32gb 3200mhz ram. Should I get 4x8gb or 2x16gb?

[ramm]

Hello,

 

16gb of ram is not enough for me anymore so i want to upgrade to 32gb. I prefer to have 4x8gb because personally I like to look at my hardware. But I read 2x16gb is more efficient?

 

I'm running a Z170 motherboard and I want my ram to be at least 3200mhz.

 

Thanks

[toasty99]

Why isn't 16gb sufficient? Most people only need 16gb. If it's an issue you may have a bottleneck somewhere else making you think the ram is the problem. 

 

As for 4x8 or 2x16 it is nearly the same on your board performance wise. 4x8 is actually just barely better but not in any noticeable way at all. Z170 boards only support dual channel memory so anything past 2 sticks doesn't offer much benefit. 

 

However, again you'd be looking at a costly upgrade for 32gb of Ddr4 3200 ram. Based on your Z170 board the best CPU you could possibly have is a 7700k. Chances are you'd be better off upgrading to a new motherboard and CPU. 

 

What do you do with this PC and what CPU and GPU do you currently have? 

[Sophia_Borjia]

Why you need more ram could help with advice.  Not saying you don't need it.

 

I had I3-8100, 4*8GB dimms, and geforce 1050.  Software I was using kept running out of ram.

Replaced 2 dims with pair of 16GB and removed gpu( igpu was enough and got multiple vga moniters working on it easier then gpu).  

My case is very non-typical....later upgraded to ryzen 7 and 5700xt, moved ram to new motherboard, 48 gigs has been plenty for 16 threads, 32gigs wasn't enough for 4.  Sometimes you just need lots of ram regardless of cpu.

 

So, if there is chance you might still need more then 32, go with 2*16 to leave easier upgrade path.  If sure 32 gigs is enough, 4 sticks should be faster at same clock and cheaper.

[SHADFAN]

11 hours ago, ramm said:

Hello,

 

16gb of ram is not enough for me anymore so i want to upgrade to 32gb. I prefer to have 4x8gb because personally I like to look at my hardware. But I read 2x16gb is more efficient?

 

I'm running a Z170 motherboard and I want my ram to be at least 3200mhz.

 

Thanks

They would both work the same. And if there is any difference it would be un-noticable. I prefer going with 2x16 just incase if you want to add more RAM sticks in the future.

[Falkentyne]

It's always wise to have more RAM than you actually need (to a point, of course), for the same reason you should have more storage than you actually need.

I never want to experience the days again where you'd have to delete games every time you install a new one, or have to wait 2 minutes for a level to swap off the HDD.

[ramm]

On 4/9/2020 at 11:28 AM, toasty99 said:

Why isn't 16gb sufficient? Most people only need 16gb. If it's an issue you may have a bottleneck somewhere else making you think the ram is the problem. 

 

As for 4x8 or 2x16 it is nearly the same on your board performance wise. 4x8 is actually just barely better but not in any noticeable way at all. Z170 boards only support dual channel memory so anything past 2 sticks doesn't offer much benefit. 

 

However, again you'd be looking at a costly upgrade for 32gb of Ddr4 3200 ram. Based on your Z170 board the best CPU you could possibly have is a 7700k. Chances are you'd be better off upgrading to a new motherboard and CPU. 

 

What do you do with this PC and what CPU and GPU do you currently have? 

I need more ram because my computer ran out of memory when doing alot of stuff at same time. I would also like to have 4 ram parts that look better than my current one, since lately I spend more time trying to make my PC case look nice. Those are the reasons why I don't get 2 extra ram pieces but instead want 4 new ones.

 

No need to upgrade from a 6700k to 7700k. I also have it liquid cooled and am running a RTX 2080 with NVME, 2 extra SSD's etc. I dont think my system is bottle necking.

 

So 4x8 would still be better then, thanks!

[ramm]

14 hours ago, Oliver oni said:

They would both work the same. And if there is any difference it would be un-noticable. I prefer going with 2x16 just incase if you want to add more RAM sticks in the future.

Yeah that was the reason for getting my current ram too. But I hardly think I would need more than 32gb. Unless something very big changes in the next 3 to 5 years? But then there's the thing of wanting 4 ram sticks because it looks nicer.

 

Also would you guys recommand 3200mhz c16 or 3600mhz c18? I'm currently not sure what to get

[porina]

7 minutes ago, ramm said:

Yeah that was the reason for getting my current ram too. But I hardly think I would need more than 32gb. Unless something very big changes in the next 3 to 5 years? But then there's the thing of wanting 4 ram sticks because it looks nicer.

The loading to the system is about the same with 4x8 or 2x16 so doesn't make much different for now. DDR5 will probably start to hit mainstream some time next year and it'll be possibly time to consider a totally new system for you anyway.

 

7 minutes ago, ramm said:

Also would you guys recommand 3200mhz c16 or 3600mhz c18? I'm currently not sure what to get

It comes down to price and if you have a need for the higher speed. I'm also not so confident in the ram compatibility as you get to higher speeds. 

[ramm]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:18 PM, porina said:

The loading to the system is about the same with 4x8 or 2x16 so doesn't make much different for now. DDR5 will probably start to hit mainstream some time next year and it'll be possibly time to consider a totally new system for you anyway.

 

It comes down to price and if you have a need for the higher speed. I'm also not so confident in the ram compatibility as you get to higher speeds. 

Why a new system? Is a 6700k and 2080 outdated?

[porina]

12 hours ago, ramm said:

Why a new system? Is a 6700k and 2080 outdated?

If it is good enough for now, no reason to upgrade. As the years go by, there will be some point where you decide to upgrade. I'm guessing that in a year or two we're in DDR5 era, and that'll require changing ram.

[ramm]

5 hours ago, porina said:

If it is good enough for now, no reason to upgrade. As the years go by, there will be some point where you decide to upgrade. I'm guessing that in a year or two we're in DDR5 era, and that'll require changing ram.

ok thanks I didnt know DDR5 was coming close, yeah then i'll wait if it's less than a year. Any info about this yet? Would require other motherboard and processor too right? And the price?

[porina]

11 minutes ago, ramm said:

ok thanks I didnt know DDR5 was coming close, yeah then i'll wait if it's less than a year. Any info about this yet? Would require other motherboard and processor too right? And the price?

We haven't had any solid information other than DDR5 is going into mass production this year. That doesn't mean it'll appear in consumer systems any time soon, as there are other uses. My guess is there is a good chance we'll see it in consumer desktops in 2021, and almost certain it'll be around 2022.

[Sophia_Borjia]

Ryzen 5000 will be ddr5, since ryzen 4000 is September or later if delayed again, late 2021 seems optimistic.  I will most likely be very expensive at launch.  Intel has 2 more generations using ddr 4 planned, then ddr5. 

 

So, some support for it in 2022, similar to pcie 4 last year, might be a little longer to call it consumer desktop, enthusiast desktop is probably better term. 

 

Like pcie4, oddball stuff will use it first, IBM power9 workstations had pcie4 before amd by year or two, on $7000 system.  Could be a little while until it is really needed by most systems. 

 

It would be new socket, motherboard, cpu, pcie 5/6 coming around same time.

[ramm]

On 4/12/2020 at 10:29 PM, Sophia_Borjia said:

Ryzen 5000 will be ddr5, since ryzen 4000 is September or later if delayed again, late 2021 seems optimistic.  I will most likely be very expensive at launch.  Intel has 2 more generations using ddr 4 planned, then ddr5. 

 

So, some support for it in 2022, similar to pcie 4 last year, might be a little longer to call it consumer desktop, enthusiast desktop is probably better term. 

 

Like pcie4, oddball stuff will use it first, IBM power9 workstations had pcie4 before amd by year or two, on $7000 system.  Could be a little while until it is really needed by most systems. 

 

It would be new socket, motherboard, cpu, pcie 5/6 coming around same time.

so it won't be another year before someone would realisticly build a new ddr5 system but more like 3+ years?

[Sophia_Borjia]

Maybe about 2 until you see some youtubers build with it, assuming just over year after zen 3 for 4 release and no more delays, but it would be like pcie 4 ssd at that point, 3+ for it to be mainstream and even then, some platforms still on ddr4 will be viable builds. Adopting as soon as it comes out only makes sense if in use case that needs ddr4000+ or 4+ channels now.  Average gamer won't see much benefit at first.  Things like the all nvme nas with 8 channels of ram Linus built would see benefit, since it was ram bandwidth limited.  

[aramini]

On 4/10/2020 at 4:07 AM, ramm said:

Yeah that was the reason for getting my current ram too. But I hardly think I would need more than 32gb. Unless something very big changes in the next 3 to 5 years? But then there's the thing of wanting 4 ram sticks because it looks nicer.

 

Also would you guys recommand 3200mhz c16 or 3600mhz c18? I'm currently not sure what to get

 

On 4/10/2020 at 4:18 AM, porina said:

The loading to the system is about the same with 4x8 or 2x16 so doesn't make much different for now. DDR5 will probably start to hit mainstream some time next year and it'll be possibly time to consider a totally new system for you anyway.

 

It comes down to price and if you have a need for the higher speed. I'm also not so confident in the ram compatibility as you get to higher speeds. 

Yes, it comes down to price. Also, the performance difference between 3200 and 3600 would be pretty marginal in reality (specs are often the maximum theoretical performance and some benchmarks can be misleading depending on the test setup). Btw, DDR is rated in MT/s (Megatransfers per second) not Megahertz. The I/O clock speed in MHz of the RAM is usually about 1/2 the MT/s (3200/2 = 1600MHz) and the Memory Clock speed is 1/8 (3200/8 = 400MHz). DDR means Double Data Rate. 3200 and 3600 are the data rates not the MHz.

 

Anyways, unless the price is very close for 3200 vs 3600, it is probably a waste of money to get 3600. The JEDEC standard specification for DDR4 currently maxes out at 3200. Anything higher rated than that just means it is being overclocked and the RAM vendor has tested it to work at a higher clock speed. This why you will see varying timings/stability/performance among different vendors and on different motherboards, because the RAM is running out of spec (currently there is no JEDEC standard spec for DDR4 RAM above 3200). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM#JEDEC_standard_DDR4_module)

 

If it was me, I'd opt to spend my money on the quantity (GB) of RAM over the speed of the RAM (especially since the performance difference between DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3600 is not that much). It has to make sense for your system (is it supported? perhaps get a brand and configuration of memory that the motherboard manufacturer has tested/certified to work and is on their Memory QVL), how you utilize your system, and your budget.

 

Generally you will see greater benefit from installing more RAM up to a certain point, rather than installing RAM that is marginally faster.

 

Finally, the reason someone might need more than 16GB of RAM is not for gaming, but if they are running multiple virtual machines simultaneously or have many RAM intensive programs open simultaneously. For most games 16GB is plenty.