Looking for advice on my RAM predicament

[OhLookImADinosaurNow]

Hi there. I recently put together a new gaming rig intended to give me the most amount of gaming performance for the $600-700 price range. Problem is, I had been completely out of the hardware scene for about four years at this point (life threw me a couple curveballs) and I'm afraid I screwed up. I went with 4GB (2x2GB) of memory instead of 8GB, trying to get my budget low and operating off of years-old assumptions about how much RAM I needed for gaming and browsing/basic multitasking. Pretty much everything I'm reading now seems to confirm that my 2x2GB is weak relative to the rest of my components and could bottleneck the rig in one way or another.

My question is, what is the best course of action now?

1. Get another 2x2GB of the same sticks? Will running four sticks affect speed or reliability enough to make this option not worth it?

2. Set the 2x2GB sticks aside, essentially taking a loss on them, and get a new 2x4GB kit (I'm on a pretty strict budget, so that would hurt)?

3. Or another option?

Here's my build as it stands now:

i5-4670K
Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 (Cas Latency 9) F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL
PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer
Zalman Z9 ATX Mid Tower Case
Windows 7 Home (64-bit)

 

[Tradesman1]

Mixing sets can be and often is problematic, even with another set of the same exact sticks....a few scenarios available - go with your 2x2GB and see if it's bad for you (which will give some time to collect a little more cash), and if it won't work, then get a 2x4GB set...from there can probably sell off the 2x2GB set and recoup some of your expenditure on the new, or try mixing the old with the new and it will be a bonus 4GB if they will play

 

[OhLookImADinosaurNow]

Mixing sets can be and often is problematic, even with another set of the same exact sticks....a few scenarios available - go with your 2x2GB and see if it's bad for you (which will give some time to collect a little more cash), and if it won't work, then get a 2x4GB set...from there can probably sell off the 2x2GB set and recoup some of your expenditure on the new, or try mixing the old with the new and it will be a bonus 4GB if they will play

Thanks for the response. That's what I was worried about; the last thing I want is to end up with 4 2gb sticks and *still* not have a stable setup, haha. I'll guess I'll wait for a really hot deal (hopefully) on a 2x4.

 

[Tradesman1]

Think that's your best bet, let us know what you find