DDR3 RAM Upgrade ?

11-08-2015, 08:19 PM #1

Hello,
i'm thinking about upgrading my RAM, because i personally reached higher standards in terms of rendering, gaming, emulation, mod's and so on.
Currently i'm using a 8077 MB (Corsair DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM).

Details:

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

I don't want to overclock and i thought about going up to 16GB RAM.
It would be very nice if you could recommend something to me.

System info:
QuadCore Intel Core i5-3570K, 3600 MHz (36 x 100)
ASRock Z77 Extreme4

best regards

Whitcomb

sulblazer · 11-08-2015, 09:52 PM #2

Well...for the most part in a desktop environment, you typically do not need more than 8gb of ram. People say to future proof your ram with 16gb....but I personally find that hard to justify because I may upgrade to Zen or Skylake in a year which utilizes ddr4 anyway. For gaming, emulation, and most everyday computing....8gb is enough. As for rendering...getting 16gb, as I understand it, will not speed up rendering in any noticeable way. If you're not exceeding the 8gb of ram you already have, then getting 16gb may be pointless. More ram do have their uses....but it's typically for server uses and purposes.

Bottom line, I find it hard to justify having 16gb based on my own uses....but hell, if you find a great deal out there...why not?

ENAI · 11-08-2015, 10:41 PM #3

(11-08-2015, 09:52 PM)sulblazer Wrote: As for rendering...getting 16gb, as I understand it, will not speed up rendering in any noticeable way. If you're not exceeding the 8gb of ram you already have, then getting 16gb may be pointless.

More RAM won't speed up rendering, but that's not the point here. In RAM dependant uses, the problem is filling up the whole capacity, which leads to different kinds of problems. In video editing, for example, the whole experience gets really sluggish as files need to be emptied and reloaded into RAM every time you skip to a different part of the video. If everything is loaded at the same time, there is no extra loading and waiting during the process.

So for OP, if you really run out of memory, go ahead and buy some more. It's probably the cheapest upgrade you can do for a pc. If you don't run out of RAM, then there's no need for more. If you get more, just remember to get the exact same type of memory (same brand, speed, capacity, model) or things could go really wrong. So, since you already have two 4GB sticks, you would buy two 4GB sticks more.

11-08-2015, 10:59 PM #4

Well it's not about a speed up, i just run out of memory.
For example, if i play Xenoblade Chronicles, with the "HD-Texture Pack"(Prefetch Custom Textures enabled), i reach the limit in no time.
And there are mod's for other games which i play, where the problem could be the same.
So the question is, will 16GB be enough ?

Quote: So, since you already have two 4GB sticks, you would buy two 4GB sticks more.

That was my first thought too, but i read in some forums that this is a really bad solution.

Quote:With for 4 Dual Ranked Moduls there can be problems, because the 8 banks have to share the memory bus.
I experienced it myself.
All programms are working well, just wildstar closes spontaneously if i don't cut down the ram clock.

sulblazer · 11-08-2015, 11:35 PM #5

I wouldn't listen to anyone who plays Wildstar. jk! Sounds like with mods, you'll want the 16g. Would it be enough? I don't know. Did anyone in the Xenoblade HD text pack thread have any ideas? Surely someone there would know. I would just get 2 x 8g if you're going to upgrade to avoid potential compatibility issues.

ENAI · (This post was last modified: 11-09-2015, 01:47 AM by ENAI.)

Well yes, technically if your sticks are dual channel (meant to be run in packs of two) there could be problems trying to run four simultaneously, but it depends on the memory. I would suggest googling if someone has had any success with the memory that you have.

In addition, it seems that your motherboard doesn't even support quad channel memory, so your only choices would be to run two compatible dual channel sets, or to replace the current ones with two 8GB sticks.

*IMPORTANT* The "Pre-fetch custom textures" option is meant for machines with a monstrous amount of RAM, so it's no wonder it fills 8GB. Basically, it loads all of the textures into system memory when Dolphin is opened so that there is no texture pop-up or stutter when gaming. If you have Dolphin on all the time, the textures are taking up space from other things that could be there. I don't know if this is one of the reasons for your problem, but you should try disabling the setting, rebooting and seeing if the problem persists.

Thread on pre-fetch.

**KHg8m3r** · 11-09-2015, 04:49 AM #7

If you have a dual-channel RAM controller with 4 slots, then it means that each channel sees two slots as one side. This way, if you buy 4 cheaper 4 GB sticks, you'll get 16 GB of RAM that performs as if you only had 2 slots with 1 8 GB stick in each. If you have a quad-channel RAM, it can operate each slot independently, meaning faster transfers to the 2 extra slots.

luyong20121221 · 11-13-2015, 01:25 AM #8

i got 32GB RAM in my pc，and i will tell what：
just upgrade it，and enjoy it。