Adding more ram, worse performance? XMP still active?

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 7, 2015

I've tried researching this for about 3 hours and i'm getting nowhere. Perhaps someone here can break this down a little simpler for me and evaluate my specific situation

I have
-Windows 7 professional 64 bit
-ASUS Z87 sabertooth motherboard which supports up to 32GB 1866 MHz ram and XMP, dual channel memory (4 slots total, 2 brown, 2 white)
-Corsair Dominator Platinum 2X 8GB 1866MHz RAM with XMP support (bought as one 2 stick kit, not individually purchased)
-Intel i7-4770K @ 3.5 GHz processor

I'd like to add 2 more sticks of the same exact ram totalling 32 GB to max my motherboard (yes I've actually capped my 16GB of ram with all the stuff i'm running according to my task manager)

I currently have both sticks installed in the same colored channel. (white as recommended by my motherboard manual)

I'm still confused about the memory bandwidth on dual channel RAM and how that works

If i'm understanding this correctly since i'm using both sticks in the same color channel i'm getting 64bit of bandwidth and if I add 2 more to the other color channel it will increase to 128 bit bandwidth? from what i'm reading i'm aware this will only yield a slight performance boost (like 10-15%?), but at the same time I've read this will decrease my performance because the memory controller is working harder? can someone verify or explain this to me?

I don't want my machine to run slower by adding more RAM but I need more RAM

I've also read that if I insert 2 more sticks (of the same exact RAM kit) my XMP profile will not work correctly. Can anyone verify this? has anyone had experience where it did work correctly with 2 kits of dominator platinum 2x8GB 1866MHz ram? I want to keep my RAM at its 1866MHz rating and not get dropped to 1600MHz (although there isn't that much difference in performance from what I've read)

Please i'm really hoping to get some informative answers here

nukemaster · Mar 7, 2015

2 sticks when installed in the right slots operate in dual channel mode. 4 sticks also operate in dual channel mode because the cpu only has 2 channels for memory.

Performance wise it will be about the same(a hair slower but you will not be able to tell).

In some cases 4 sticks may need slightly looser timings, but it is not always the case.

Do you NEED 32 gigabytes? and what OS are you running?

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 7, 2015

nukemaster :

I actually went back and added my operating system into the contents of my original post
Windows 7 professional 64 bit

Yes id like to max my ram out as I find myself eating up to 14GB+ of ram at times according to my windows task manager

However I really don't wanna take any losses on performance if possible, even if its not that noticeable, if anything I was hoping using the other 2 slots might make it faster at the same time as adding more overall memory but I suppose that's never the case?

I guess it will just be more advantageous to attempt to limit the amount of RAM i'm eating so i'm not capping out as frequently as I am

nukemaster · Mar 7, 2015

What have you got running to eat that much memory anyway? I honestly would not worry about the 2 vs stick performance. It is more of a tiny bit of time it takes to address the second stick on the same channel.

Can we get a screen capture of your task manager and maybe performance monitor.

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 7, 2015

nukemaster :

Well I took the screen shot but i'm not really sure how to upload. I know I used to have an account on some website for uploading pictures to forums but I forgot what it was as its been years since I've used it. Any suggestions? I'm at 11.7 GB at the moment but I've been watching it for a few days and I know its gone higher. I'm mostly just running Minecraft servers which I assigned a huge amount of memory to. Like I said I can just decrease the amount assigned so my PC doesn't get stuttery and have a massive cleanup on its hands but I was just hoping to get more RAM AND added performance. If I will actually have worse performance then I don't see much point in adding more. Thanks for your time nukemaster

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 7, 2015

I would still like to know more about dual channel memory using 4 sticks and how its slower then using 1 channel with 2 sticks if anyone could elaborate on why that is? Its not like i'm capping my processor performance. If there's a memory controller assigned to each channel how could it possibly be slower? Thanks again

nukemaster · Mar 7, 2015

If you are in the right slots(matching color. A2|B2 recommended) you have 2 sticks in dual channel mode. You can confirm this with CPU-Z

If you have the 2 sticks in the wrong slots(different colors), then yes you will loose performance.

The cpu has only 2 channels to address memory, when you have 4 sticks a slight delay is needed to select the second stick(very cut-down explanation) on the same channel. This is the reason for a small performance penalty.

I can see the higher memory use with minecraft servers for sure.

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 7, 2015

nukemaster :

I see, so I checked my motherboard manual and I am in fact in A2 / B2 slots so currently I am already using the 2 individual memory channels / controllers? I was under the impression this entire time id been using 2 on one lane. If I add 2 more I assume i'm going to just add them to the remaining A1 / B1 slots? or do I need to re-arrange?

yeah god forbid I want to keep my minecraft servers running, play something on netflix, play a game like Max Payne 3 or Alien Isolation at max settings and run steam voice chat with some friends all at the same time on one PC :pt1cable:

... sheesh you would think this thing could handle something so simple

lol and people keep telling me I only really need 8GB of ram total... yeah.... . . right....

nukemaster · Mar 7, 2015

Yes A2 and B2 are 2 separate channels on the cpu's memory controller and the cpu only has 2 of these such channels. While some cpus had three(X58) and now four(LGA2011 setups). In the past AMD also had server boards that could share memory bandwidth across multiple cpus adding bandwidth to other cpus that needed it(this was seen on server setups and is not common in home use).

8 gigabytes is enough for almost any single game even with some extras running, but with games that have rather complex worlds(do not let the simple blocky word fool you, your server has to keep track of all those blocks and what type they are as well as manage the baddies.), your servers has a fairly high memory load.

Tradesman1 · Mar 7, 2015

If the second set will play with the first (and there are no guarantees it will) you will be running all the DRAM in dual channel and there should be no performance hit, if you try mixing and have any problems, give a shout and we can try some voltage and/or timing adjustments.

PS, you'll love 32GB, I run that on all my main rigs

(in sig)

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 8, 2015

nukemaster :

It doesn't help that I keep my render distance at 32 chunks (max setting) while playing, my RAM is at 14.3 GB right now and i'm the only one logged on / i'm not even running extra stuff at the moment :ouch:

Tradesman1 :

I've decided i'm going to go out tomorrow and get the second pair, every time I get around the high amounts of RAM I've been talking about my server crashes.
You'll be the first person I contact if thing's don't go smoothly :ange:

I'll be back and update this post once I install them so I can supply an "answer"

Thanks again both of you for the support!!

Tradesman1 · Mar 8, 2015

Will be around am in and out daily

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 9, 2015

I went out and got the RAM and slapped those bad boys into my motherboard

no errors and all seems to be well. Only one thing left that seems to confuse me

In my bios screen it says 1866 MHz ram but then has 4 lines (one for each stick) saying 1333 MHz next to each, why is this?

I downloaded CPU-Z and it also says 933.2 MHz. I know its supposed to be half the value so that tells me its seeing 1866 MHz.

Is 1866 MHz the functional speed or is CPU-Z just reading what the ram is rated at?

Tradesman1 · Mar 9, 2015

It's reading the base boot spec when you see the 1333

Sounds like all is good, have fun

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 9, 2015

Tradesman1 :

sorry but could you elaborate a little more on this? by base boot spec do you mean the minimum the RAM is capable of? I could swear that never said 1333 before when I had just the two sticks installed.

Tradesman1 · Mar 9, 2015

By default when DRAM is installed it (on most mobos) will initially boot the the mobos default which is 1333

IamTheLaw86 · Mar 9, 2015

OK so the final verdict is, everything wen't smoothly when pairing those components I bought and XMP is still enabled and seems to be running well

Thanks again for all your help!

Tradesman1 · Mar 9, 2015

No worries, glad to hear all is well

Adding more ram, worse performance? XMP still active?

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