4 GB of DDR3 1600 or 6GB of DDR3 1333?

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  1. Posts : 1,663
    Windows 10 Tech Preview 9926 x64
       #1

    4 GB of DDR3 1600 or 6GB of DDR3 1333?


    Alright guys...so newegg just informed me that I won the following memory in a Facebook contest: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 with heat spreaders and built in thermal sensor

    The wording on the contest is vague, so I'm not sure if I'm getting 4 or 8GB of it. Right now, I have 6 GB of Crucial DDR3 1333 RAM in my comp. I was just wondering how much performance, if any, I would lose by replacing it with the RAM that I won (assuming they only send me 4GB).
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  2. Posts : 3,427
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #2

    It depends what your doing with it. If your not doing anything memory intensive then probably hardly any, 4GB is about the sweet spot with Win 7, and the access speed on that RAM is quicker
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  3. Posts : 1,663
    Windows 10 Tech Preview 9926 x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Well, as it is now, with my CPU overclocked, my RAM is running at 1430. I do some work in PS CS5, usually no more than 25-30 pictures open at a time though, and some gaming (GTAIV, Bioshock 2, Assassin's Creed II).

    I'm thinking, either way, if they only send me 4GB, I can just grab another 4 gigs for $120 and be back up to 8GB.
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  4. Posts : 3,427
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    Well call me silly... but by my maths 1600 is still faster than 1430

    Having said that, your new Ram might not be so overclocking friendly, which might cause you a few problems. As I said, it depends, if you NEED 6GB then keep what you've got, or grab another couple of sticks, otherwise you may as well use the new one.
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  5. Posts : 1,663
    Windows 10 Tech Preview 9926 x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    severedsolo said:
    Well call me silly... but by my maths 1600 is still faster than 1430

    Having said that, your new Ram might not be so overclocking friendly, which might cause you a few problems. As I said, it depends, if you NEED 6GB then keep what you've got, or grab another couple of sticks, otherwise you may as well use the new one.
    Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Although, with the heat spreaders and the built in thermal sensors, they should be pretty decent overclockers. The OC I have now wouldn't even be enough to overclock those sticks. Think I'm just going to throw them in when they get here and check them out.

    Thanks for the advice. :)
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  6. Posts : 3,427
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #6

    No Problem mate, let us know how you get on :)
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  7. Posts : 163
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #7

    Honestly you will see minimal if any difference when running 1600 speed over what you have currently. Since you do run memory intensive apps you will benefit from more ram than you would from less ram with more speed. You would get the best performance if you did get 8GB of whatever you won, but I still doubt you will see much improvement over what you have now. If you are not close to maxing out your 6gb then 8 won't be faster.
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  8. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #8

    On a new build here the DDR3 1600 was actually backclocked to 1066 due to it being 1.9v while the board runs at 1.5v for all four dimms slots. The larger benefit was seeing the replacement 1.5v memory running at 1600mhz rather then buying faster DDR3 1866 1.9v to see that backclocked to 1600.

    As for going from 4gb upto 8gb don't expect any real performance gain as you would have seen going from 1gb upto 2gb on XP or Vista. The option for the larger amount of ram is best served when running memory hungry softwares as housry23 was mentioning there.

    For the 8gb now seen there that will be good for TurboCAD 12 on presently as well as other 3d modeling and eventually animation projects. Check your board specifications on voltages as well as memory speeds supported as well as the specs on the memory you won and make comparisons before deciding since you want 1600 to run at 1600 and are better off with 6-8gb of the faster memory.
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  9. Posts : 872
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #9

    I see your motherboard only has four RAM slots. What sizes are your individual RAM chips?
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  10. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #10

    The memory is strictly 2gb dimms since 4gb dimms are still priced way up there. Otherwise I would have gone for a matched pair of 4gb dimms. So far no ill effects have been seen with all four slots populated however once the memory with the correct voltage was installed.

    The first pair of 2gb dimms will be reused for another new 7 build being planned there. When adding the second of the correct memory in to go up from 4gb to the 8gb now in there wasn't any particular performance gain to see. You may find that 7 or Vista 64 will run smoother however while don't expect any large boost performance wise.
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