Adding additional RAM to a system

[DebatED Nothing]

So I'm going to be changing motherboard, case and CPU cooler fairly soon, so I figure I might as well upgrade my RAM while I'm at it because I'm starting to feel that 8 GB is a limitation, for example OBS sometimes uses 2.7 GB alone, and while I only stream occaisionally and for fun, it's pretty annoying. Anyway, at the moment I have 2 * 4 GB Corsair Vengeance Black (1600 MHz, which for some reason only runs at 1333 MHz on my current motherboard) so would it make more sense to add 2 more 4 GB sticks, doubling the total size to 16 GB or would it make more sense to replace the two current sticks with 2 * 8 GB sticks? In the first example, does it matter if the speeds are different? If the speeds of the two sets of 2 4 GB sticks are different would it make a difference which order I put them in in the DIMM slots? Thanks for any tips you can give  I imagine that how much sense replacing the ram with 2 * 8 GB sticks depends on whether or not I could sell it right?

[IsaacDaGrazin]

OBS uses 2.7 GIGA BYYYYYYYYYYYTES?! dafuq

[DebatED Nothing]

1 minute ago, IsaacDaGrazin said:

OBS uses 2.7 GIGA BYYYYYYYYYYYTES?! dafuq

Well. Funny story, I was trying to use a 4k * 4k gif as a background image when not streaming game footage. Somehow, a 170 MB gif in global sources added an additional ~2 GB of RAM usage.

[IsaacDaGrazin]

Just now, DebatED Nothing said:

Well. Funny story, I was trying to use a 4k * 4k gif as a background image when not streaming game footage. Somehow, a 170 MB gif in global sources added an additional ~2 GB of RAM usage.

lmao wut, you tried a 4k gif and then obs just raped your ram?

[DebatED Nothing]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

You're on dead end DDR3 so there is no harm in cutting cost for another pair of 4GB sticks.

Have you enabled XMP in the BIOS? Maybe that's why they show up as 1333Mhz?

 

Get another set that runs at the same speed and voltage (very important) and ideally same brand

If you buy anything faster they will slow down to match the old pair.

Put each pair in alternating slots (basically each set in the same colored slots)

 

If you want to get a replacement 16GB Kit, might as well get a 2400Mhz set. They are not expensive these days.

Remember to enable XMP settings so run as advertised instead of 1600 or something slower.

I don't know much about RAM, so if I were to go for a 16 GB set to replace all of my current RAM, would it make more sense to go for 4 * 4 or 2 * 8?

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, IsaacDaGrazin said:

lmao wut, you tried a 4k gif and then obs just raped your ram?

Yup. It was so bad I couldn't even launch a game without both the game and OBS crashing after about 5 seconds...

[DebatED Nothing]

1 minute ago, IsaacDaGrazin said:

lmao wut, you tried a 4k gif and then obs just raped your ram?

But when I took the gif out of my list of sources the usage dropped from 2.7 to about 0.6-0.7 GB.

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, huilun02 said:

2*8

But if I did that and kept the current RAM, the new RAM would be slowed down right? So I should still sell or otherwise get rid of/stop using my current RAM?

[LordArcturus]

Just now, DebatED Nothing said:

Yup. It was so bad I couldn't even launch a game without both the game and OBS crashing after about 5 seconds...

>.> Wow... failure in checking everything is fine in your memory usage lol, welp that is how ya crash a game, OBS and possibly screw up memory xD.

 

I also have the same feeling of 8GB of memory (mind you I use 1886MHz G.Skill Sniper Gaming or whatever they call their damn memory these days in a 2 x 4GB stick style), I am planning on upping to 2 x 8GB modules so I have as much allowance as possible.

[TrigrH]

just get two 4gb sticks and add them in also, it will be fine.

[DebatED Nothing]

Just seen on PCPP that Windows 7 only supports 16 GB of RAM? Is that correct?

[sapphirethunder]

3 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

Just seen on PCPP that Windows 7 only supports 16 GB of RAM? Is that correct?

For Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, that's correct.

Win7 Pro and up can use up to 64Gb.

[DebatED Nothing]

1 minute ago, sapphirethunder said:

For Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, that's correct.

Win7 Pro and up can use up to 64Gb.

>.> well, I guess I'm sticking to just 16 then.

[DebatED Nothing]

6 hours ago, TrigrH said:

just get two 4gb sticks and add them in also, it will be fine.

Will the higher speed sticks not be slowed down by the slower ones like @huilun02 said?

[sapphirethunder]

2 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

>.> well, I guess I'm sticking to just 16 then.

If you upgrade to Win10 sometime, you would get WIn10 Home, which supports up to 128Gb RAM:

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, sapphirethunder said:

If you upgrade to Win10, you would get WIn10 Home, which supports up to 128Gb RAM:

yeah but then I have windows 10...

[sapphirethunder]

1 minute ago, DebatED Nothing said:

yeah but then I have windows 10...

On the good side: you would have Win10.

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, sapphirethunder said:

On the good side: you would have Win10.

haha. I'm still undecided, and I don't like change

[sapphirethunder]

1 minute ago, DebatED Nothing said:

haha. I'm still undecided, and I don't like change

And that is why DX12 won't become mainstream faster lol.

[DebatED Nothing]

1 minute ago, sapphirethunder said:

And that is why DX12 won't become mainstream faster lol.

Do you have it? Do you think I should just go for it? I know that ultimately I'll have to either get windows 10 or move to Linux at some point, and I guess if I go to WX sooner it'll be better...

[sapphirethunder]

Just now, DebatED Nothing said:

Do you have it? Do you think I should just go for it? I know that ultimately I'll have to either get windows 10 or move to Linux at some point, and I guess if I go to WX sooner it'll be better...

Well yeah, I have WIn10. Have had it since 2014 Tech Previews. (Which, of course, were bad and often broken, but that's what Tech preview is for)

Win10 has very divided userbase.

 

Some have had A LOT problems with it, while just as many people have never faced any problems. I think it just comes down to user itself.

Bad user will always be bad user.

[DebatED Nothing]

2 hours ago, sapphirethunder said:

Well yeah, I have WIn10. Have had it since 2014 Tech Previews. (Which, of course, were bad and often broken, but that's what Tech preview is for)

Win10 has very divided userbase.

 

Some have had A LOT problems with it, while just as many people have never faced any problems. I think it just comes down to user itself.

Bad user will always be bad user.

I'm torn between not getting windows 10 just to stand against the privacy issues out of principle and convenience.

[sapphirethunder]

20 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

I'm torn between not getting windows 10 just to stand against the privacy issues out of principle and convenience.

And you gain nothing for doing it. Privacy is just an illusion. You have never had privacy to begin with.

[TrigrH]

9 hours ago, DebatED Nothing said:

Will the higher speed sticks not be slowed down by the slower ones like @huilun02 said?

just get some 1600, lack of memory is the issue here not speed?

[DebatED Nothing]

On 3 April 2016 at 11:06 AM, huilun02 said:

Have you enabled XMP in the BIOS? Maybe that's why they show up as 1333Mhz?

 

If you want to get a replacement 16GB Kit, might as well get a 2400Mhz set.

Any idea where I'd find XMP in the bios? Just looked and couldn't find anything. If I try to raise the RAM's clock speed up it always crashes before booting. Surely if I get 2400 MHz ram when I can't even get 1600 to work it won't work?