RAM Advice

[Oberyn]

My Motherboard is:  ASUS Z97-PRO GAMER 

My RAM is: CORSAIR CMX8GX3M2A1600C9, 4GB DDR3, 1600MHz, CL9

And I currently have 3 sticks of 4GB each. (12GB in total)

 

I have one more slot free and I'm thinking to buy the same RAM (same mhz, brand, voltage ect) but with 8GB on a single stick and plug it in. Thus giving me 20GB RAM instead of 16GB if i'd get a 4GB stick.

Would this work and would this be a good idea?

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Oberyn said:

Would this work and would this be a good idea?

would it work? probably yes, but there are chances that it wont

is it a good idea? if you dont need high bandwidth between your ram and cpu, then you're perfectly fine

 

running odd numbered sticks of ram or using not same capacity ram in a channel will cause your ram to run in single channel (correct me if im wrong, i tested with my own board)

thus approximately halving the performance that your cpu and motherboard can have (dual channel)

but if it doesnt matter to you (it shouldnt unless you're doing some cpu intensive tasks) then its fine

some games might drop a few fps but it doesnt really matter

[Darel321]

It's gonna be the same as before... soo... If you rly want then buy it... its not gonna change anything at all... just more ram that probably you'll never use

[mikat]

if you need the extra 8 gb just go for it, it will work

[Oberyn]

3 minutes ago, mikat said:

if you need the extra 8 gb just go for it, it will work

I'm just interested in compatibility and I dont want it to bottleneck stuff and make it lower than it should.

It's not really about the 4 extra gb of ram, its about the price, the 8gb price is near the 4gb price so why not get the 8gb for a couple extra bucks.

[MageTank]

3 minutes ago, Oberyn said:

I'm just interested in compatibility and I dont want it to bottleneck stuff and make it lower than it should.

It's not really about the 4 extra gb of ram, its about the price, the 8gb price is near the 4gb price so why not get the 8gb for a couple extra bucks.

It will work. It will run in what is known as Flex Channel mode. Let's use the following example:

 

Slot A1: 4GB

Slot A2: 4GB

Slot B1: 4GB

Slot B2: 8GB

 

Channel 1 (A1 + B1) will operate in dual channel. Channel 2 (A2 + B2) will operate in Flex Channel. The first 4GB of that 8GB stick will operate in dual channel with the 4GB stick in A2. The remaining 4GB of that 8GB stick, will operate as single channel. Meaning once you surpass that second channels capacity, the bandwidth will cut itself in half. 

 

Feel free to google "Intel Flex Channel Memory Mode" for more information on the subject.

 

As far as whether or not it's a good idea, it depends entirely on the following question. Do you NEED the extra capacity? If so, is capacity more important than raw bandwidth? If the answer is still yes, go for it. If not, get another 4GB stick.