12GB on four sticks or 8GB on the two best sticks?

[NorseShadow]

Hey LTT forum, could you help me out a litte?

Currently on my MSi B75MA-P45 motherboard I have two sticks of 2GB RAM of a kit, Kingston ValueR 1333MHz. If I'm looking for an upgrade, is it best to add lets say 2x4GB of RAM to the sticks I have, or swap them out? Would 4 sticks for the total of 12GB RAM running 1333MHz give a better or worse output than two sticks for 8GB 1600MHz? Is my motherboard even compatible with SDRAM or must I go looking for DRAM sticks?

[ZetZet]

Depends on the task, sometimes more ram is better, sometimes faster ram is better. 8gb of ram is enough for most tasks so I would say speed will win out most of the time.

[WoodenMarker]

When it comes to ram, quantity is generally better than quality/speed.

All ddr3 ram is sdram and some are occasionally labeled as dram.

[Geekazoid]

When it comes to ram, quantity is generally better than quality/speed.

All ddr3 ram is sdram and some are occasionally labeled as dram.

Da Boss said it. Tis pretty much this ^. B)

Although, as @huilun02 pointed out, 3GB RAM sticks are non-existent.

[NorseShadow]

So how will I fare with Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM Blue? 

[Astralify]

There shouldn't be any problems as long as the timings are the same. I currently have 2x2GB CL9 1333 ram sticks (can't remember the brand, there very old... "USA star" something...) and 2x4GB 1333 ADATA sticks. They work great together for a total 12GB and they are running in dual channel, so... yeah.

[WoodenMarker]

So how will I fare with Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM Blue? 

That should be fine.

[Opcode]

Make sure you buy 1600 MHz as you can use it in conjunction either way. If you purchased a 2x8 GB 1600 MHz kit you could drop it in with your other 2 sticks of 2 GB for 20 GB of total memory. Tho really I don't see anyone needing beyond 16 GB for everyday tasks. So the slight frequency bump may be more beneficial from running just the 1600 MHz kit. You can try it out and if you notice no difference from the slight speed bump you can always drop in the two other sticks for 20 GB. Which really is just a stupid amount of ram for anyone except those who do graphical work (Photoshop, Video Rendering, etc). If all you do is web surfing and gaming I would recommend sticking to a 2 x 4 GB kit.

[NorseShadow]

Make sure you buy 1600 MHz as you can use it in conjunction either way. If you purchased a 2x8 GB 1600 MHz kit you could drop it in with your other 2 sticks of 2 GB for 20 GB of total memory. Tho really I don't see anyone needing beyond 16 GB for everyday tasks. So the slight frequency bump may be more beneficial from running just the 1600 MHz kit. You can try it out and if you notice no difference from the slight speed bump you can always drop in the two other sticks for 20 GB. Which really is just a stupid amount of ram for anyone except those who do graphical work (Photoshop, Video Rendering, etc). If all you do is web surfing and gaming I would recommend sticking to a 2 x 4 GB kit.

I do a little bit of Photoshop and Flash for my IT class, but nothing that needs 20GB (I imagine), but I will test it with 20GB just for fun