RAM upgrade: 1x8 or 2x4?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

Letalis1

Distinguished
Jun 24, 2013
88
0
18,660
Hi guys,

I'm buying a new motherboard soon which has 4 RAM slots with support for up to 64GB. I'm going to be buying 8GB for now, and adding another 8 within a year or two probably. Should I buy 1x8 now so I'll have 2x8GB later or should I go for 2x4 now and add another 2x4 later, so I'll have 4x4? What is faster/better? I don't think I'll ever go for 32 gigs, at least not with this build for the next 6 years or so.
 
Solution
Tradesman1
What do you do with the rig? In general for overall use would sugggest 2x8GB, if simply gaming 2xx4GB will suffice but as games continue to utilize DRAM 8 soon may not be enough in 2010 all were saying 2GB was enough, in 2012 (almost) everybody said 4GB is more than you'll ever use, now many are saying 8GB - but a good thing to watch is prebuilt computers (which are stingy with DRAM (they want you to buy more from them for higher profits), the bulk of which today are either at 6-8GB, so 8gb should be looked at as bare minimum if building a new rig and more would be better...
Sort by date Sort by votes
L

Letalis1

Distinguished
Jun 24, 2013
88
0
18,660


Don't you need new motherboards for DDR4 though? And how long is it going to take before it comes out, and won't it be a better choice to go with DDR4 then? Furthermore, my guess is DDR3 will actually be cheaper when DDR4 launches.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Shneiky

Shneiky

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2011
2,323
1
20,960
Yes, DDR4 is coming in a week and yes, you need new motherboard. What I am trying to say is that prices of DDR3 will be higher in an year, because a lot of people on older system would be seeking DDR3, but the manufacturing is going down in favor of DDR4. That is why I advise you to buy all the RAM now, while it is cheap.

For example, I bought 2x4 1333 DDR3 GeiL RAM in 2011 for 40 EUR. End of 2013, I bought a 2nd kit, but this time it cost me 70 EUR. Price of DDR3 RAM is low now.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
It's going to be a good long while before they stop making DDR3 and before DDR4 is available in enough variety and at a low enough price to make sizable in-roads in the mainstream consumer market. In the meantime, prit87 has it right with 2 x 4GB.

Let next year or the year after take care of itself - long term computer upgrade plans tend to be overcome by events and by technology improvements, and end up in the trash heap.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
What do you do with the rig? In general for overall use would sugggest 2x8GB, if simply gaming 2xx4GB will suffice but as games continue to utilize DRAM 8 soon may not be enough in 2010 all were saying 2GB was enough, in 2012 (almost) everybody said 4GB is more than you'll ever use, now many are saying 8GB - but a good thing to watch is prebuilt computers (which are stingy with DRAM (they want you to buy more from them for higher profits), the bulk of which today are either at 6-8GB, so 8gb should be looked at as bare minimum if building a new rig and more would be better...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom