Question about RAM

[ZombieLloyd]

Hi guys, I'm getting parts to build a pc soon and I was wondering if I got 2x4GB sticks of DDR4 RAM, would I be able to change that to 2x8GB Sticks in the future from the same company/series? Sorry if this is a stupid question

 

[SnoozyWyrm]

Since you are replacing both sticks the answer is yes. You could also buy from another company. Problems start when you start mixing different sets.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

Since you are replacing both sticks the answer is yes. You could also buy from another company. Problems start when you start mixing different sets.

That's great. My budget couldn't stretch to the extra money needed to get the 2x8GB sticks at the moment unless I went for a cheaper graphics card and I don't want that to happen. Thanks for the help, have a good day

 

[Pat_tct]

even mixing sets is no problem. you could have on 8 gig and 4 gig ram module. if both rams have different tact rates (one with 1866mhz and one with 2133mhz eg) your system will rate them both as the lower tact rate (for windows at least as far as i am concerned).


but for convenience you usually use 2 or 4 modules of the same size and tact rate, by the same brand.

 

[tacotiklah]

even mixing sets is no problem. you could have on 8 gig and 4 gig ram module. if both rams have different tact rates (one with 1866mhz and one with 2133mhz eg) your system will rate them both as the lower tact rate (for windows at least as far as i am concerned).


but for convenience you usually use 2 or 4 modules of the same size and tact rate, by the same brand.

Nope, wrong. You get sticks of RAM in sets because the manufacturer has tested and confirmed that those sticks work together without issues. This becomes not the case if you're mixing sets from different brands, etc. It may work or it may not. It's a gamble at that point, and even with prices of RAM coming down the way they are, I'd venture a shot in the dark that burning ~$50-100 on something with no real guarantee that it will work seems a bit... irresponsible; hence, something a savvy consumer would not do.

Then things get even more of a gamble when you start mixing RAM with different frequency ratings (like a 2 stick set of 1866MHz RAM with 1600MHz). Granted DDR3 all starts off as 1333MHz, it would be crazy and suboptimal to combine something like that because at best, you're gimping the set with the higher frequency, and at worst they aren't compatible and you're stuck having to use only one set or the other.

OP, by all means get the 2x4GB set. Just be ready to sell it off to help fund the 2x8GB set when you get more cash on hand. You COULD try to run both sets, but just remember that RAM kits that aren't tested to run together might not work.
Still, I really doubt the average consumer would ever need more than 16GB of RAM anyways. Maybe if you have a pretty huge audio production workstation and are running hundreds of VSTs at a time, then I could see maybe wanting 32GB of RAM at that point. And if that's the case, I'd also wanna know if you're helping Jari Mäenpää track Time II for Wintersun.

Doing different manufacturers also makes the gamble even more risky. Manufacturers have different standards for making RAM, so the odds that one might work with the other go down a fair bit as well.

 

[Pat_tct]

thx for clearing it up tacohttp://www.sevenstring.org/forum/members/tacotiklah.htmltiklah. that was just my experience from the last 10 years. always mixed brands different tact rates. never had a problem.

but you are right, there is no guarantee that it works.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

OP, by all means get the 2x4GB set. Just be ready to sell it off to help fund the 2x8GB set when you get more cash on hand. You COULD try to run both sets, but just remember that RAM kits that aren't tested to run together might not work.
Still, I really doubt the average consumer would ever need more than 16GB of RAM anyways. Maybe if you have a pretty huge audio production workstation and are running hundreds of VSTs at a time, then I could see maybe wanting 32GB of RAM at that point. And if that's the case, I'd also wanna know if you're helping Jari Mäenpää track Time II for Wintersun.

I wasn't going to try to mix sets, I just wanted to know if I could swap them out without any problems. The way I record, I don't think it's very RAM heavy, and I only record for me in my bedroom haha.

 

[Sumsar]

I have 8GB ram in my desktop computer which I use for mixing and I have never had any problems. I can load in and mix entire albums without being bothered by the amount of ram. It should be said that I normally don't use a lot of samples, so there is that: If you are going to use huge sample libraries, then you may need more ram, but 8 GB should get you very very far.
Far more important for mixing is the processor I found: I have an i5 quad core = 12 GHz in total, which I have managed to use in full from time to time. Mostly because some delay and reverb plugins just eats though you processor power like crazy.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

I have 8GB ram in my desktop computer which I use for mixing and I have never had any problems. I can load in and mix entire albums without being bothered by the amount of ram. It should be said that I normally don't use a lot of samples, so there is that: If you are going to use huge sample libraries, then you may need more ram, but 8 GB should get you very very far.
Far more important for mixing is the processor I found: I have an i5 quad core = 12 GHz in total, which I have managed to use in full from time to time. Mostly because some delay and reverb plugins just eats though you processor power like crazy.

I recorded my latest instrumental album on a laptop that had 2GB of RAM, it's not recording that I'd be upgrading for, it's gaming. Some AAA titles these days are specced with needing 8GB of ram so I feel that upgrading to 16GB soon wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[tacotiklah]

Oh yeah, can upgrade with a different set no problem. I'm running 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3 RAM (OC'd to 1866MHz) and it's more than I'd ever really need. Even with a lot of tabs open in chrome AND a AAA title running in the background, I still never use more than 30% of max capacity. 8GB seems to be the sweet spot if all you're doing is just gaming. I also do music production, so that does eat up a bit more memory, but again I don't really ever go over 50% of max capacity when I'm doing that.

You should be fine with the 8GB for at least another year before maybe needing to upgrade.

I have 8GB ram in my desktop computer which I use for mixing and I have never had any problems. I can load in and mix entire albums without being bothered by the amount of ram. It should be said that I normally don't use a lot of samples, so there is that: If you are going to use huge sample libraries, then you may need more ram, but 8 GB should get you very very far.
Far more important for mixing is the processor I found: I have an i5 quad core = 12 GHz in total, which I have managed to use in full from time to time. Mostly because some delay and reverb plugins just eats though you processor power like crazy.

Oh definitely. If you're doing music production regularly, then I wouldn't recommend anything less than at least an Intel Devil's Canyon i7-4790k. In fact, I feel that saving up for an x99 workstation with an i7-5930k would be justified. Effects like delay and reverb really do tax your CPU and eventually your processor will slow down to the point of intense audio degradation. Not exactly ideal when you need flawless audio quality.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

Oh yeah, can upgrade with a different set no problem. I'm running 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3 RAM (OC'd to 1866MHz) and it's more than I'd ever really need. Even with a lot of tabs open in chrome AND a AAA title running in the background, I still never use more than 30% of max capacity. 8GB seems to be the sweet spot if all you're doing is just gaming. I also do music production, so that does eat up a bit more memory, but again I don't really ever go over 50% of max capacity when I'm doing that.

You should be fine with the 8GB for at least another year before maybe needing to upgrade.



Oh definitely. If you're doing music production regularly, then I wouldn't recommend anything less than at least an Intel Devil's Canyon i7-4790k. In fact, I feel that saving up for an x99 workstation with an i7-5930k would be justified. Effects like delay and reverb really do tax your CPU and eventually your processor will slow down to the point of intense audio degradation. Not exactly ideal when you need flawless audio quality.

I never use delay or reverb when I'm recording anyway. Yeah, I should be fine with 8GB for now, that's why I made this post for when 8GB wouldn't be enough anymore. As I said, I usually only record with EZDrummer 2 and 2 guitars with no effects panned to the left and right, I'd like enough RAM to run 2 instances of BIAS desktop for recording as it would be easier using my Rocksmith cable than running my iPad on Jamup to the Mic In on my PC too, though.

 

[TedEH]

Nope, wrong. You get sticks of RAM in sets because the manufacturer has tested and confirmed that those sticks work together without issues.

Lets not exaggerate the risks of mixing and matching RAM though. They're not like power tubes that need to be matched pairs. If you get the same brand/model of RAM, it'll be fine 99.99999% of the time. If something goes wrong, it'll probably be because the RAM is bad, not because they're "unmatched". Even mixing brands and speeds etc. is technically a risk of instability- but not much of one, from what I understand. I've mixed and matched all the time with no problems.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

Nope, wrong. You get sticks of RAM in sets because the manufacturer has tested and confirmed that those sticks work together without issues. This becomes not the case if you're mixing sets from different brands, etc. It may work or it may not.

This has been my experience - sometimes you get lucky - 2GB from one brand and 4GB from another brand may work fine, but often will just cause problems or not boot at all. Best to stick with same size and brand each pair.

 

[thrsher]

actually, as long as the speeds match the motherboard, you can mix ram size

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

^^ with the only caveat being the remaining ram that's not matched on the larger stick will run in single channel vs dual channel for the matched GB's.

EDIT: I'm reading with newer motherboards even this isn't an issue??? Interesting

 

[thrsher]

i work with computers for my work but i have yet to actually replace any ram on windows 8 and up machines so i cannot speak to current motherboards, but with XP/Vista/7 machines, i have not encountered an issues as long as the speeds match, but you are correct and how the channels may run depending on the motherboard

 

[tacotiklah]

Lets not exaggerate the risks of mixing and matching RAM though. They're not like power tubes that need to be matched pairs. If you get the same brand/model of RAM, it'll be fine 99.99999% of the time. If something goes wrong, it'll probably be because the RAM is bad, not because they're "unmatched". Even mixing brands and speeds etc. is technically a risk of instability- but not much of one, from what I understand. I've mixed and matched all the time with no problems.

I did mention that it could work. But it's an uncertainty that I personally wouldn't wanna mess around with. I'd rather purchase RAM that has been tested and verified. Is that a guarantee as well? No, not really. I've had a tech savvy friend or two that has purchased a RAM kit and had a stick that wasn't functioning right.
But you definitely have a much more valid return argument when you purchase RAM sets that a manufacturer claims works together and it doesn't.

OP is free to do as he chooses. I'm just giving an informed opinion and letting him make up his own mind. I just wanted to make sure he knows the possible cons of mixing sets. From what I read though, he just wanted to make sure that he could change out the 2x4 sticks for 2x8s, to which the answer is absolutely. After the swap, he could probably sell the old RAM to help ease a bit of the sting on his wallet.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

OP is free to do as he chooses. I'm just giving an informed opinion and letting him make up his own mind. I just wanted to make sure he knows the possible cons of mixing sets. From what I read though, he just wanted to make sure that he could change out the 2x4 sticks for 2x8s, to which the answer is absolutely. After the swap, he could probably sell the old RAM to help ease a bit of the sting on his wallet.

That's all I wanted to know, yes. I'd probably keep the 2x4GB sticks for a build for my nephew or something, he's been interested in PC gaming for a while now and he doesn't really get enough money to save up for a PC, so I'm sure he'd love a PC built by his favourite uncle. Oh and that build you suggested to me on my first thread on this sub forum is going nicely. I got everything except the OS. Got the typical first build cuts haha.

 

[tacotiklah]

Good to hear dude. I have a lot of fun playing around with pcpartpicker and seeing what nifty build ideas I can come up with. It gets even more fun when I add some budget constraints to the mix as it forces me to find good stuff that I might otherwise overlook in favor of the "must have" brands/components that everyone reaches for first. If I had the time and finances to do so, I probably would look into finally taking and passing that damn A+ cert test that I was gonna do 14 or so years ago.

 

[ZombieLloyd]

Good to hear dude. I have a lot of fun playing around with pcpartpicker and seeing what nifty build ideas I can come up with. It gets even more fun when I add some budget constraints to the mix as it forces me to find good stuff that I might otherwise overlook in favor of the "must have" brands/components that everyone reaches for first. If I had the time and finances to do so, I probably would look into finally taking and passing that damn A+ cert test that I was gonna do 14 or so years ago.

I've been making builds with multiple amazon wishlists haha. Right now I'm figuring out a mini ITX Skylake gaming build. Just for fun though, I'm saving up for a really good pc build that should allow meto be gaming with that setup for a good few years, hence the original post