Switching RAM from four sticks to two while keeping a quad channel MMO instead of adding more sticks.
Switching RAM from four sticks to two while keeping a quad channel MMO instead of adding more sticks.
I have an MSI X99S Gaming 7 and an i7 5820K. The motherboard has 8 RAM slots, and I currently have 16GB/4x4GB. I’m planning to upgrade to 32GB (possibly 64GB later if needed for After Effects). Option 1: add 4 more sticks to reach 32GB, which would require 8 sticks total. Would that be better or worse than using 4 sticks? Also, I won’t have slots for higher capacities then, so this is cheaper now but costlier later. Option 2: buy a 2x16GB kit, saving slots for another upgrade to 64GB. But I’d use 2 sticks instead of 4. Are 8 sticks better than 4? Would 4 sticks at 32GB differ from 2 sticks at 32GB?
2x16GB paired with 4x8GB offers increased capacity for your needs.
The key is to target the half of the channels assigned by the mobo, which provides faster performance.
It depends on your setup—quad means four lanes, so you’d need two sticks for full utilization. With eight slots, four sticks would be ideal to maximize performance. The quad channel board isn’t just about speed; it’s about efficiently using all available lanes for better throughput.
I sense confusion around quad channel versus quad slot. Most motherboards offer two slots per channel, but for speed, it's usually better to use just one slot from each channel. On X99, when I first set up my PC, I had only two RAM sticks (due to budget constraints). After upgrading to four, I noticed a slight performance boost in most tests before enabling XMP, since the newer sticks were also quicker.
It's been a while since Ryzen quad channels became popular. I used to focus on triple channels, but now with quad they're almost forgotten—especially after my time on an X58.