Should I change my ram?

[Sipyker]

I recently bought a pre built PC from a SI as it was the cheapest way of getting all the parts I wanted after taking 12 years off from PC gaming. If building myself I would have changed the Motherboard, the ram and the PSU but all things considered it worked out being the best choice for my budget. 

 

Build:

i5 9400f

MSI h310m pro-vdh plus
MSI GTX 1660 SUPER™ VENTUS XS OC

1x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz

240GB SSD (think it's DRAM-less, I'll probably keep an eye out on Prime Day/Black Friday to upgrade to 1TB)
2TB BarraCuda

450W Corsair VS

Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 TG

 

I don't see the point in changing the motherboard or PSU until i actually go to upgrade the CPU & GPU but obviously ram is pretty simple to upgrade. If the ram was in dual channel I wouldn't bother changing anything but the single channel configuration concerns me so I was considering 3 options:

1. Leave it as it is

2. Throw in another 16gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz (32gb is fairly excessive but I would gain dual channel, I can't find the exact model number available anywhere but can find the same description but different model for around £75)

3. Buy 2x8gb 2666mhz (max speed this system will support) sticks for around £75 and try to sell off the current stick I have for around £50 to make some of this back.

 

Really unsure if it is worth doing anything so any opinions would be appreciated, my understanding is that RAM is currently at a reasonable price but may go up again. Last time I built anything myself was in preparation for the original Crysis game so my knowledge is a bit out of date...

 

 

[3rrant]

1 minute ago, Sipyker said:

cut

There isn't any real big difference in going dual channel IMO, I'd just leave it as is.

Or if you can sell your stick for 90%+ of what you would pay for a 2x8gb config.. maybe, but it still doesn't really change anything real world.

[Applefreak]

Actually I have to disagree with @3rrant, dual channel makes a big difference. If you have the money to spend, the extra 16 GB would be a good investment if you keep the pc for a couple of years, seeing games getting more and more demanding lately.

If you have the option to trade it in, 2x 8 GB would be better but extra memory is also nice to have, depends really on how much you can spend.

[3rrant]

2 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

Actually I have to disagree with @3rrant, dual channel makes a big difference. If you have the money to spend, the extra 16 GB would be a good investment if you keep the pc for a couple of years, seeing games getting more and more demanding lately.

If you have the option to trade it in, 2x 8 GB would be better but extra memory is also nice to have, depends really on how much you can spend.

It's not up-to-date component wise, but this guide still applies in general: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel?showall=1

There are applications that benefit from dual channel, but generally they don't. Gaming in particular does benefit from it on a Ryzen platform, but for Intel it doesn't really change much.

[Applefreak]

@3rrant Speaking from years of experience, you can feel the difference when moving files in explorer. It's like something is missing. Very subjective though but I've had 10 year old system feel snappy while a newly build system with one stick of ram was sluggish and felt all wrong. 

Not all applications will benefit from it but in games you can expect better lows and more consistent or smoother gameplay overall. That's why it is important in my opinion. Strictly for workstation purposes, the difference is much lower.

[Praesi]

36 minutes ago, 3rrant said:

There isn't any real big difference in going dual channel IMO, I'd just leave it as is.

Or if you can sell your stick for 90%+ of what you would pay for a 2x8gb config.. maybe, but it still doesn't really change anything real world.

Its 1x64bit vs 2x64bit (acting 128bit channel)

 

Thats quite i difference in my book.

[3rrant]

 

24 minutes ago, Praesi said:

Its 1x64bit vs 2x64bit (acting 128bit channel)

 

Thats quite i difference in my book.

Show the difference in numbers and repeatable benchmarks then my dear.

[Praesi]

4 minutes ago, 3rrant said:

 

Show the difference in numbers and repeatable benchmarks then my dear.

What next?

Proof that Water is wet?

 

OP, if you want the best possible performance, go dual channel.

[3rrant]

3 minutes ago, Praesi said:

What next?

Proof that Water is wet?

 

OP, if you want the best possible performance, go dual channel.

You're not providing benchmarks because there are no benchmarks. Read the article I linked from Gamer Nexus and learn something maybe.

[Praesi]

Just now, 3rrant said:

You're not providing benchmarks because there are no benchmarks. Read the article I linked from Gamer Nexus and learn something maybe.

I rather use my own knockledge and experience. You keep reading some articles till you have gathered experience of your own.

EOD.

[3rrant]

5 minutes ago, Praesi said:

I rather use my own knockledge and experience. You keep reading some articles till you have gathered experience of your own.

EOD.

Yeah that's exactly how people learn to be doctors and nurses. From killing people to gather experience.

You're such an expert in this field everybody should trust your own personal experience just for your mighty keyboarding skills  got it.

[Kilrah]

On current Intel CPUs you're looking at about 5-10% difference in benchmarks, nothing to write home (or justify replacing everything) about.

[Praesi]

18 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

On current Intel CPUs you're looking at about 5-10% difference in benchmarks, nothing to write home (or justify replacing everything) about.

The bandwith usage depends heavy on what you are doing and what programms are in current workload.

CatiaV5 benefits alot from dualchannel, CSGO maybe not so much. But there is a perfermonance increase, no matter what you are doing. There is no general 5-10%.

[3rrant]

1 hour ago, Praesi said:

The bandwith usage depends heavy on what you are doing and what programms are in current workload.

CatiaV5 benefits alot from dualchannel, CSGO maybe not so much. But there is a perfermonance increase, no matter what you are doing. There is no general 5-10%.

Yes there is and there are benchmarks to prove it. Stop cryin' about being wrong. Gaming does not benefit from dual channel ram on an Intel platform.

[Sipyker]

Thanks all. Some useful insights here. 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Praesi said:

The bandwith usage depends heavy on what you are doing and what programms are in current workload.

CatiaV5 benefits alot from dualchannel, CSGO maybe not so much. But there is a perfermonance increase, no matter what you are doing. There is no general 5-10%.

 

9 hours ago, 3rrant said:

Yes there is and there are benchmarks to prove it. Stop cryin' about being wrong. Gaming does not benefit from dual channel ram on an Intel platform.

 

Almighty! praise to the god or godz or whatever. 

Fellas, to the public I will state............

_____

Both of these gentlemen area actually correct, they just don't know it. 

 

Some game engines benefit from dual channel and others do not. 

And the difference is minimal for frame rate counting.

The video card renders the picture, not single or dual channel system memory.

 

Most average gamers aren't going to miss out on 5fps differences running dual channel vs single. 

In some cases single channel is better in a few different ways. For starters, OC a single stick is easier than two.

 

But yea. Both men are correct. There's only lack of explanation and acknowledgement.