2 sticks of ram or 4 sticks of ram?

[phongle123]

I've been pondering this for a while now and decided to just ask. I watched the as fast as possible video and it said quad channel is faster than dual channel bc if it fills up all 4 slots its able to use 100% of the bandwidth while if I only used 2 out of the 4 slots I only use 50% of the bandwidth?

 

Other comments say that the speed between dual channel and quad channel doesn't matter. They also said that it depends on your motherboard and CPU of which at this point I decided to give up and just ask.

 

So I am getting a 32 GB Kit. My Specs are:

Motherboard: AsRock X99M Extreme4

CPU: I7-5930k

 

Do I get 4x8GB or 2x16GB what's the difference if you could possible tell me.

 

And does getting 4x8GB affect the resale value since you have to use it in a quad channel instead of a dual channel of the 2x16GB? Thanks guys!

[Shiv78]

With a 32GB kit you shouldn't need to upgrade anytime soon, so 4 sticks would give better performance. If you think you would upgrade to 64GB before switching to a newer, likely DDR5 board in several years, get 2 sticks

[Hydraxiler32]

It really doesn't change that much, I would get 2x16 for now as you might want to upgrade to 64GBs in the future.

but if you have 8 slots then I would just get what ever is cheaper.

[phongle123]

1 minute ago, Shiv78 said:

With a 32GB kit you shouldn't need to upgrade anytime soon, so 4 sticks would give better performance. If you think you would upgrade to 64GB before switching to a newer, likely DDR5 board in several years, get 2 sticks

Can you tell me the performance increase from quad channel vs dual channel? Was I right by saying using all 4 channels allows for 100% bandwidth usage while dual channel only allows for 50% bandwidth usage? or was I absolutely off?

[Jasun]

Personally, I agree with the people saying that it doesn't matter which type of ram style you choose because if there was a significant difference between each "style" there will be already a definite answer because of the performance boost it might give but not in this case because no one has even argued strongly one side or another. It's just not worth it to me. Just go with whichever has the bang for your buck. 

[phongle123]

2 minutes ago, Hydraxiler32 said:

It really doesn't change that much, I would get 2x16 for now as you might want to upgrade to 64GBs in the future.

but if you have 8 slots then I would just get what ever is cheaper.

I only have 4 slots total. The 4 sticks are 9$ more expensive.

[Jasun]

1 minute ago, phongle123 said:

Can you tell me the performance increase from quad channel vs dual channel? Was I right by saying using all 4 channels allows for 100% bandwidth usage while dual channel only allows for 50% bandwidth usage? or was I absolutely off?

I don't think you worded that correctly because there will be no way that a computer will only be using 50% of the bandwidth when you can be using 100%. Just doesn't make logical sense. 

[Shiv78]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982965/components/quad-channel-ram-vs-dual-channel-ram-the-shocking-truth-about-their-performance.html

 

Read this, tells the whole story pretty well. TBH i would get 4 sticks if your case has a window and 2 if it doesn't

[phongle123]

3 minutes ago, Jasun said:

I don't think you worded that correctly because there will be no way that a computer will only be using 50% of the bandwidth when you can be using 100%. Just doesn't make logical sense. 

I read this "we've now got 2x64-bit channels available to the memory. This means we've doubled the data traces running in the memory bus, and now have an effective 128-bit channel, which in turn doubles maximum theoretical bandwidth. This is why I made it a point to say that dual-channel platforms are what exist, not memory -- in the case of dual-channel, the board will host 128 physical traces to handle data communication between the IMC and RAM. This is compared against 64 for single-channel platforms and 256 for quad-channel platforms." off this website http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel

You'd have double the channels of a dual channel running in quad channel. And if you only have 4 channels I thought it was essentially 100% bandwidth.

[Jasun]

Just now, phongle123 said:

I read this "we've now got 2x64-bit channels available to the memory. This means we've doubled the data traces running in the memory bus, and now have an effective 128-bit channel, which in turn doubles maximum theoretical bandwidth. This is why I made it a point to say that dual-channel platforms are what exist, not memory -- in the case of dual-channel, the board will host 128 physical traces to handle data communication between the IMC and RAM. This is compared against 64 for single-channel platforms and 256 for quad-channel platforms." off this website http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel

You'd have double the channels of a dual channel running in quad channel. And if you only have 4 channels I thought it was essentially 100% bandwidth.

Either way, it's 100% bandwidth. It doesn't matter if it's dual or quad channel. You're just using the wrong terminology. 

[phongle123]

3 minutes ago, Jasun said:

Either way, it's 100% bandwidth. It doesn't matter if it's dual or quad channel. You're just using the wrong terminology. 

Ahh gotcha. See, I read 1 stick 64 channels meaning you're only getting 25% with 1 stick and so on. I'm glad I asked you guys.

[Jasun]

Quad channel might offer a slight performance boost because of the more efficient use of the RAM but I do not think that it will make a noticeable difference. What i'm saying is basically that if there is a cheaper option between dual and quad, choose the cheaper one(unless the price is so similar that you can afford either, choose the quad just for the fun of it/maybe for a bit of performance as well). 

[phongle123]

What about voltage? Should I go for the ram with the 1.20 Voltage stock instead of the 1.35 voltage for better overclock?

[Jasun]

Just now, phongle123 said:

What about voltage? Should I go for the ram with the 1.20 Voltage stock instead of the 1.35 voltage for better overclock?

Not sure about that one. Even if you overclock RAM, it won't make much of a difference. Up to you I guess.