RAM upgrade

looters

Hi,

I built a pc a few years ago. I have a total of 8 gig of ram. I use two 4 gig bars of Ripjaws ram.
Model number is - f3-10666cl9-4gbxl
Max babdwidth according to CPU-Z is 667 MHz

I want to upgrade to 16 gig of RAM. I just want to know what the best option to but, that will be compatible with old RAM. I have two free RAM slots on my motherboard but would prefer to use only one as Im not sure I can fit in two( CPU cooler may get in the way)

The mother boards is an ASRock Z68 Extreme4.

Any help appreciated.

Dcully

http://www.pcgamer.com/new-testing-shows-that-4gb-of-ram-is-still-plenty-for-gaming/

looters

Dcully wrote: »

http://www.pcgamer.com/new-testing-shows-that-4gb-of-ram-is-still-plenty-for-gaming/

Who said anything about gaming?

Maybe dont post useless links if you cant help.

Sonics2k

looters wrote: »

Who said anything about gaming?

Maybe dont post useless links if you cant help.

Gaming is the most likely option when none are given to us.

What will you use the PC for? Why 16gb of Ram?

Not to be snarky, but maybe give us the basics of what you'll be using the PC for.

grindle

If you're using your PC for something that involves rendering either video or audio quickly, or encoding large quantities of data in some form, you'll suffer if you don't match the latency and speed of your sticks.

If you're gaming or just suffering from having a bazillion chrome tabs open there'll be little negative performance difference (~5% at worst) but you'll experience the benefits of having more RAM (more sprightly behaviour if you tend to have lots of programs open).

looters

grindle wrote: »

If you're using your PC for something that involves rendering either video or audio quickly, or encoding large quantities of data in some form, you'll suffer if you don't match the latency and speed of your sticks.

If you're gaming or just suffering from having a bazillion chrome tabs open there'll be little negative performance difference (~5% at worst) but you'll experience the benefits of having more RAM (more sprightly behaviour if you tend to have lots of programs open).

Ok so which RAM should I buy. Its not for video rendering\encoding, but I guess if Im going to buy I would like to take the best option.
So option one.....

Do I need to just buy the exact same RAM, or do I need to throw out old RAM and upgrade.

grindle

looters wrote: »

Ok so which RAM should I buy. Its not for video rendering\encoding, but I guess if Im going to buy I would like to take the best option.
So option one.....

Do I need to just buy the exact same RAM, or do I need to throw out old RAM and upgrade.

If you can only fit the ram into two slots get two sticks and sell the ones you have - DDR3-2133, CL9 to CL11 would be the sweet spot's performance-wise according to Anandtech's testing, but you'll pay extra for it.
If you can fit an extra two sticks and keep your current sticks buy ram that matches your own (not the brand, but the specs - DDR3-1333, 9-9-9-24).
If you're not a power user in any sense (as you haven't mentioned what it's for) you won't notice the extra second or two saved for every minute of encoding, or the extra instrument or two you might be able to employ in real time if you're composing orchestral music using a multi-sampler & DAW, so bear that in mind as the price jumps by 25-50% for a 5% real-world gain.

looters

grindle wrote: »

If you can only fit the ram into two slots get two sticks and sell the ones you have - DDR3-2133, CL9 to CL11 would be the sweet spot's performance-wise according to Anandtech's testing, but you'll pay extra for it.
If you can fit an extra two sticks and keep your current sticks buy ram that matches your own (not the brand, but the specs - DDR3-1333, 9-9-9-24).
If you're not a power user in any sense (as you haven't mentioned what it's for) you won't notice the extra second or two saved for every minute of encoding, or the extra instrument or two you might be able to employ in real time if you're composing orchestral music using a multi-sampler & DAW, so bear that in mind as the price jumps by 25-50% for a 5% real-world gain.

Thanks Grindle. Is it an option to just get one 8 gig stick to add?, rather than get two 4 gig sticks.

Like below? same specs, DDR3-1333, 9-9-9-24
https://www.memoryc.ie/computermemory/ddr3ram/8gbgskillpc310666ripjawsxsingle.html

grindle

It might work, but it might switch the two sticks you already have into single-channel mode.
Depends on the mobo. Years ago Intel brought out this thing called Flex Mode that allowed twin sticks to run in dual and a single stick to run separately in single, but I haven't heard more of it or seen it listed as a spec in yonks.

Having looked at your mobo's specs there is this feature call XFast ram - if you set aside space on your current two sticks for whatever programs you use or load most often and use the 8GB stick for windows and whatever you use rarely you should see a benefit as it creates ram disks for those programs.
If the mobo works with unmatched sticks.

looters

grindle wrote: »

It might work, but it might switch the two sticks you already have into single-channel mode.
Depends on the mobo. Years ago Intel brought out this thing called Flex Mode that allowed twin sticks to run in dual and a single stick to run separately in single, but I haven't heard more of it or seen it listed as a spec in yonks.

Having looked at your mobo's specs there is this feature call XFast ram - if you set aside space on your current two sticks for whatever programs you use or load most often and use the 8GB stick for windows and whatever you use rarely you should see a benefit as it creates ram disks for those programs.
If the mobo works with unmatched sticks.

Grand I went ahead and ordered two 4 gig sticks.

Thanks for help.

Gumbi

Is there a reason you want more RAM?

TerrorFirmer

Gumbi wrote: »

Is there a reason you want more RAM?

This is an important question because a lot of people tend to self diagnose bottlenecks in their PC's. I see it frequently on the Computer forum, people buying 8 and 16GB of ram because they find their machine intolerably slow, when it turns out that they have a very low end CPU causing the issue.

Not saying that's true in this case of course but it's still the right question to ask before offering any advice. 'Gaming' is usually the default use for builds here too in reference to the first reply you got. If you're not rendering or encoding or something of that nature, I would imagine maybe VM's?

looters

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I would imagine maybe VM's?

Yep, I need to run a load of VM's.

Gumbi

looters wrote: »

Yep, I need to run a load of VM's.

Fair enough