One quick and one long (final) question about RAM upgrade. [I won't argue this time, promise]

[podkall]

The quick question is prob. dumb one, if I buy 4000Mhz Ram and MB supports only 3200Mhz the ram just downclocks to 3200 or it just works by itself in nature right?

 

Second question:

 

My Budget: Enough to buy both options, but buying the more expensive option leaves me "broke" (not actually broke)

[What do I mean by that? If I buy more expensive I'd have to empty 80% of my "piggy bank" (that amount takes me almost a year to acumulate)]

Info:

My PC is a gaming machine. (surprisingly carved by budget)

MB has 2 slots currently filled with two 4GB sticks (DDR4 8GB)

MB supports 32GB max and clocks at 3200Mhz

Why upgrade: for example GTAV runs smoothly but I can't have browser opened with YouTube.

I have this thing called Blender on my desktop. Some games recomend 16GB RAM.

The Question:

I wanted to double my RAM, but there are 2 ways to it. ("There's 3 actually" I know)

 

I either buy one 16GB stick and have a single channel 16 or hybrid 20GB if it works. (3200Mhz)

 

Or I buy 32GB dual kit so 2 16GB sticks and never worry about upgrading (3600MHz, because it's the cheapest option)

 

Now you probably know that these simple questions have a catch, in my case it's budget.

First option costs ~83 $ and the second costs ~117 $ (second option drains half of my savings)

 

People say dual channel is 2x faster, I heared that it's when you use integrated graphics, does this also apply to dedicated graphics?

 

I know this might sound ignorant, but to me people look like they put dual channel on a really high pedastal. (I'm not an expert it's just my point of view)

 

Thanks guys.

[boggy77]

you've asked this before, i've read your previous post. you have a ryzen 3 1200 on a b450 board.

not sure what your current ram's rated speed is.

ryzen 1000 series will struggle to run 4 sticks at more than 2667Mhz.

with 2 sticks, you might get them to run at 3000mhz.

buying 4000mhz ram is a waste, not even the ryzen 5000 series benefits from that. if you want to buy future proof ram in case you upgrade to a 5000 series, get 3600 mhz ram.

otherwise, get 3000-3200 mhz ram.

 

you have 2 options really:

1) get a 2x4 kit similar to what you have and run all 4 at 2667mhz (cheap option)

2) sell your current ram and buy a 2x8 kit at 3000-3600mhz (depending on future plans)

[SignatureSigner]

If I were you I would go with what your motherboard supports. There's no point going higher. You can sell the 2×4gb set on eBay/Craigslist. Yes dual channel (Specifically on Ryzen) gives a performance boost due to the latency advantage. Ryzen likes fast memory but if your motherboard doesn't support it there's no point getting it. For most consumer applications 16gb is enough.

 

What CPU do you have?

What motherboard do you have?

The having a game and Google Chrome issues usually are a weaker CPU issue.

Overall dont buy 4000mhz kits as most (other than high end) boards don't even support it.

[podkall]

2 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

you've asked this before, i've read your previous post. you have a ryzen 3 1200 on a b450 board.

not sure what your current ram's rated speed is.

ryzen 1000 series will struggle to run 4 sticks at more than 2667Mhz.

with 2 sticks, you might get them to run at 3000mhz.

buying 4000mhz ram is a waste, not even the ryzen 5000 series benefits from that. if you want to buy future proof ram in case you upgrade to a 5000 series, get 3600 mhz ram.

otherwise, get 3000-3200 mhz ram.

 

you have 2 options really:

1) get a 2x4 kit similar to what you have and run all 4 at 2667mhz (cheap option)

2) sell your current ram and buy a 2x8 kit at 3000-3600mhz (depending on future plans)

2x4? I have 2 slots in MB not 4 I can't have more than 2 RAM sticks in my Motherboard man, not every motherboard has 4 Ram slots...

[podkall]

3 minutes ago, SignatureSigner said:

If I were you I would go with what your motherboard supports. There's no point going higher. You can sell the 2×4gb set on eBay/Craigslist. Yes dual channel (Specifically on Ryzen) gives a performance boost due to the latency advantage. Ryzen likes fast memory but if your motherboard doesn't support it there's no point getting it. For most consumer applications 16gb is enough.

 

What CPU do you have?

What motherboard do you have?

The having a game and Google Chrome issues usually are a weaker CPU issue.

Overall dont buy 4000mhz kits as most (other than high end) boards don't even support it.

Oh I'm buying the cheapest so if the cheapest is 4000Mhz for some reason than why not.

CPU is Ryzen 3 1200

Motherboard is B450

 

You say I should spend more and never worry about ram for even 10 years if we are optimistic.

[boggy77]

33 minutes ago, podkall said:

2x4? I have 2 slots in MB not 4 I can't have more than 2 RAM sticks in my Motherboard man, not every motherboard has 4 Ram slots...

Sorry thought you had 4 slots.

In that case, sell your current ram and buy a 2x8 kit.

[LpoolTech]

26 minutes ago, podkall said:

Oh I'm buying the cheapest so if the cheapest is 4000Mhz for some reason than why not.

CPU is Ryzen 3 1200

Motherboard is B450

 

You say I should spend more and never worry about ram for even 10 years if we are optimistic.

The cheapest one is 4000mhz? could you share a link with us? 

[brob]

Dual channel is not twice as fast. In gaming dual channel can make a difference. The impact on Ryzen seems to be more significant.

 

Memory performance differences between ddr4-3200 and ddr4-4000 cl 16 - 18 are not likely going to be noticeable.

 

Get a two stick kit. The least expensive within the parameters above.

[podkall]

21 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

Sorry thought you had 4 slots.

In that case, sell your current ram and buy a 2x8 kit.

you say I should save some money instead of going max?

 

21 minutes ago, LpoolTech said:

The cheapest one is 4000mhz? could you share a link with us? 

was example, also depends if you live in my country....

 

12 minutes ago, brob said:

Dual channel is not twice as fast. In gaming dual channel can make a difference. The impact on Ryzen seems to be more significant.

 

Memory performance differences between ddr4-3200 and ddr4-4000 cl 16 - 18 are not likely going to be noticeable.

 

Get a two stick kit. The least expensive within the parameters above.

The question was if I should buy single 16GB and save some money or buy dual kit 32GB (2x 16GB)

since buying 32GB takes a heavy hit on my savings I'm not sure which is better

[Tristerin]

No time to read it all - First Gen Ryzen will have to be manually overclocked past 2666mhz (I have quite a bit experience on this platform and kits of DDR4).  Regardless of motherboard.  Its finnicky AF (cpu memory controller)

 

My advice - if you are populating 4 DIMM slots - 2666mhz with lowest CL is your best result from my experience.  If you are running 2 DIMM's and are willing to learn to manually overclock them - there is ALOT you can do with Ryzen first gen (I havent gotten past 3600mhz though, not able to, personally).  I run 2 1700's both at way over rated speeds (see sig, and links to Firestrike posts) stable.  (except when I need extra RAM for whatever use case task I install it for, then its 2666mhz only, cant get it stable on 4 DIMMs at all no matter board or CPU I use)

 

 

 

[boggy77]

25 minutes ago, podkall said:

The question was if I should buy single 16GB and save some money or buy dual kit 32GB (2x 16GB)

since buying 32GB takes a heavy hit on my savings I'm not sure which is better

90% of the people don't need 32gb of ram and won't need it in the next few years.

[podkall]

31 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

90% of the people don't need 32gb of ram and won't need it in the next few years.

I guess once I do need 32 I will be rich enough to buy it

[LpoolTech]

2 hours ago, podkall said:

was example, also depends if you live in my country....

yeah still share the link if you can

[Vishera]

2 hours ago, Tristerin said:

No time to read it all - First Gen Ryzen will have to be manually overclocked past 2666mhz (I have quite a bit experience on this platform and kits of DDR4).  Regardless of motherboard.  Its finnicky AF (cpu memory controller)

From what i remember the memory controller on 1st gen Ryzen is unstable when the RAM gets close to 3000MHz~3200MHz.

With 2nd gen it's a similar story,the biggest difference is that the controller gets unstable around 3200MHz~3600MHz.

I won the silicon lottery with the memory controller,3466MHz is working great for me,passes Memtest86 and everything.

 

So at 4000MHz your PC will refuse to boot.

[brob]

4 hours ago, podkall said:

The question was if I should buy single 16GB and save some money or buy dual kit 32GB (2x 16GB)

since buying 32GB takes a heavy hit on my savings I'm not sure which is better

 

I know. My answer was neither.

[podkall]

1 hour ago, LpoolTech said:

yeah still share the link if you can

I misread it's just a common discount I saw 32GB it was only 16

 

25 minutes ago, brob said:

 

I know. My answer was neither.

It's fine

 

1 hour ago, Vishera said:

From what i remember the memory controller on 1st gen Ryzen is unstable when the RAM gets close to 3000MHz~3200MHz.

With 2nd gen it's a similar story,the biggest difference is that the controller gets unstable around 3200MHz~3600MHz.

I won the silicon lottery with the memory controller,3466MHz is working great for me,passes Memtest86 and everything.

 

So at 4000MHz your PC will refuse to boot.

refuse to boot? what kind of instability? can you still boot to bios and downclock before it collapses?

[Vishera]

1 hour ago, podkall said:

refuse to boot?

Yep,It will straight up refuse to boot.

2 hours ago, podkall said:

can you still boot to bios and downclock before it collapses?

No,you can't,it will not boot unless your BIOS settings get reset.

[podkall]

1 minute ago, Vishera said:

Yep,It will straight up refuse to boot.

No,you can't,it will not boot unless your BIOS settings get reset.

Well I can try the sticks and if they won't work I will just return them