6GB DDR3 1600mhz ram vs 8GB DDR3 1066mhz ram

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qcksilver

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Nov 28, 2013
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Help me understand how much the speed of ram affects performance. The laptop came with 6GB DDR3 1600mhz ram (one 2GB card + 4GB card both at 1600mhz), and have a matching spare set of two 4GB DDR3 1066mhz for a total of 8GB DDR3 1066mhz ram.

So is 6GB DDR3 1600mhz RAM actually better than 8GB DDR3 1066mhz RAM, or is storage size the most important factor?

Also, am I correct that mixing a 4GB 1600mhz with a 4GB 1066mhz is not recommended because they are different speeds?

Thanks!
 
Solution
smorizio
1600 ram is 800/2 clock cycles. 1066 ram is 533 ram/2. so the 1600 is faster on each clock cycle. the only issue with having less ram is the amount a large file or program could load. if it cant your hard drive or ssd would swap data more.
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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with laptops most have two ram slots each is in own bank. to get laptop ram to run in 2 channel mode the rams should be the same size and speed. if not there run in a slower one channel mode. with ram you dont want to mix speeds and you dont want slower ram. if you find out you need more ram then swap the 2g dimm out.
 
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Q

qcksilver

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Nov 28, 2013
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Thanks! That's what I thought about mixing speeds. One question answered.

Any thoughts on whether 6GB of RAM at 1600mhz would give more of a performance boost than 8GB or RAM at 1066mhz?
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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1600 ram is 800/2 clock cycles. 1066 ram is 533 ram/2. so the 1600 is faster on each clock cycle. the only issue with having less ram is the amount a large file or program could load. if it cant your hard drive or ssd would swap data more.
 
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Solution
Q

qcksilver

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Nov 28, 2013
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Ah I see, thank you. It's actually my girlfriend's laptop. She doesn't load many large files or use big programs. She is heavy web user though, it is not uncommon for her to have multiple chrome windows with 2 dozen or more tabs open. Even with all those windows and tabs open I don't think chrome will get close to using 6GB of RAM, so keeping the 6GB 1600mhz might give her the best performance.

As an experiment, I swapped out the RAM (so the 8GB 1066mhz is currently in there), I think what I will do is ask her to monitor how much RAM she uses over the next few days, and if she never gets close to 6GB, I'll put the original 6GB 1600mhz back in there. I might be surprised how much RAM massive web browsing sessions use.

Thanks for all your help everybody!
 
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