Buying new RAM, Noob questions

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Fishlol69

Fishlol69

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Jul 15, 2015
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RAM: 2x4GB (8GB) Corsair Vengeance (Red) -- DDR4 2933 Mhz, XMP off.
Mobo: Asus z170-AR (has 4 total ram slots)

1. Can I add another 2x4GB (8GB) Corsair Vengeance ram, to upgrade to 16GB total?
1 and a half. Is having all 4 slots filled bad? Would it be much better to get 2x8GB?
2. Is it better to get another ram of the same kind? If I got a different ram, is that gonna suck?
3. Is 16gb of ram even necessary for what I do now / am going to do?:
-VR Gaming while recording
-Video editing
-Photoshop
-AutoCAD
-Normal gaming, and gaming while recording
4. Did you notice that I made red blue?
5. How do I turn on XMP without my games crashing?
6. Is >this< good? The item model number matches exactly.
 
Solution
raisonjohn
1. Yes you can. Your motherboard has 4 total ram slots and you only have 2 populated.

1 and a half. It's not "bad", though, filling up all 4 ram slots will put more stress on the dual-channel mobo's memory controller when OC'ing since you will now run two sticks per channel. Getting a 2x8GB (total of 16GB) is more ideal (not required) compared to 2x4GB + 2x4GB kits because 1) running two sets of kits not tested to work together may or may not pair well with each other, and 2) you'd only use one stick per channel which puts less stress in the MC when OC'ing.

2. It is advisable to get RAM of the same kind, type, brand, model, latency, speed, etc. BUT, as mentioned, it is never a guarantee that all sticks will work as they were not...
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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Feb 22, 2015
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1. Yes you can. Your motherboard has 4 total ram slots and you only have 2 populated.

1 and a half. It's not "bad", though, filling up all 4 ram slots will put more stress on the dual-channel mobo's memory controller when OC'ing since you will now run two sticks per channel. Getting a 2x8GB (total of 16GB) is more ideal (not required) compared to 2x4GB + 2x4GB kits because 1) running two sets of kits not tested to work together may or may not pair well with each other, and 2) you'd only use one stick per channel which puts less stress in the MC when OC'ing.

2. It is advisable to get RAM of the same kind, type, brand, model, latency, speed, etc. BUT, as mentioned, it is never a guarantee that all sticks will work as they were not sold/tested as a group. If you get a different RAM, the chances of them not working with each other increases. Follow the motherboard's recommendation to get the same kind of RAM.

3. It depends on the working files, but, certainly, 16GB is becoming the "norm" when it comes to the stuffs you will do. You can get away with 8GB but it's recommended to look at 16GB as the "minimum".

4. I did.

5. You may have to tweak ram speeds and timings, and/or update BIOS. Follow some advice in these threads having the same problem as yours:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2973198/crash-overclocking-cpu-xmp-enabled.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3299800/games-crash-xmp-enabled.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/287272-30-computer-crashes-enable-settings

6. If it's the same model number as your Corsair Vengeance, then, it is good as it is what the motherboard manufacturer recommends when adding additional RAM sticks.
 
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Solution
SnoWolf1

SnoWolf1

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May 28, 2017
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First, 4x4GB memory will work well, no problem. 4x4GB and 2x8GB is the same. Both of them use Dual chanel.
2. Use the same kind is the best solution.
3. 16GB of memory is standard now.
 
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