Bit of help matching ram


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Hi All,

 

I'm currently running 16gb (2x8gb) on my work(home) desktop. I need to increase this to 32gb to run a few additional VM's.

 

I'd like to get matching ram however my build was done in 2014 so the part# is no longer available.

 

Running an I7 4790K with G.Skill TridentX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200 2400MHz Dual. Mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H v1.0.

(Memory as purchased from Novatech at the time https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/g-skill-tridentx-16gb-2x8gb-ddr3-pc3-19200-2400mhz-dual-channel-kit/f3-2400c10d-16gtx.html)

 

CPU-Z reports the following (see attachment):

 

G.Skill website recommends the following:

https://www.gskill.com/en/configurator?manu=54&chip=2146&model=2191

 

No overclocking going on.

 

Occasional gaming going so loathe to get something that mismatches and causes issues.

 

 

Thanks in advance fellow Neowinners!

 

Edit: I'm not sure if a) my current ram is running at it's potential or b) what the hell matches it!

 

RamConfig.png

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You need extra RAM because extra RAM lets you do more stuff. And that's about it.

 

As long as you don't buy junk RAM, any RAM in any combo will do the job. The BIOS will select the slowest RAM to adjust timing so it all "just works"

 

I strongly recommend G.Skill RAM to everyone because 1) it is great RAM and 2) it the most common brand used by mobo manufacturers to test motherboards and will be seen on all QVL lists.

 

Just buy the least expensive G.Skill - i.e. whatever is on sale.  

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17 minutes ago, Sledge said:

Hi All,

 

I'm currently running 16gb (2x8gb) on my work(home) desktop. I need to increase this to 32gb to run a few additional VM's.

 

I'd like to get matching ram however my build was done in 2014 so the part# is no longer available.

 

Running an I7 4790K with G.Skill TridentX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200 2400MHz Dual. Mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H v1.0.

(Memory as purchased from Novatech at the time https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/g-skill-tridentx-16gb-2x8gb-ddr3-pc3-19200-2400mhz-dual-channel-kit/f3-2400c10d-16gtx.html)

 

CPU-Z reports the following (see attachment):

 

G.Skill website recommends the following:

https://www.gskill.com/en/configurator?manu=54&chip=2146&model=2191

 

No overclocking going on.

 

Occasional gaming going so loathe to get something that mismatches and causes issues.

 

 

Thanks in advance fellow Neowinners!

 

Edit: I'm not sure if a) my current ram is running at it's potential or b) what the hell matches it!

 

RamConfig.png

Some extra thoughts:

 

- the whole "matched thing" as a technical issue is so retro pre-millennial. Now, it is just another Marketing Gizmo To Make a Product Look Special

 

- Your screenshot suggests that your BIOS is on "Auto" which in general is never a good thing.

 

- For extra piece of mind ALWAYS SELECT RAM FROM QVL but that is not always easy at any time, specially a couple of years later.

 

- Sometimes to achieve perfect stability RAM likes to be over-volted (almost always "Performance RAM" is a bit flaky without over-volting) and it never hurts to go up one increment on your BIOS settings

 

- You have a K series CPU so you can settle down the RAM at rock solid nice and slow timings and overclock via multipler only should you ever want to experiment. Speeding up RAM for any reason but particularly overclocking is a fool's game that will never yield any performance gain you would notice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Two weeks ago I wanted to upgrade from 16GB RAM to 32GB and I have the exact same RAM as you. I also had the problem that mine was bought that long ago and no website was selling it (had it in stock). I ended finding it on eBay, but it wasn't cheap. 16GB cost 150€. The online retailers were selling it about the same price, but none of them had it in stock and no ETA on when they would get it again.

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3 hours ago, Odom said:

Two weeks ago I wanted to upgrade from 16GB RAM to 32GB and I have the exact same RAM as you. I also had the problem that mine was bought that long ago and no website was selling it (had it in stock). I ended finding it on eBay, but it wasn't cheap. 16GB cost 150€. The online retailers were selling it about the same price, but none of them had it in stock and no ETA on when they would get it again.

All you had to do was find the cheapest quality RAM on sale and simply pay the least cost per gigabyte

 

You don't even need to buy two identical sticks.

 

DDR3-1600 would be just fine.

 

And one stick could be Corsair DDR3-1600 and another Kingston DDR3-2400, for example and it just wouldn't matter.

 

When I say matching RAM is last millennium, I mean it literally. A modern motherboard will adjust the timings to the lowest common denominator to achieve stability.

 

Some motherboards don't like certain RAM so always buy RAM where you can exchange it. It is rare to have that, a hit and miss no way to predict situation and has absolutely nothing to do with "matching" - I suspect that this rare situation is a factor along with sheer human stubbornness in perpetuating the "Matching Myth"

 

 

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Just don't mix DDR2 with DDR... Why won't you go in?! Oh... wrong type...

 

Some boards don't like all 4 slots filled, too. I experienced this with older boards specifically...

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45 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Just don't mix DDR2 with DDR... Why won't you go in?! Oh... wrong type...

 

Some boards don't like all 4 slots filled, too. I experienced this with older boards specifically...

Yes, The 4 slot problem.

 

- on performance motherboards there were often BIOS settings to increase specific timing and drive separately to each DIMM slot.

 

- if those settings were not available, over-volting the RAM a tiny bit combined with slowing the overall RAM speed by 30% did the trick in 90% of situations.

 

- for the remaining 10%, you needed RAM from the QVL list that was tested for 4 slots!

 

- you actually don't have to get very old to still run into this problem.

 

------------------------

 

The most annoying one of all was when the motherboard just would not boot no matter how you changed every possible variation of BIOS settings. The motherboard simply said "I don't like that RAM"

 

Fortunately I have always run 5 to 10 computers and the solution was to swap the RAM with another computer to keep the motherboards happy and content, humming away, doing digital things, thinking digital thoughts and obviously having a mind of their own about certain things...

 

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