Lost one of my 4 RAM sticks - run 3 or 2 of the rest from now on?

[Stahlmann]

I have a 32GB (8x4) kit of G.Skill memory. One of these sticks just died after a power outage.

 

How i found the issue:

Spoiler

After having multiple bluescreens with different error codes i downloaded memtest86 and ran the test with one stick at a time. One of them spat out errors instantly, the other 3 ran without issues in the same mobo slot. After sorting the bad one out, i re-ran the test with 24GB installed and it didn't spit out any errors. Mobo slot etc. didn't matter so i'm sure my CPU or mobo aren't at fault.

 

So now i asked myself should i run the 3 sticks or downgrade to 2 because of dual channel etc? Or will my system automatically only use the dual channel modules for the better performance and then use the 3rd single channel module once i use more than 16GB?

[RONOTHAN##]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Or will my system automatically only use the dual channel modules for the better performance and then use the 3rd single channel module once i use more than 16GB?

Yes. The first 16GB will have speeds of dual channel, the last 8GB will have speeds of single channel. There's no reason to not keep it in there. 

[porina]

I've heard of the flex mode but not seen anyone do testing for it. I'd love to see for example someone progressively loading up ram and seeing how overall performance changes.

 

For the short term, the question I'd ask is how important is it to have more than 16GB available? If you regularly exceed it, it seems a no brainer to go to 24GB even if unbalanced. Otherwise 16GB might give more consistent performance.

 

See if you can get a single stick replacement either new or used perhaps? I know ideally it should be identical and that's hard to tell with minor revisions, so there'll be some risk to that approach.