Adding RAM

dsscottage · Feb 7, 2024

I'm looking for a second opinion.

I have a new system (Dec 2023) and have a minor performance issue (I won't bore you with the details).

The system has one stick of 32GB RAM. Based on a lot of troubleshooting and assistance from the NVIDIA forum, I'm advised that one stick of RAM is a bad idea and will cause a performance hit. I was going to add a second stick of 32GB RAM from a different manufacturer. I was also advised that this isn't a good idea. Instead, I should get a matched pair of RAM sticks.

My existing RAM is 32GB Samsung DDR5-4800
I indented to buy 32GB Critical DDR5 4800MHz

I've added RAM to older systems and haven't had any problem.

Can someone give me a second opinion of this issue?

Sir_George · Feb 7, 2024

dsscottage said:
I'm looking for a second opinion.

I have a new system (Dec 2023) and have a minor performance issue (I won't bore you with the details).

The system has one stick of 32GB RAM. Based on a lot of troubleshooting and assistance from the NVIDIA forum, I'm advised that one stick of RAM is a bad idea and will cause a performance hit. I was going to add a second stick of 32GB RAM from a different manufacturer. I was also advised that this isn't a good idea. Instead, I should get a matched pair of RAM sticks.

My existing RAM is 32GB Samsung DDR5-4800
I indented to buy 32GB Critical DDR5 4800MHz

I've added RAM to older systems and haven't had any problem.

Can someone give me a second opinion of this issue?

For the first question; Quad-channel mode offers greater bandwidth; hence, if you run memory-intensive programs, the performance improvement will be significant. The processor can access the four sticks simultaneously to complete the job instead of the single or dual sticks.

For the second question; It has been advised for some time that matching ram is best. I don't have any personal experience with using different ram sticks, so no personal opinion to provide.

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

64 GB is a LOT of RAM unless you're a high-power gamer. The problem you're having MAY be because with a single stick, you can't be running in dual-channel mode. My suggestion would be that you get a matched pair of 16GB OR, if you wish, a matched pair of 32GB. Going with any of the major brands is safe shopping. Just don't consider an off-brand Chinese knock-off. Brands frequently cited here are Crucial, G. Skill, and Corsair. Oh, and don't just buy two of the same specs; buy the "kit" of two sticks. Those are supposed to be carefully matched.

dsscottage · Feb 7, 2024

Wisewiz said:
64 GB is a LOT of RAM unless you're a high-power gamer. The problem you're having MAY be because with a single stick, you can't be running in dual-channel mode. My suggestion would be that you get a matched pair of 16GB OR, if you wish, a matched pair of 32GB. Going with any of the major brands is safe shopping. Just don't consider an off-brand Chinese knock-off. Brands frequently cited here are Crucial, G. Skill, and Corsair. Oh, and don't just buy two of the same specs; buy the "kit" of two sticks. Those are supposed to be carefully matched.

WiseWiz,
It seems that you are always helping me. Thank you. I used to think that I was reasonably knowledgeable on PC issues but every time I have a problem, I find out how much I didn't know that I didn't know. It's a learning experience.

I'm not a gamer at all but I bought a high powered system because I'm enhancing a lot of old SD videos using Topaz Video AI. My old system was fairly powerful but it would not run Topaz Video AI. I've watched the Win performance monitor while running Topaz and it maxes out the CPU and almost maxes out the RAM. I'm told that part of the CPU load is caused by only one stick of RAM. That's one reason I'm considering adding RAM.

I believe that my one 32GB stick is running in dual channel mode (see attached).

I was intending to add a stick from Critical. Are you telling me that Critical is an off-brand Chinese knock off?

Based on your answers, I'm probably off on another shopping trip.

By the way, my motherboard only has two RAM slots.

Thank you again!

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

Sorry, but I never heard of Critical brand RAM. Maybe (?) you're just getting the brand-name wrong. Crucial is close to Critical in spelling.

After I saw your screenshot, I fired up CPU-Z on my older, slightly less powerful PC, and saw this. I haven't had any experience with "2x32-bit" meaning "dual-channel." I don't think that's the same thing as dual-channel, but I've been wrong before. Both my office PCs say "dual-channel" in CPU-Z.

dsscottage · Feb 7, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Sorry, but I never heard of Critical brand RAM. Maybe (?) you're just getting the brand-name wrong. Crucial is close to Critical in spelling.

After I saw your screenshot, I fired up CPU-Z on my older, slightly less powerful PC, and saw this. I haven't had any experience with "2x32-bit" meaning "dual-channel." I don't think that's the same thing as dual-channel, but I've been wrong before. Both my office PCs say "dual-channel" in CPU-Z.

View attachment 86362

Yes. I did mean Crucial. Is that the brand that is an off-brand Chinese knockoff?

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

Nononono. Crucial is one of the best, most dependable ones. I forgot to mention Kingston and Patriot in my post above. When you shop it's not difficult to compare prices for sticks (kits) with the same specs, and spend wisely (as opposed to foolishly, which involves buying a brand nobody ever heard of just to save a few bucks). Might look at the warranty of the manufacturer and the return policy of the merchant, too.

I have been very happy with Patriot Viper RAM kits. Dependable brand, good warranty, and excellent performance on my PCs.

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

You can tell most everything you need to know from reading the specs and comparing prices for the same specs. There's a lot of broohaha on the Web about RAM, and I suspect that some of it was subsidized by the manufacturer. These seem to me to be reasonable bits, though:

"Patriot makes some of the best RAM products around, and you can often find them in roundup lists when you search for the best RAM. Produced in the U.S., it also has great customer service support. The Viper Elite series was the go-to DDR4 option, but the new VIPER VENOM has DDR5 kits that boast a 6600MHz clock speed. That's really fast, and you can get a 32GB kit for $123.

Crucial is another budget brand for PC components, and the company also has RAM sticks available for sale. Crucial is owned by Micron, so it gets the benefit of having rigorous testing for and a direct line to its RAM modules. It's also pretty affordable. You can get a DDR5 16GB kit for $40 on Amazon. The caveat is you won't get anything fancy like RGB lighting at that price.

G.Skill is one of the top dogs in the RAM market and many of its products are included in the best custom PC builds. There's a good reason for that — the company's kits often have the best looks and a wide range of capacities and clock speeds. The Trident series is the flagship product from G.Skill, and it comes with a sleek aluminum heat spreader that looks great and keeps the RAM cool. The RGB is present but not overstated like on some other products.

Corsair is one of the top names in PC accessories, and it makes a lot of peripherals including keyboards and gaming mice. Corsair is also the undisputed leader in gaming RAM. The Vengence line of RAM offers best-in-class performance, "

Dan

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

dsscottage said:
I find out how much I didn't know that I didn't know

Love that. I used to begin my first class in my Introduction to Linguistics course with something along these lines:

All that there is to know can be divided for any individual into what you know and what you don't know.

What you don't know comes in two packages: What you don't know that you know you don't know and what you don't know that you don't know you don't know.

People are often very outspoken about things they don't know and don't know they don't know.

What you know comes in two packages as well, and this pair is a little harder to grasp: What you know that you know you know, and what you know that you don't know you know.

Linguistics deals with the last of these. You know a great deal about the language(s) you speak natively, but most of that knowledge is unconscious (tacit) knowledge. In this course, my goal will be to make you aware of a lot of things that you actually know, but that you were completely unaware of.

End of lecture snippit.

Dan

PerpetualCycle · Feb 7, 2024

Sir_George said:
For the first question; Quad-channel mode offers greater bandwidth; hence, if you run memory-intensive programs, the performance improvement will be significant. The processor can access the four sticks simultaneously to complete the job instead of the single or dual sticks.

For the second question; It has been advised for some time that matching ram is best. I don't have any personal experience with using different ram sticks, so no personal opinion to provide.

I think this is a dual channel board isn’t it? Depending on the memory architecture, 2 or 4 sticks will be better. But probably 2.
Good brands are g.skill, crucial.

Wisewiz · Feb 7, 2024

dsscottage said:
By the way, my motherboard only has two RAM slots.

@geneo
The four-stick option is a non-starter for OP.

dsscottage · Feb 7, 2024

Wisewiz said:
You can tell most everything you need to know from reading the specs and comparing prices for the same specs. There's a lot of broohaha on the Web about RAM, and I suspect that some of it was subsidized by the manufacturer. These seem to me to be reasonable bits, though:

"Patriot makes some of the best RAM products around, and you can often find them in roundup lists when you search for the best RAM. Produced in the U.S., it also has great customer service support. The Viper Elite series was the go-to DDR4 option, but the new VIPER VENOM has DDR5 kits that boast a 6600MHz clock speed. That's really fast, and you can get a 32GB kit for $123.

Crucial is another budget brand for PC components, and the company also has RAM sticks available for sale. Crucial is owned by Micron, so it gets the benefit of having rigorous testing for and a direct line to its RAM modules. It's also pretty affordable. You can get a DDR5 16GB kit for $40 on Amazon. The caveat is you won't get anything fancy like RGB lighting at that price.

G.Skill is one of the top dogs in the RAM market and many of its products are included in the best custom PC builds. There's a good reason for that — the company's kits often have the best looks and a wide range of capacities and clock speeds. The Trident series is the flagship product from G.Skill, and it comes with a sleek aluminum heat spreader that looks great and keeps the RAM cool. The RGB is present but not overstated like on some other products.

Corsair is one of the top names in PC accessories, and it makes a lot of peripherals including keyboards and gaming mice. Corsair is also the undisputed leader in gaming RAM. The Vengence line of RAM offers best-in-class performance, "

Dan

Thank you for that detailed explanation. I was worried about my misunderstanding of Crucial. I read a lot of online reviews and they were usually top of the list.

I am leaning to toward Crucial. I don't want anything with flashing lights. My grandson is a gamer. I helped him build his computer. His case has a clear Plexiglas side and his RAM, mouse and keyboard all have glowing and flashing lights . It drives me crazy.

I'm out on my shopping trip.

Thank you again for all of your help as well as my education.

dsscottage · Feb 7, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Love that. I used to begin my first class in my Introduction to Linguistics course with something along these lines:

All that there is to know can be divided for any individual into what you know and what you don't know.

What you don't know comes in two packages: What you don't know that you know you don't know and what you don't know that you don't know you don't know.

People are often very outspoken about things they don't know and don't know they don't know.

What you know comes in two packages as well, and this pair is a little harder to grasp: What you know that you know you know, and what you know that you don't know you know.

Linguistics deals with the last of these. You know a great deal about the language(s) you speak natively, but most of that knowledge is unconscious (tacit) knowledge. In this course, my goal will be to make you aware of a lot of things that you actually know, but that you were unaware of.

End of lecture snippit.

Dan

PerpetualCycle · Feb 7, 2024

Wisewiz said:
@geneo
The four-stick option is a non-starter for OP.

Yeah, no, why? LOL

Hazel123 · Feb 7, 2024

I've always used Crucial ram - been using it for years. It's good and reliable. I'd also get two paired 16gb sticks.

bobkn · Feb 7, 2024

dsscottage said:
WiseWiz,
It seems that you are always helping me. Thank you. I used to think that I was reasonably knowledgeable on PC issues but every time I have a problem, I find out how much I didn't know that I didn't know. It's a learning experience.

I'm not a gamer at all but I bought a high powered system because I'm enhancing a lot of old SD videos using Topaz Video AI. My old system was fairly powerful but it would not run Topaz Video AI. I've watched the Win performance monitor while running Topaz and it maxes out the CPU and almost maxes out the RAM. I'm told that part of the CPU load is caused by only one stick of RAM. That's one reason I'm considering adding RAM.

I believe that my one 32GB stick is running in dual channel mode (see attached).

View attachment 86361

I was intending to add a stick from Critical. Are you telling me that Critical is an off-brand Chinese knock off?

Based on your answers, I'm probably off on another shopping trip.

By the way, my motherboard only has two RAM slots.

Thank you again!

DDR5 is described as having dual channels for a single DIMM, but it's two 32 bit wide channels. (I don't recall the architectural advantage to that, if any.) DDR4 and before has a 64 bit wide path. Even with DDR5, you'd want two DIMMS to get the maximum memory performance.

With a desktop motherboard, dual channel is the maximum. The memory bandwidth is the same whether you use one pair (in the correct slots) or two pairs. Server or workstation motherboards are required to get quad or octa channel memory. (Most of us don't need that.)

If you wished to match the existing RAM exactly, you might have gotten the part number from the SPD tab in CPU-Z.

I'm not sure how important it is to get an exact match, but DDR5 seems to me to be a bit finicky. If you get this data on your RAM, you could see how the Crucial RAM compares. Here is one Crucial DDR5 4800 spec: Crucial 32GB DDR5-4800 UDIMM | CT32G48C40U5 | Crucial.com

Crucial is a good source, though. If you take your exact Dell model to their web site, they'll list RAM and guarantee compatibility. You might not get an identical DIMM. Crucial is a subsidiary of Micron. Whether they use any non-Micron chips, I don't know.

abactuon · Feb 7, 2024

"Based on a lot of troubleshooting and assistance from the NVIDIA forum, I'm advised that one stick of RAM is a bad idea and w.ill cause a performance hit."
It didn't seem to be super important on ddr4 for gaming.

dsscottage · Feb 8, 2024

I believe that I'm on my way to resolution.

FYI - I contacted Dell to see what they could do to help me get a pair of RAM stick. They wouldn't exchange my 32GB stick for two 16GB sticks. They recommended that I contact Sales for my needs. The price of their RAM was out of this world.

My existing RAM is a Samsung unit. I was unable to find a matching stick online and based on feedback here, I'd be worried that an additional stick (not a matched pair) might be a problem.

Therefore, I've looked online for reviews, specs and prices and have ordered:
Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 5200MHz

Now I'll cross my fingers that I won't have any installation problems.

Thank you everyone for all your help, advice and education.

BTW - I'd like to mark the thread "Solved" but I don't see that link on this thread. (????)

Wisewiz · Feb 8, 2024

dsscottage said:
Now I'll cross my fingers that I won't have any installation problems.

You won't. In a Dell desktop, the hardest part of changing memory sticks is opening the case. Since you have only two slots, those slots are the right ones for the new sticks (!

). And the Dell slots have the perfectly standard snap-up plastic levers at the ends. Snap 'em both down to release the stick you currently have; make sure your stick is oriented the right way (look at the notch in the stick and the plastic stump in the slot; there's only one way for the stick to seat itself completely in), and firmly (firmly!) press down on the back (spine) of the stick until the plastic levers both snap up. You'll hear the clicks.

Done and dusted. Good luck, old friend.

Wisewiz · Feb 8, 2024

BTW: Looks like a VERY good choice.

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