Ram

squidbird14 · February 24, 2022

I want to upgrade my ram in my build I have 2x8 3600mhz but I want to upgrade to 32gb of rams I’ve been searching online what to get but I get no straight answer I have a 5600x with a 3060 and I just want to know if I should get 2x16 or 4x8 sticks? Are 4 sticks better than 2 ?

RONOTHAN## · February 24, 2022

1 minute ago, squidbird14 said:

I just want to know if I should get 2x16 or 4x8 sticks? Are 4 sticks better than 2 ?

It's a very loaded question. The real difference between the two setups are the rank you're running in. Dual rank memory increases the bandwidth of RAM, and therefore improves the performance. Running two, single rank sticks per memory channel means that the memory is effectively running in dual rank, and therefore will perform better. If you're running 1 dual rank stick per channel, the performance will be the same as long as the frequency and timings are correct.

8 GB sticks you can get now are going to be single rank (you can technically get dual rank 8GB sticks, but I don't think they've been made in years), and 16GB sticks are 50/50 for whether they're gonna be dual rank or single rank, depending on the sticks that you get. If you want to be safe and be sure to get dual rank performance, 4x8GB is the way you want to go. If you want better memory speeds, 2x16 will have better compatibility and will get tighter timings. There are a couple kits that are known to be dual rank, specifically the ones that are very strong bins for either Samsung B die (preferred) or Hynix DJR. If you find a 2x16GB kit of 3600MHz CL14, it will be a dual rank memory kit. If you find a memory kit of something like 3600MHz CL18, it will be a coin flip for whether it will be dual rank or single rank. If you get a kit of Crucial Ballistix 2x16GB, it'll likely be single rank.

tkitch · February 25, 2022

unless you're regularly capping your 16GB and pushing data to a swap file, going to 32 won't do much of anything.

and 2 vs 4 sticks? Just get 2 more sticks with same, or better, timings than your current RAM, and you'll be fine. There's not enough difference to really be concerned about.