New PC Build RAM Advice

BloodyDream3

Honorable
Nov 13, 2012
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I want 16GB of RAM in my new computer. I, at some point, want to upgrade it to 32GB so I was going to go with 2X8 but I've always seen people use 4X4. I know it's still 16GB, and this may be a stupid question, but is there a difference or advantage to doing 4X4 rather than 2X8? I know 32GB is a little bit of overkill but wouldn't it be good to have? Also, I was going with Corsair Vengeance low profile, but would Patriot or G. Skills be a better buy?
 
To be honest 16GB is overkill unless you have applications that specifically are RAM intensive like large photo editing, video editing, running VM machines, or working with extremely large files or volumes of files. For gaming 8Gb is plenty.

As far as 4x4 it could be that they had 2x4 and upgraded with another 2x4 or that 4x4 was just significantly cheaper at the time. There was a time that a 4GB stick was much less than an 8GB stick. As of lately it isn't a big difference so I'd go with the higher density of 2x8GB if you do go with 16GB.

I am a fan of Corsair and G.SKill. Patriot is good to, but is sort of in that 2nd tier of my preference. But to each their own. There are only about 3 RAM chip manufacturers anyways so they all buy from them in the end.
 
16GB is the new sweet spot if you are doing more than gaming. I say go for a set of 2*8 so you can upgrade later. I run 32GB and love it. I have had it running up to 14GB at one time for one app, so if you want to multitask pro apps, 32GB is perfect. I run a Radeon Ramdisk and its great for pro apps. I prefer Corsair.