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3 sticks of RAM?

Maverickfftytwo
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Quick question. I have an older computer I'd like to upgrade the RAM in. It has a single 8GB stick of DDR3 in it currently. I want to buy a 16GB kit with 2x 8GB sticks. Will keeping the first 8GB stick (for a total of 24GB) be a problem? I know I'll have to put the kit in the right slots for dual channel to work right, but I didn't know if mixing dual & single would be a problem. I've only ever done two or four sticks before.

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well it will run in single channel what is your ram speed and cpu? 

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pretty sure 3 dimms is worse than 2 for bandwidth and general usage, but if your workloads benefit from extra ram and arent bandwidth reliant then itd be an option, if it works

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you only get dual channel speeds in the first 16GB of usage, the rest will be single channel. Flex mode has been supported for a long time now

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2 minutes ago, Maverickfftytwo said:

Will keeping the first 8GB stick (for a total of 24GB) be a problem?

mixing ram have a chance of them not working together, but it should work

put the identical RAM 1 slot apart, the remaining stick in any remaining slot

 

you will run in FLEX mode, first 16gb will be dual channel bandwidth, the remaining 8gb will be single channel

-sigh- feeling like I'm being too negative lately

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Just now, KingTdiGGiTTy said:

Depending on your motherboard

I've had a 2+1 RAM setup work for dual channel before, but that was DDR2 era

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^ Related.

5 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

you only get dual channel speeds in the first 16GB of usage, the rest will be single channel. Flex mode has been supported for a long time now

+2 internet points for having the first accurate answer.

5 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

mixing ram have a chance of them not working together, but it should work

put the identical RAM 1 slot apart, the remaining stick in any remaining slot

 

you will run in FLEX mode, first 16gb will be dual channel bandwidth, the remaining 8gb will be single channel

+1 internet points for also being correct.

 

8 minutes ago, Maverickfftytwo said:

Quick question. I have an older computer I'd like to upgrade the RAM in. It has a single 8GB stick of DDR3 in it currently. I want to buy a 16GB kit with 2x 8GB sticks. Will keeping the first 8GB stick (for a total of 24GB) be a problem? I know I'll have to put the kit in the right slots for dual channel to work right, but I didn't know if mixing dual & single would be a problem. I've only ever done two or four sticks before.

One thing of note: If it's a 1st gen Core i-series (ix-xxx) be careful of the 8GB DIMM's you use. Ideally you'll want to match it. I have run 3x8GB on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gen, though, all work fine.

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Sounds like it'll work fine (16gb in dual, 8gb in single) but incase the hardware changes things it's a i5-3570k with a ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP. The RAM in it already is Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR3 1600.

 

I recently built a new computer so this is just getting a couple cheap upgrades and will be for my kids to use/game on. 24GB is probably excessive, but I didn't want to mix and match 8GB sticks...

 

Thanks everybody for your help!

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