ram. which setup is better

sharpe2002

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Dec 10, 2015
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Hoping you folks can help here.

Which is going to be better performing?

2x4gb 1600 ballistics sport 9-9-9-27?
3x4gb 1600 of the above set to 1333 with tighter timings, 7-7-7-24?

Backstory. I cannot get 4x4gb to run stable on my 970a ud3p/ 8320 set up. It currently running completely fine with 3 of the 4 slots used @ 12gb with a voltage bump up to 1.55 but it's bugging the hell out of me
I've tried a swapping the sticks around and each seems to work okay, at least as far as I can tell, with each other. I set the multiplier down to 1333 with xmp and it tightened the timing for me..

Would overclocking the cpu help at all?
Is there any benefit in using the 3rd stick over just 2 in dual channel?

 

sharpe2002

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I was considering getting 2x8gb kit and seeing if that runs. 16gb is probably more than I need but I do find myself using a few memory intensive apps for work, especially when all run together.

The ram is rated at 1.5v so assume 1.6 or more might be a bit much??
 

sharpe2002

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I tried all 4 sticks with 1.6 nb and the cpu voltage up but crashed out after the first pass using blend in prime.

The 3 sticks passed that point without issue at those settings :( ram is running at 8-8-8-20 31 instead of the 9-9-9-27 37 it's specced for however even manually loosening the timings doesn't seem to help.. not tried every combo yet tbf

Fwiw I've taken the third stick out so am now running 2x4gb to see if I notice any difference over the next few days. Depending on what I find I may just front the 70 delivered for a 16gb dual channel kit

On a plus, before changing the ram around I got a stable 4.0 on the 8320 with a few minor tweeks. Benchmarked in heaven, prime and black ops 3 and no crash. Recon it will go to 4.2 without much fuss