Three sticks of ram could be a decent choice.
Three sticks of ram could be a decent choice.
Hey, your setup is working fine until recently. With games like Tarkov and Chrome open, you’ve experienced crashes and throttling due to low memory. Should I recommend buying another 4GB stick or look for a bundle of two? You mentioned there’s a speed penalty for using an odd number of sticks—how noticeable does this impact gameplay feel? At this stage, memory issues are more bothersome than minor performance drops. Assuming bandwidth loss isn’t too big, it’s probably worth considering a larger upgrade.
Yes, only when you surpass the dual channel limit and switch to single channel mode—using a 3x4GB stick (total 8GB in dual channel) plus an additional 4GB in single channel—will your computer prioritize the 8GB first. Once it reaches capacity, it will fall back to the 4GB single channel, which may cause slower performance. Pagefile management is significantly worse in single channel compared to dual. Alternatively, you can opt for a single 8GB stick and run it in one channel with two 4GB sticks in another, though this involves mixing RAM modules, which isn't always reliable.
They should really inquire about their device since three sticks can operate in triple channel mode.