Dual Channel RAM or Single RAM?

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Yodaskool

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Apr 30, 2014
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So I'm building a PC, and all I really want to know if I should get an 8GB kit (2x4GB) or a single stick. My motherboard supports up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM and both types of RAM cost the same. I think that the single stick would give more room for expansion, but the kit delivers Dual-Channel.

Thanks!
 
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I would probably go with 2x4 GB.
Dual channel offer some speed boost, also in that slight chance of one ram stick failing you can still use 2nd 4gb to run your PC until you get replacement.
4GB sticks should also have little better overall compatibility and you may find better timings for 4GB.

In case you would want more ram you can still get another 2x4 gb for total of 16GB. You should not need more than 8GB unless you need to do some heavy computation with ram hungry applications or running multiple virtual machines. For games and normal usage of PC 8GB is currently enough and should be enough for some time.
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Hazle

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Oct 28, 2011
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if you're doing memory intensive tasks, you can start off with a single channel 8gb kit, and buy another one the following month if it's not at all urgent for you to gain that edge in performance.

if this is solely a gaming PC, may as well just get the 2x4gb dual channel kit now and stop there. adding more than 8gb of RAM isn't going to benefit you in that scenario, and by the time it does, if ever, you're likely looking for a major PC overhaul.
 
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pm4

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Apr 28, 2014
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I would probably go with 2x4 GB.
Dual channel offer some speed boost, also in that slight chance of one ram stick failing you can still use 2nd 4gb to run your PC until you get replacement.
4GB sticks should also have little better overall compatibility and you may find better timings for 4GB.

In case you would want more ram you can still get another 2x4 gb for total of 16GB. You should not need more than 8GB unless you need to do some heavy computation with ram hungry applications or running multiple virtual machines. For games and normal usage of PC 8GB is currently enough and should be enough for some time.
 
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