Increase RAM Speed VS Increase RAM Size: 4x16GB DDR-3200 vs 4x8GB DDR-3600 ?

[Los_Jackal]

Hello, I'm looking to make use of the 2 open RAM slots on my motherboard with the overall goal to increase speeds. I just finished my PC build in Feb. so I'm completely new this and with all my research I've thoroughly confused myself and appreciate any insights and feedback. 

 

Would it be better to purchase another identical 2x16GB DDR-3200 RAM set, totaling in 64GB of RAM?  Or go with 4x8GB DDR-3600 RAM set that would keep me at 32GB of RAM but with DDR-3600 speed? It's my understanding that more RAM doesn't always equal faster speeds, and having a dual channel motherboard plays another part in it. 

 

Current build specs: 

CPU: i5-12600KF

Motherboard: ASRock B660M Pro RS

Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 2x16 GB DDR4-3200

[Dedayog]

Neither RAM setup will make a noticeable speed difference in your machine.

 

That said, go with whichever you need for capacity.  Do you actually need 64GB RAM?

[Los_Jackal]

5 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Neither RAM setup will make a noticeable speed difference in your machine.

 

That said, go with whichever you need for capacity.  Do you actually need 64GB RAM?

Its fine with the current 32GB setup, but it would be slightly cheaper at the moment to buy an identical set of sticks I'm currently running than buying a new set of 4 for the same overall size. It did occur to me that I could try to sell my current set to help pay for the new ones in theory. If the overall outcome though is the same speeds I'm not sure it's worth the headache of dealing with the marketplace. 

[Aleph256]

Increasing by a "mere" 400MHz won't result in significant real-world performance.
As for the capacity increase, what kind of load would you be putting your computer through that requires 64GB?

I would say save the buck for a later DDR5 upgrade.

[Dedayog]

14 minutes ago, Los_Jackal said:

Its fine with the current 32GB setup, but it would be slightly cheaper at the moment to buy an identical set of sticks I'm currently running than buying a new set of 4 for the same overall size. It did occur to me that I could try to sell my current set to help pay for the new ones in theory. If the overall outcome though is the same speeds I'm not sure it's worth the headache of dealing with the marketplace. 

Okay, I am confused.  You're fine with 32, but WANT 64?

 

If so, do whatever.  LIke I said, no combination will result in noticeable increases in speed or performance from a speed standpoint. Only if you need more than 32, will you notice anything.

[Los_Jackal]

6 minutes ago, Aleph256 said:

Increasing by a "mere" 400MHz won't result in significant real-world performance.
As for the capacity increase, what kind of load would you be putting your computer through that requires 64GB?

I would say save the buck for a later DDR5 upgrade.

 

I'm not putting it through anything that would require 64GB, it was just maybe my misunderstanding that the sticks need to match, including capacity? Would adding 2x8 DDR-3200 sticks cause totaling 48GB of RAM issues? 

 

My motherboard doesn't support DDR5 so upgrading that is still a ways off. New PC builder lesson learned there. 

 

 

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, Los_Jackal said:

 

I'm not putting it through anything that would require 64GB, it was just maybe my misunderstanding that the sticks need to match, including capacity? Would adding 2x8 DDR-3200 sticks cause totaling 48GB of RAM issues? 

 

My motherboard doesn't support DDR5 so upgrading that is still a ways off. New PC builder lesson learned there. 

 

 

Then why are you adding RAM to get to 48 or 64?

 

If anything, by your logic, you would REPLACE the 2x16 3200 with 2x16 3600, no?

 

[Los_Jackal]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Okay, I am confused.  You're fine with 32, but WANT 64?

 

If so, do whatever.  LIke I said, no combination will result in noticeable increases in speed or performance from a speed standpoint. Only if you need more than 32, will you notice anything.

Sorry just to help clarify, I don't want 64. I'm just looking to fill the 2 open slots and hopefully gain some noticeable speed.

 

Buying anther set 2x16 of what I already have would bump me to 64 but still be cheaper than buying a new 4x8GB set. 

 

I could try selling my original set to offset the cost of the new 4x8 set if I went that route, but I really don't wanna. 

[Los_Jackal]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

If anything, by your logic, you would REPLACE the 2x16 3200 with 2x16 3600, no?

 

That would still leave me two open slots but going from 2x16GB 3200 to 2x16GB 3600 have a noticeable difference in speed as well? 

[Alex Atkin UK]

8 minutes ago, Los_Jackal said:

Sorry just to help clarify, I don't want 64. I'm just looking to fill the 2 open slots and hopefully gain some noticeable speed.

 

Buying anther set 2x16 of what I already have would bump me to 64 but still be cheaper than buying a new 4x8GB set. 

 

I could try selling my original set to offset the cost of the new 4x8 set if I went that route, but I really don't wanna. 

Depends what you are doing.  I find more RAM is noticeable in some games, where you are fast traveling between places so assets that were removed from the games RAM is still in the IO cache RAM if you fast travel back to somewhere you were earlier, so loads quicker.

 

Going from 3200 to 3600, that's going to be noticeable only in very specific use cases like perhaps compiling code?  A few percentage difference in gaming, I can't see that being noticeable at all.

 

I've upgraded a few PCs from 3200 to 3600 as I wanted to increase the amount of RAM and it made sense to increase the speed at the same time.  There was no obvious difference in performance, other than from RAM capacity as one of those was my NAS where having more cache makes a huge difference in filesystem IO.

[Dedayog]

10 minutes ago, Los_Jackal said:

Sorry just to help clarify, I don't want 64. I'm just looking to fill the 2 open slots and hopefully gain some noticeable speed.

 

Buying anther set 2x16 of what I already have would bump me to 64 but still be cheaper than buying a new 4x8GB set. 

 

I could try selling my original set to offset the cost of the new 4x8 set if I went that route, but I really don't wanna. 

Okay, so it's just an OCD thing.  Then get another 2x16 set of 3200 and rock out.  Anything else is too much work.

 

[Los_Jackal]

2 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Depends what you are doing.  I find more RAM is noticeable in some games, where you are fast traveling between places so assets that were removed from the games RAM is still in the IO cache RAM if you fast travel back to somewhere you were earlier, so loads quicker.

 

Going from 3200 to 3600, that's going to be noticeable only in very specific use cases like perhaps compiling code?  A few percentage difference in gaming, I can't see that being noticeable at all.

I use it for spreadsheets and gaming. The spreadsheets I work on can get pretty heavy with macros and formulas but my current config handles everything well. Load times haven't been bad for games with the one exception being Star Wars Battlefront II.

[Tetras]

1 hour ago, Los_Jackal said:

Would it be better to purchase another identical 2x16GB DDR-3200 RAM set, totaling in 64GB of RAM?

This is the better option. You won't notice the difference between 32GB 3200 and 32GB 3600 and I'd hardly ever recommend anybody replace 32GB with 32GB. Going with 8GB sticks is even less appealing, because you might get the worse performing 1Rx16 sticks and lose something that you will notice.

 

Be aware that running 4 sticks increases load on your CPU's memory controller and may require more tuning (voltage and timings) to be stable.

 

 

[Los_Jackal]

18 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Okay, so it's just an OCD thing.  Then get another 2x16 set of 3200 and rock out.  Anything else is too much work.

 

Thanks, I think it's also me making a rookie mistake by going with my current motherboard for the wrong reasons. My logic at the time being that going with a mobo with more RAM slots would have possible performance benefits in the future while also not knowing what DDR5 is.

[Dedayog]

31 minutes ago, Los_Jackal said:

Thanks, I think it's also me making a rookie mistake by going with my current motherboard for the wrong reasons. My logic at the time being that going with a mobo with more RAM slots would have possible performance benefits in the future while also not knowing what DDR5 is.

Well, it's a solid way of thinking.  Most people buy what they need at the time, so they wiould have gotten a 2x8 kit and then added 2x8 later.   4 slot mobo's are the norm.

 

I find it odd you're so focused on filling the RAM slots, knowing there is NO benefit for performance and NO need for more RAM.  Second guessing your board because it has 4 slots and not 2 is not something people usually do.

 

It wasn't a mistake at all, unless you're seriously having an issue with empty slots and simply cannot abide them.  It's a very limiting process to get 2 slots boards, and needing to upgrade RAM.  Hence why we almost always recommend 4 slot boards with 2x kits, allowing ease of adding more capacity later.  It isn't as common to upgrade RAM for speed reasons.

 

I think you may want to research RAM a bit more to get a handle on just how it all works.

[Alex Atkin UK]

5 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Hence why we almost always recommend 4 slot boards with 2x kits, allowing ease of adding more capacity later.  It isn't as common to upgrade RAM for speed reasons.

I don't think that has been recommended for some years now, at least on AMD where 4x sticks has a lot more compatibility problems than 2x.

 

In fact the most recommended AM5 board only has 2 slots, and its largely recommended to stick to 2x even on AM4 to avoid potential problems.  Sometimes you can't clock RAM as fast with 4x as you can 2x.

[Dedayog]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I don't think that has been recommended for some years now, at least on AMD where 4x sticks has a lot more compatibility problems than 2x.

 

In fact the most recommended AM5 board only has 2 slots, and its largely recommended to stick to 2x even on AM4 to avoid potential problems.  Sometimes you can't clock RAM as fast with 4x as you can 2x.

Now you're going to make me get another 2x16 kit and test that

 

But all my Intel and AM4 systems run 4 sticks at full speeds.  What do we do in 4 years for AM5 when we only have 32 GB?
 

[Alex Atkin UK]

7 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Now you're going to make me get another 2x16 kit and test that

 

But all my Intel and AM4 systems run 4 sticks at full speeds.  What do we do in 4 years for AM5 when we only have 32 GB?
 

For one, I already have 2x 32GB DDR5 6000.  It may be later AM5 chips handle 4x sticks better, but it may handle them worse too, we don't know.  It can vary based on how well the motherboard has routed the RAM slots, not just the CPU.