8gb Ram (1 stick) vs 16gb ram (2 sticks) -For my office desktop PC

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Plainman

Limp Gawd
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Aug 7, 2017
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Hi Guys,

I have 2 sticks of FURY 8gb 1866mhz CL10 Ram, exact same model, timing etc.
I have inserted 1 stick into my new build and CPU/RAM meter shows im mostly using not more than half.
I was intending to sell off the other one online or something. I can optionally put this stick also in and have 16gb running on Dual Channel mode.
While i assume 8gb ram is OK for an office/business PC and throwing more ram at it may not make a difference, will the DUAL CHANNEL mode advantage i get by throwing in the other 8gb stick see an increase in performance ?
 
RAM is pretty valuable now.
Dual channel may help in some instances (depending on the rest of your hardware).
The CPU/RAM meter is showing you what it's using up with 8 gigs. It may show different values with 16 GB, because it will be able to cache/prefetch more data.
Also, in case one of the sticks becomes damaged, you always have the second one.
So... I'd keep both.
 
I consider 8gb the bare minimum these days, best to stay ahead and run the 16gb.
 
OK i guess ill keep the ram. Its not that im going to get great value selling it either. I though either dispose it or keep it separately in case of failure of the currently installed stick. But now i think ill install it instead of keep it idle as a backup.

Will there be a little perceivable difference in system speed or performance when using dual channel, at least slightly noticeable ?
 
Plainman said:
OK i guess ill keep the ram. Its not that im going to get great value selling it either. I though either dispose it or keep it separately in case of failure of the currently installed stick. But now i think ill install it instead of keep it idle as a backup.

Will there be a little perceivable difference in system speed or performance when using dual channel, at least slightly noticeable ?
Click to expand...

Would definitely help if you're using the integrated GPU.

In other applications, I keep reading it's a few percent difference. I always go for it whenever I spec out a PC, though.
 
michalrz said:
Would definitely help if you're using the integrated GPU.

In other applications, I keep reading it's a few percent difference. I always go for it whenever I spec out a PC, though.
Click to expand...

Meaning this would be more helpful only for games ? I hardly play video games. I have a GeForce 210 NVidia card installed. Its pretty basic i know, but i didn't buy it for this system, it was also decommissioned form my older graphics workstation which i recently rebuilt. Hence this was just passed down hierarchically and being used now for my business pc. I don't know if the graphics card will even help, maybe it might when using google maps 3d etc, but believe me even that doesn't run smoothly, i don't knwo what the eye wash is all about in buying a graphics card.

The older rig which was my business PC (currently discarded and being replaced with this rig) was just an INTEL DG 33FB with a Core2Duo E8400 @3Ghz, with 2 GB ram. I installed NFSpeed game and just tried it. It ran smoothly with no graphics card. Then i installed the same game on this current system with 8gb ram (from this morning 16gb ram installed) and it ran exactly the same way with the same visual effect/detail/speed etc. So whats the big fun in the graphics card i don't understand.

I understand that it's a very basic Nvidia card, but even then a card is a card, it shoudlnt perform at no perceptible difference.

That discarded Core2Duo didn't have even an IGPU inbuilt. Its all very intangible, like high end audio systems, to tell what the difference is. Its all so subtle (to the vendors advantage) that they could relabel the same card as a GTX and give it to me and i would psychologically feel that its performing better, the placebo effect.
 
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Actually, the GT 210 is indeed that bad. It is completely and utterly worthless. It's about 3 times slower than a ~2012 processor-integrated GPU (the HD 4000).
But, it's not using your RAM because it has its own memory, that's the only upside.
How is your current system specced?
 
LOL ! No Surprise. :). Then please tell me something. Its currently on this Office PC and the processor here is i3-2100, I think that processor has a HD2000 inbuilt graphics. Is it ok to pull out the GeForce 210 card and run on the inbuilt IGPU ? Seriously, im asking. Because it could save some power load on the PSU atleast.

The system specs are as follows...

Corei3-2100, The NVidia GT210 bullshit card mentioned above, 16gb 1866mhz ram (but running at 1333mhz due to maxing out the mobo bandwidth, ASUS P8-H77-M mobo, Optical drive, 120GB Samsung SSD drive for OS & Programs only.

2 nos 2TB seagate 7200rpm drives spanned to form one 4TB disk for Data.
1 4TB hdd 5400rpm for backup of the above spanned volume.

That's it.
 
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Plainman said:
LOL ! No Surprise. :). Hey then please tell me something. Its currently on this Office PC and the processor here is i3-2100, I think that processor has a HD2000 inbuilt graphics. Then is it ok to pull out the GeForce 210 card and run on the inbuilt IGPU ? Seriously, im asking. Because it could save some power load on the PSU atleast.

The system specs are as follows...

Corei3-2100, The NVidia GT210 bullshit card mentioned above, 16gb 1866mhz ram (but running at 1333mhz due to maxing out the mobo bandwidth, ASUS P8-H77-M mobo, Optical drive, 120GB Samsung SSD drive for OS & Programs only.

2 nos 2TB seagate 7200rpm drives spanned to form one 4TB disk for Data.
1 4TB hdd 5400rpm for backup of the above spanned volume.

That's it.
Click to expand...

If you aren't gaming AND you are running the 16gb, there is no point to have the Geforce in there. As far as power load difference it'll be negligible as whatever is driving your monitor will be idle most of the time if you aren't doing anything to stress the GPU. But might as well pull it in my opinion.

I guess one question, how will the monitor connect? Does the motherboard have dvi/dp/hdmi?
 
Motherboard has D-Sub, DVI & HDMI all built in onboard. Processor supports dual monitor by default and my processor on this board supports 2 displays simultaneously.

I think my Mobo has inbuilt IGPU Intel HD Graphics 2000. Will this be a better option than running the GeForce 210 or will the GeForce give me some advantage when navigating flash graphics websites or minor apps that have 3D. I should remark that this system was previously used withe same Proc/Mobo/Ram/Graphics card setup to work with 3ds max etc and it worked fairly well. I used to render semi photorealistic architectural type renders with mental ray / raytrace lighting simulation. Used to render a frame in 1 minute or so. I hope i wwon't e losing that power when i pull the graphics card. Also ive installed the Nvidia HD Audio driver to ensure i can have sound go through the HDMI cable for home theater use.

I don't know if by default IGPU graphics the system will ouput the DTS/Dolby sound via HDMI for the HT amplifier to decode.
 
Now been running on the 16gb ram in dual channel. Both slotted into the blue (same color channel).

Actually seems like the system is a little bit sluggish compared to when it was with 8gb ram. But its all subjective. Maybe im just feeling that way.
 
Always always go for at least two matched sticks to ensure you're getting the dual channel mode of operation or you're looking at taking a pretty severe hit to overall system performance. Sure most people won't even notice it in day to day use but why waste the system's potential for performance that it's designed for in the first place. If you can't get 16GB as 2x8GB then trade the single 8GB stick for 2x4GB and go from there but always get at least 2 matched sticks for the system you're using.
 
Tiberian said:
Always always go for at least two matched sticks to ensure you're getting the dual channel mode of operation or you're looking at taking a pretty severe hit to overall system performance. Sure most people won't even notice it in day to day use but why waste the system's potential for performance that it's designed for in the first place. If you can't get 16GB as 2x8GB then trade the single 8GB stick for 2x4GB and go from there but always get at least 2 matched sticks for the system you're using.
Click to expand...

Thats very basic to always use the exact same brand, type, speed and CL timing ram. I think i even mentioned that i already have both these sticks, they already exist in the system. Its just that i pulled out one stick of 8gb ad was thinking of running on 1 stick of 8gb alone since this was an office pc. They are both exact ditto ram sticks both were ordered at the same time from the same seller on amazon as an order of 2 pieces. So they are ditto. Both my creative/graphics workstation and this office pc have ditto sticks of 8gb plugged in. And you forgot to mention putting them both in the same channel slots (same color) so that they run in dual channel.

I was asking about pulling the NVidia card. The ram question was already sorted out.
 
Plainman said:
Now been running on the 16gb ram in dual channel. Both slotted into the blue (same color channel).

Actually seems like the system is a little bit sluggish compared to when it was with 8gb ram. But its all subjective. Maybe im just feeling that way.
Click to expand...

Put a cheap SSD in it and all that should go away.
 
When you say "office use" do you mean Microsoft Office? Chrome? You will not feel any difference between the 8GB single stick and dual channel 16GB sticks. I recommend not looking at the benchmarks, just use the machine with one stick. On an office machine a 8GB single stick will not cripple the machine anywhere near what they make it out to be. You will not feel it. (Unless you plan to save the benchmark screen captures as a desktop background or print/past them to your desk.)

It's hard to disconnect yourself from the hyperbole you'll read about on the internet. But I say trust yourself and just use the machine with one stick of 8GB.
 
martinmsj said:
When you say "office use" do you mean Microsoft Office? Chrome? You will not feel any difference between the 8GB single stick and dual channel 16GB sticks. I recommend not looking at the benchmarks, just use the machine with one stick. On an office machine a 8GB single stick will not cripple the machine anywhere near what they make it out to be. You will not feel it. (Unless you plan to save the benchmark screen captures as a desktop background or print/past them to your desk.)

It's hard to disconnect yourself from the hyperbole you'll read about on the internet. But I say trust yourself and just use the machine with one stick of 8GB.
Click to expand...

I think he mentioned he already has 2 sticks, so I'd say just run them both!

Now he's fretting about the GPU.

At the end of the day NONE of it matters if this is an office PC, 8gb or 16gb, not a big difference, GPU or no GPU, doesn't matter.
 
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