Memory - 2 slots or 4 slots?

[Ghosthunter]

Will be buying ivy bridge as soon as I can get my hands on it.

I know anything more then 8 GB is a waste for gaming, but want to go at least 16 since I do run a few VM and figured could not hurt since cheap.

So is it better to get 2 sticks instead of 4 sticks? Does it matter?

I noticed the 2 stick set is not much faster then DDR 3 1600. Do I need faster memory? I am not going to be huge into overclocking.

I was looking at something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231558

But if you have better recommendations please feel free.

Thanks

[mojoman0]

I'm in the same boat as you but I think I'm going to stick to 8gb. I didn't like that set because the timings are a tick slower at 10's rather than 9's. I think I may get this pair:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231445

Most of the gskills are red, but all of my stuff is going to be blue so I picked that set. It's a few bucks more than the stock reds but it looks like the timings are 8's, so thats nice.

Or would these be a better choice at 1866?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231460

Sorry to jack your thread, maybe we can share it for some opinions?

[Ghosthunter]

Hopefully someone else knows...not sure but curious myself.

[mojoman0]

ordered the g.skill sniper for $50. Looked up a benchmark and saw about a 10% speed increase at 1866. Doesn't really translate to real world but eh why not

[Muppet]

It is better to use less slots if possible. Puts less stress on the memory controller on the CPU. You will more than likely have to adjust voltages if you fill all the Ram slots.

Originally Posted by mojoman0

ordered the g.skill sniper for $50. Looked up a benchmark and saw about a 10% speed increase at 1866. Doesn't really translate to real world but eh why not

Good choice. G Skill rules. Great memory for a great price.

[Ghosthunter]

Thanks Muppet,

so out of curiosity if i were to go 16 gb and get 2x8, the one I posted in my OP is that decent enough ram? Or is it too slow?

I am not sure how much these timings really mean if it says DDR 16000?


From what i understand even having the fastest memory makes maybe 1% perf diff if that at all?

[jcrox]

2 sticks is better if you're going to overclock. If you're not going to overclock there isn't any difference unless you're putting enterprise level application loads on your pc.

Besides that, performance related to memory in today's machines really only comes into play under 2 circumstances:
1. You don't have enough memory.
2. You're moving huge amounts of data through the system i.e. video encoding

[Redeemed]

I'd go with two sticks. That way you've two slots free to add more RAM later. Granted, if you're running 16GB you'll probably sooner build a new machine than need to upgrade your RAM. But I always prefer leaving myself some upgrade room.