Eventual Upgrading (4-Channels?)

[Dorovar]

Hi, all!

I'm planning a build for 8GB (4 x 2 for dual-channel benefits) as I'll be gaming on it and I won't be needing any more than that for the forseeable future. (Though Chris Roberts himself said that there may be benefits for extra headroom Star Citizen with 16GB...)

 

But let's hypothetically say that it's time to upgrade a few years from now. Would it be a bad idea to get another two 4GB sticks? I heard that having 4 sticks instead of two puts more stress on the memory or something to that effect? Or would it be best to just replace with two new 8 GB sticks? (Yes, this will be my first build, so I'm new to a lot of this)

[LurzKesh1138]

To my knowledge, the only problem with having 4 sticks is that there is a larger opportunity for a stick to fail. 

[Najuno]

To my knowledge, the only problem with having 4 sticks is that there is a larger opportunity for a stick to fail. 

That´s true but there´s more to it.

It all depends on your motherboard, for in example the intel consumer grade CPU can handle dual channel RAM and you cannot benefit in terms of performance just by adding more. Sure you will have more available memory in general but it won´t be for the performance. In fact there a scenarios that could slow you down. That´s why it´s better to go with dual channel and bigger DIMMs.

And there are enthusiast platforms like X79 and X99 from Intel. They support quad channel RAMs because the CPU can handle more RAM.

 

But I wouldn´t be too worried about that since most of the people (assuming the OP as well) just game on their computers and so they don´t even benefit from RAM speeds above 1866mHz much...

 

If the RAM is compatible and cheap... sure buy them.

[Dorovar]

Good to know. Thanks! I'll probably stick with 8G, anyway. I'll upgrade only if I need to when the time comes.

[-rascal-]

Have 4 sticks of memory =/= Quad Channel.

For a Dual-Channel board / chipset (i.e. Z97) just means....4 sticks in Dual-Channel Mode.

Something like X79 can use Quad-Channel.

 

Having more RAM module will put a bit more stress on the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) located on the CPU. It has some effect on overclocking, but it's nothing to be worried about.

Your overclock may only reach 4.6GHz instead of 4.8GHz on the CPU, etc.

It's not like it will kill the CPU; the extra 2 memory slots are there for a reason. So you may use them.

[BlargKing]

The more memory you have more stress you put on the memory controller. But any board that can handle quad channel memory and/or has 8 DIMM slots should (in theory) be built to handle the increased load. I've got 4 sticks of DDR3-1600 running in quad channel without any problems. 

[Dorovar]

Have 4 sticks of memory =/= Quad Channel.

For a Dual-Channel board / chipset (i.e. Z97) just means....4 sticks in Dual-Channel Mode.

Something like X79 can use Quad-Channel.

 

Having more RAM module will put a bit more stress on the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) located on the CPU. It has some effect on overclocking, but it's nothing to be worried about.

Your overclock may only reach 4.6GHz instead of 4.8GHz on the CPU, etc.

It's not like it will kill the CPU; the extra 2 memory slots are there for a reason. So you may use them.

 

That clears things up and addresses all my concerns. Thanks!