Twitch usually) and the others for working with. I use a lot of Chrome tabs and it is just starting to feel a bit sluggish!

 

I have an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, RAM mentioned above, storage I'll paste below, and just a basic water cooler for the CPU.

 

Is there anything else you need to know? 

 

Thanks again

 

Drive    0
    Name            ST1000DM010-2EP102
    Revision        CC43    
    Capacity        931.5 GB
    Type            Fixed
    Bus Type        SATA (11)
    Rotation speed        7200 RPM
    Features        SMART
    Volume            d:\, 931.5 GBytes (56.5 percent available)

Drive    1
    Name            Samsung SSD 970 EVO 250GB
    Capacity        232.9 GB
    Type            Fixed, SSD
    Bus Type        NVMe (17)
    Features        
    Volume            c:\, 231.6 GBytes (26.5 percent available)

[Dedayog]

Np, glad to help.   If you're like me, you go for 32GB RAM rather than pruning apps and software usage down

 

Btw, if you have ANY software that you use loading off the HDD, it will feel sluiggish compared to Windows (which I assume is fully on the SSD).

 

I once used a SSD/HDD combo and had some startup programs installed on the HDD and they made Windows load slow.  Just an FYI.

 

Your rig shouldn't feel slow even if you';re bumping against the 16GB ceiling to be honest, may be something else.

 

I'd invest in full SSD to be honest.