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2 stick of ram versus 4 stick of ddr4 ram

L

Lokite

n00b
Joined
Apr 18, 2023
Messages
16
hi, is there any performance difference between using 2 stick of 16 gig ram to get 32 gig or 4 stick of 8 gig ram assuming the specs of the ram are the same ? In all of my previous computer builds, I have just use 2 sticks of ram to get whatever total gig I need.
Thanks,Wayne
 
If the two 16GB sticks are single ranked, and if the memory controller can handle 4 sticks at rated speed, you can get a modest improvement out of 4 sticks because refresh on one stick can sometimes be overlapped with access on the other. If the 16GB sticks are dual ranked, as was common with older sticks, there's essentially no difference; refresh on one rank can occur with access on the other.

Unfortunately most memory vendors can't be bothered to list the ranking. Kingston used to, not sure if they still do. Very annoying. Newer 16GB sticks are probably single ranked.

As noted above, older AM4 CPU's (Zen 1, Zen +) tend to not like 4 sticks and run them at much reduced speed. It's much less of an issue with Zen 3 (the Ryzen 5xxx series). DDR5 tends to not like 4 sticks period. I guess I should clarify that it's 2 sticks per channel that's the issue, not 4 sticks per se; but all current desktop CPU's have dual channel memory controllers.
 
pitingres said:
If the two 16GB sticks are single ranked, and if the memory controller can handle 4 sticks at rated speed, you can get a modest improvement out of 4 sticks because refresh on one stick can sometimes be overlapped with access on the other. If the 16GB sticks are dual ranked, as was common with older sticks, there's essentially no difference; refresh on one rank can occur with access on the other.

Unfortunately most memory vendors can't be bothered to list the ranking. Kingston used to, not sure if they still do. Very annoying. Newer 16GB sticks are probably single ranked.

As noted above, older AM4 CPU's (Zen 1, Zen +) tend to not like 4 sticks and run them at much reduced speed. It's much less of an issue with Zen 3 (the Ryzen 5xxx series). DDR5 tends to not like 4 sticks period. I guess I should clarify that it's 2 sticks per channel that's the issue, not 4 sticks per se; but all current desktop CPU's have dual channel memory controllers.
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Thanks to everyone for their comments. Very informative
 
I have a 5950X system, and it has had no issues with 4 sticks of 16GB DDR4 running at XMP. Incredibly stable. DDR5 afaik is a different beast entirely, at least for AMD.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I have a 5950X system, and it has had no issues with 4 sticks of 16GB DDR4 running at XMP. Incredibly stable. DDR5 afaik is a different beast entirely, at least for AMD.
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It is because DDR5 is essentially dual-channel in itself. So dual channel at the board level is effectively quad-channel.
 
Dan_D said:
It is because DDR5 is essentially dual-channel in itself. So dual channel at the board level is effectively quad-channel.
Click to expand...
DDR5 is 2x 32-bit channels. The spot where it starts getting messy is when you're going past one rank per channel. Dual rank DDR5 DIMMs can't clock as high as single rank, 2 single rank dimms can't clock as high as 1 dimm. With DDR5 every rank you add reduces clock speeds. That said adding a rank isn't entirely all bad. I've see a couple reviews that suggest the multi-rank bonus is still there. That's been a pretty common thing across generations - at a given clock speed 2 ranks is often faster than one rank. I'd really like to see some more testing on this but for the most part ram reviews are all about seeing how high they can clock it.
 
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