Mixing Ram Capacity

[RonDMC]

Is it recommended to mix ram modules of the same timing, speed, and similar models of different capacities in a single channel? I have a set of 2x16 G. Skill Trident Z Rgb. And I had picked up a cheap set of 2x8’s Trident Z non RGB. Can I used them Ch1:16+8 Ch2: 16+8? Could I use them 2x16 and 2x8? Or should I just run the 2x16? 

[RONOTHAN##]

If you don't really need the extra capacity, just run 2x16GB. Mixing capacity usually works, but it can cause weird issues, especially for speeds greater than 3200MHz. If you don't have a need for the extra capacity, the possible decrease in speed would hurt performance. If you need the capacity, run it with the 4 sticks, running out of RAM will be far more impactful to the system performance than the slight decrease in speed. 

[RonDMC]

It’s mostly a gaming machine, but wanted to use it for music, video, and photo editing. They are all 3200Mhz CL14 sticks. Im just wondering if I tried to do so what configuration would work best? 

[RONOTHAN##]

17 minutes ago, RonDMC said:

They are all 3200Mhz CL14 sticks.

OK, if they're all 3200MHz CL14, that means they're all Samsung B die and you're not likely to run into any compatibility issues with them. Plus 3200MHz CL14 isn't that tough on a memory controller, so they should work just fine, even though triple rank is usually a bit hard on the memory controller.

 

Basically if you don't have 1st or 2nd gen Ryzen, it should be fine to use all the RAM together if you just plan on using XMP. You still won't use all 48GB though, so if you want to overclock your RAM (that will give a bigger performance improvement than any sort of extra capacity will) that would be the better option with just the 2x16GB kit. 

[Mark Kaine]

in my experience you really dont need that much ram, even for video editing, that seems more cpu bound if anything.

 

but in the end you just need to try it out, and yeah, if its B-die there probably wont be any issues.

[RonDMC]

Oh ok, cool. Yeah, I’m still not sure wether I’ll need the capacity. I’ll probably end up just running the 16’s. Though out of curiosity, what be the best way to place them for dual channel. I’ve seen people say that they’ve used 16’s in the first two slots and 8 in the last for 48gb. Im curious what alternating for 24 in each channel would do. 

[Mark Kaine]

im not quite sure i understand the question , but u need to put the kits in "alternating" slots anyways, otherwise it probably wont work, and even if, it wouldnt be dual channel.

so say you have slots 1 2 3 4

 

first kit goes to 1+3 

 

second to 2+4 

 

 

but other than that it shouldn't matter.

[RonDMC]

Ok, I think that’s what I was trying to ask. I apologize for I may have a bit of a misunderstanding on how Dual Channel and Ram in general stores memory. I guess the way I’m thinking is the the dimms working in series, or do all sticks store simultaneously?