Confounded Corsair Conundrum!

[OhNoesItsDobby]

(I spent longer than I should have trying to make the title alliterate)

 

Ok, so for a planned build in Corsair's new upcoming case, the Mini-ITX 380T, I have a question about what RAM kit to buy.

 

Since it can only hold a Mini-ITX motherboard, I'm limited to 2 sticks of RAM. Initially I had planned to buy a 2x8GB kit and max out my capacity, so I'd not have to worry about upgrading it in the future. But, since there are hardly any games that can even use up to 8GB of RAM right now, I don't really see the need to. Alternatively, I could buy a 1x8GB kit and then upgrade later if I need to, but single-channel memory isn't as fast as dual-channel. So, my options are as follows:

1) Spend more, and buy 2x8GB and be done with it.

2) Spend less, and buy 2x4GB, but then have to replace this kit if I ever upgrade to 2x8GB.

3) Buy a 1x8GB kit, and then add another 1x8GB kit if I ever need to.

 

I'm leaning more towards option 2, since it involves spending less, and also 8GB will more than likely be enough memory for gaming for a good while yet. Thoughts?

[flibberdipper]

I would say go with the third one. I highly doubt that dual-channel would make much of a difference (unless you're using an APU, in which case option 2).

[OhNoesItsDobby]

I would say go with the third one. I highly doubt that dual-channel would make much of a difference (unless you're using an APU, in which case option 2).

No, not using an APU, planning on an i5 4690 and an R9 290.

So I did a lot more digging around the nets and basically have come to the conclusion that option 3 is probably the best way to go, since several sources (this one in particular) have done loads of benchmarks on this very topic and found that the difference in performance between single-channel and dual-channel configurations is almost non-existent.

 

This thread was more for opinion than numbers since I found what I was looking for, but cheers anyway!

[flibberdipper]

No, not using an APU, planning on an i5 4690 and an R9 290.

So I did a lot more digging around the nets and basically have come to the conclusion that option 3 is probably the best way to go, since several sources (this one in particular) have done loads of benchmarks on this very topic and found that the difference in performance between single-channel and dual-channel configurations is almost non-existent.

 

This thread was more for opinion than numbers since I found what I was looking for, but cheers anyway!

Sounds like a nice build! Do you plan on doing a build log for it?

[OhNoesItsDobby]

Sounds like a nice build! Do you plan on doing a build log for it?

Actually yes, but I probably won't be building it until around Christmas. Here's the PCPartPicker page I have for it if you're interested.

[flibberdipper]

Actually yes, but I probably won't be building it until around Christmas. Here's the PCPartPicker page I have for it if you're interested.

I'll be keeping an eye out.