2x8 or 4x8 single ranked dimensions—choose based on your needs. Future-proofing considerations included.
2x8 or 4x8 single ranked dimensions—choose based on your needs. Future-proofing considerations included.
Whether it's worth it depends on your needs. For gaming, I usually settle for around 100+ frames per second and even go lower to save power. I think 16GB works well most of the time without hitting RAM limits, though having more can help. In the worst case, it gives a small cache that speeds up loading of already accessed files, but it's likely not much better than a solid SSD.
It's challenging to gauge whether 16GB will suffice for gaming or if 3600MHz is truly fast. We've already reached 4800MHz on DDR4, and last year 4000MHz was quite impressive. Going above 4000MHz seems tough because most CPUs struggle at that speed. You'll need to match the memory controller; Intel can hit around 4200MHz, and some even exceed it. Ryzen isn't clear on handling speeds over 4000MHz.
Beyond specialized scenarios, such as extensively modified titles, capacity demands remain relatively stable since developers still aim for compatibility with lower-end hardware. Regarding performance, keeping things balanced, I view speeds exceeding 3200 primarily as an added feature rather than a necessity. This is the officially recognized maximum for Zen 2, and Intel hasn’t confirmed it yet—despite being in use for several years. Although I don’t prioritize this aspect personally, the newer BIOS updates and settings that support faster RAM appear to be making a difference. There’s still no solid evidence that surpassing 3600 is beneficial on AMD systems. The only exceptions are for competitive testing, which is its own distinct niche.
If you don't OC then what i say is worthless, but lets say you do, running 4 sticks put more stress on your memory controller and there is more chances you loose signal integrity, so if you are barely stable at 1T you can try 2T, but if you already run at 2T there is no higher command rate available, and going from 1T to 2T already increase latency. So general rule is that lower clockspeed with tighter timings is better then higher clockspeed with looser timings, but 1T is also faster then 2T and you mostly won't need to increase command rate at 3200mhz which is not alway the case for overclocked 3600mhz kits and higher. I have no experience with 3600mhz+ rated kits, but i do have 2 kits of 3000 and 3200mhz that can't run at 1T higher then 3400mhz with common timings, but can run 3800mhz at CL18 2T. The same kit rated for 3200mhz CL16 is running at 3200mhz CL14 with timing around B-dies stuff with very good latency. All this to say, T topology have little to no effect on what you plan to do with it, i would just get the best motherboard i can within my budget and get a 3200mhz CL14 2X8GB kit and try to OC the crap out of it, if one day you ''need'' more memory just buy the same kit they will probably be cheaper, or get the new stuff that will probably run same kind of timings but at a faster clockspeed.
Thanks in advance. Using a daisy chain motherboard would make upgrading to four dimmers less appealing. This is because daisy chains typically don’t support four dimmers well, unless you opt for premium boards priced around $500. I already have a 3600mhz setup with a 2T stock rating.
Daisy chain still offers value for a 4 DIMM setup. It doesn't support overclocking like T topology does, since T splits lanes in the middle of each channel. In daisy chain, lanes stay on one side, giving better stability—typically channel A performs better. This means your two DIMM kits can run at higher speeds, such as 3400mhz CL14 with extreme overclock, or 3333mhz CL14 using all four sticks, but generally you can achieve 2 or 4 DIMMs at rated rates. The main consideration is whether you intend to push performance beyond normal limits; otherwise, the difference won't be noticeable. I'm not entirely sure, but for serious memory overclocking, it's mainly about aiming for record-breaking results. Most users aren't aware of the number of channels on their boards. Another approach is testing a 3600mhz kit at lower speeds (like 3000 or 3200mhz) with tighter timings and comparing latency between models such as 3600mhz CL15 and 3200mhz CL13.
I think I could handle 3600 CL14 or perhaps CL16 1T at 1.4/1.45V instead of the standard 1.35V. There might be some tweaking in the BIOS settings, such as adjusting larger scale timings (there are many options). The daisy chain setup is interesting—some videos compare 4x4GB single rank with 2x8GB single rank, both using identical clock speeds and latencies. It seems the 4x4GB version tends to be about 5-10% faster in average FPS during games. However, in certain cases the slight drops at low percentages are worse, likely due to the daisy chain arrangement on the motherboard. Consider this: using only the fastest slots works well, but when running multiple dimms, two slots may slow down, leading to a bit less than usual performance on slower ones. That’s why I chose the T topology.