2 or 4 of 16GB DDR4 RAM sticks?

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Khaleal

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Jan 19, 2014
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I'm planning on building a new Skylake (or maybe Kabylake if it releases within 2 months from now) and was thinking about the RAM amount I should install.
I will go on a z170 motherboard (hasn't decided exact model) which accepts 64GB of RAM and has 4 slots.
I'm aware that 16GB is more than enough for now (I have 32GB in my current Z77 system) but if I install two 8GB RAM sticks now, I won't be able to max out 64GB in the future without selling the existing RAM and buying new 16GB RAM sticks.
So I'm thinking on going towards 16GB RAM sticks instead of 8GB for future-proofing.
I can buy one 16GB RAM stick, two 16GB RAM sticks, or just buy 4x16GB RAM sticks to max the board.
Now, if I buy 1 or 2 of the 16GB RAM sticks, I might be able to upgrade later if I need to expand my RAM in the future. But will I be able to find sticks that are identical to my existing ones in maybe 2 years from now?
If I go and buy 4x16GB RAM sticks I'm just buying something that I don't need in the meanwhile and paying a premium for it (while I could possibly find them at cheaper prices maybe after 2 years).
The question now is: should I go for 1/2 sticks or 4 sticks?
And will I be able to find the exact model of RAM still available and in stock if I decide to go with 1/2 sticks and upgrade later when the prices go down?
 
Solution
Isokolon
actually I would go with whatever you can get cheapest, even if it's a single stick.
nobody will recommend this but there is one reason I can see:

right now the timings for DDR4 are horrible, but not as horrible as a year ago. while 15-17-17 or 16-17-17 was standard a year ago, companys now manage to get 14-14-14 timings. but this still is barely an advantage over DDR3.
it will take probably another year for sticks to be released to have timings worth spending premium money on.
so why waste money on a 64GB Kit now? 16GB should be more than you need and cost a fraction. upgrading RAM is pretty easy and cheap in the future and makes certainly a difference in the future if prices drop and timings get better, sell your RAM or give it to a...
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inerax

inerax

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Right now, 32gb is more than overkill. In 2-3 years I have a feeling 32gb will be the standard and you will still be set. If you needed to upgrade the same ram you have now will be even cheaper. So right now, go with 1 or 2 16gb sticks and call it a day.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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________________

+1 Get the full amount you want/need in a single package. No guarantees when mixing packages, even if you were to go out today and buy 2 sets of 2x16GB of the same exact set....the 4x16GB set may cost a little more, but that's because it takes more testing to find 4 sticks that will all play nice than it does to find 2 that play and put in a package
 
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Khaleal

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Jan 19, 2014
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Photoshop and After Effects, Virtual Machines. I know - for a fact - that more RAM helps with these applications. I'm currently using 32GB of RAM and I'm able to reach 21GB of use. 16GB is the mainstream now (as most games nowadays require 8GB at least to run properly - especially shitting ported games). I'm sure in a 2-3 years 16GB will be the minimum and 32GB would be needed for power users.

That is what I was thinking of. The question here is the following: If I buy a specific 16GB RAM stick now, will I be able to find the exact same model (to prevent compatibility issues) in 2 years from now still available and in stock?


I currently use 4 sticks of 8GB 1866MHZ Kingston HyperX Fury RAM with a total of 32GB. from these sticks 2 were bought in a kit, while the other two were bought separately (not in a kit). I don't have memory issues of any kind.


But doesn't that mean that I'm going to pay a premium for something that I don't need in the meanwhile (it will take more than 3 years for 32GB to become standard)? a single 16GB sticks now costs about $75 on average, but 2-3 years from now, it will cost almost half of the price. Isn't that a waste of money?
 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

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Jul 24, 2016
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actually I would go with whatever you can get cheapest, even if it's a single stick.
nobody will recommend this but there is one reason I can see:

right now the timings for DDR4 are horrible, but not as horrible as a year ago. while 15-17-17 or 16-17-17 was standard a year ago, companys now manage to get 14-14-14 timings. but this still is barely an advantage over DDR3.
it will take probably another year for sticks to be released to have timings worth spending premium money on.
so why waste money on a 64GB Kit now? 16GB should be more than you need and cost a fraction. upgrading RAM is pretty easy and cheap in the future and makes certainly a difference in the future if prices drop and timings get better, sell your RAM or give it to a friend/Family member who's upgrading.
64GB Kits with relatively good timings are simply not affordable as of now (370€+)
 
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Solution
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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It's going to be your choice and as said whatever you get there are no guarantees you will simply be able to 'add' to it down the road, as is many today will buy 2 sets of say 2x8GB for 32GB rather than a single 4x8GB set to save $3-5 or whatever, then they get them and find the two identical sets won't play, so where they thought the were being 'smart' and saving $3-5 they end up having to send both packs back (paying the shipping), maybe pating a 10-15% restocking fee and then having to pay the full price of a 4 stick set (which may well have gone up if popular)
 
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Cole_9

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Jun 4, 2016
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I agree with the others. 32 GB is probably overkill. I know you probably don't want to do this, and remember I'm just a novice tech at the moment, but I would buy 2 8GB ddr4 memory sticks. That way, you can use dual channel architechure and memory access will be double that of a single stick of RAM.
 
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