Memory Upgrade

[Enneikay]

I "built" a PC (chose everything but didn't actually put it together myself) not long ago. However due to certain circumstances I had to use some money for something so I ended up too tight on budget and it ended up in me buying the worst possible ram (well, cheapest) I found. Aka Kingston 1x8 1333mhz.

 

My question is: Would it be sensible to upgrade now my ram to something better and dual channel? (Would I see any actual performance increase in something?)

                        

                        Would it be stupid to go for 16gb? (I don't edit, render or anything, so it'd be pretty much for gaming and having literally 25 Chrome tabs open ._.)

 

 

 

 

In case you need to know PC specs

 

-i5 3570K (stock speed)

- Asus P8Z77-M

- Sapphire R9 270

- 1x8gb 1333 Kingston Ram

 

[MrYuriy]

For gaming, all you really need is 8GB. That's not to say some games (now or in the near future) won't use more. Just rather unlikely; however, depending on what you're playing/doing on your PC.

 

If you don't edit or render (or applications as such) you won't really need 16gb.. But I still recommend it if you can, per your budget of course. Plus, its smart future-proofing.

[Fred Castellum]

I you open tons of tabs I'd suggest a ram upgrade to cover that memory usage. 

 

I have at least 150+ tabs open 24/7... I need 16gbs of ram for sure.... 

[Glenwing]

You can always add another 8GB later if you need it.  Unless you're pretty certain you need 16GB I don't see any reason to get that much.

[Enneikay]

For gaming, all you really need is 8GB. That's not to say some games (now or in the near future) won't use more. Just rather unlikely; however, depending on what you're playing/doing on your PC.

 

If you don't edit or render (or applications as such) you won't really need 16gb.. But I still recommend it if you can, per your budget of course. Plus, its smart future-proofing.

Would you recommend Corsair Vengeance, G. Skill Sniper or G.Skill Ripjaws? (Pretty much the only 3  I can find here with dual channel 16gb kits)

[MrYuriy]

Would you recommend Corsair Vengeance, G. Skill Sniper or G.Skill Ripjaws? (Pretty much the only 3  I can find here with dual channel 16gb kits)

 

I cannot in good conscious recommend between Corsair Vengeance or G.Skill Ripjaws. Those are usually the top 2. I bet 80% of enthusiasts/gamers in this entire forum use one of the two. Screw Sniper, I think that was the previous to Ripjaws.

 

Just find which becomes a better deal (price-to-performance) between Ripjaws vs Vengeance. Don't just look at the MHz (1866MHz / 2133MHz) I'll go as far as to say the Timings (Cas Latency - i.e. 9-10-9-24) are just as important, if not more important, for gaming.

 

And lastly, I'm very shallow when it comes to RAM... How it looks is also important to me.   Like, why the hell not, right?

[Faa]

Dual channel gives some performance so you're basically after the preformance gain the channel 

You'd be better off adding the same stick or just get a new 8GB dual channel kit.

[Enneikay]

I cannot in good conscious recommend between Corsair Vengeance or G.Skill Ripjaws. Those are usually the top 2. I bet 80% of enthusiasts/gamers in this entire forum use one of the two. Screw Sniper, I think that was the previous to Ripjaws.

 

Just find which becomes a better deal (price-to-performance) between Ripjaws vs Vengeance. Don't just look at the MHz (1866MHz / 2133MHz) I'll go as far as to say the Timings (Cas Latency - i.e. 9-10-9-24) are just as important, if not more important, for gaming.

 

And lastly, I'm very shallow when it comes to RAM... How it looks is also important to me.   Like, why the hell not, right?

Yeah, honestly I prefer the Ripjaws over the Vengeance model I found. Though unfortunately my case has no side panel to see inside. I can't see my beautiful R9 270 (It's my very first gpu in my entire life so it's special .__.)

[Enneikay]

Dual channel gives some performance so you're basically after the preformance gain the channel 

You'd be better off adding the same stick or just get a new 8GB dual channel kit.

I thought of buying a 2x4 kit but then I thought "Going from 8gb of ram to 8gb of ram" so...  

[MrYuriy]

I thought of buying a 2x4 kit but then I thought "Going from 8gb of ram to 8gb of ram" so...  

Yeah, don't do that. 1x 8GB stick is better than 2x 4GB. Though, this can vary, depending. Because yes, Dual Channel does help performance. But with 1x 8GB stick, you would have more open slots. Future mang, da Future is imminent!

[Enneikay]

Yeah, don't do that. 1x 8GB stick is better than 2x 4GB. Though, this can vary, depending. Because yes, Dual Channel does help performance. But with 1x 8GB stick, you would have more open slots. Future mang, da Future is imminent!

If I were to buy a 2x8gb kit, would it have any noticeable difference if it was 1600mhz, 1866 or more?

[Faa]

I thought of buying a 2x4 kit but then I thought "Going from 8gb of ram to 8gb of ram" so...  

The money you save would allow you to upgrade something else in your system. 16GB isn't going to be more futureproof, before we'll see games needing more than 8GB all cpu's would bottleneck any low-end gpu so not much of a point of future-proofing something you'd never ever can be sure of. I remember 8GB was complety overkill back in 2007-2008 and 4GB being the sweet spot, I had 8GB of ram with my Q9550 never been "futureproofed" over 4GB & the cpu turned out within a few years to be a massive bottleneck and if I'm not running virtual machines I'm hardly getting over 4GB including gaming.

Seeing that you don't have an ssd in your build yet, it's time to get a Crucial m500 120GB.

 

Yeah, don't do that. 1x 8GB stick is better than 2x 4GB. Though, this can vary, depending. Because yes, Dual Channel does help performance. But with 1x 8GB stick, you would have more open slots. Future mang, da Future is imminent!

See above.

 

 

If I were to buy a 2x8gb kit, would it have any noticeable difference if it was 1600mhz, 1866 or more?

No. Memory speed doesnt make a difference for gaming.

[flibberdipper]

I would stick with 8GB, unless you're like me and you multitask like crazy. Then I might consider a 16GB kit.

[flibberdipper]

If I were to buy a 2x8gb kit, would it have any noticeable difference if it was 1600mhz, 1866 or more?

Unless you have an APU, go with either a 1600MHz or 1866MHz kit.

[MrYuriy]

If I were to buy a 2x8gb kit, would it have any noticeable difference if it was 1600mhz, 1866 or more?

In gaming? No, no noticeable difference. In other applications, it may. Also, multitasking should be taken into consideration.