Adding more RAM..

[royalsong]

I'm getting a SSD and I figured I'd upgrade my RAM while I was in the box. I already have 4gb in there (2gb sticks) and can fit 2 more sticks as far as I can tell. This is my motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128443

Rather not spend more then $50.. but less then that would be good. Any suggestions to buy or tips of what to look for?

Thanks!

[Arclight]

Take your pick

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=20

[just brew it!]

I've had great luck with Kingston over the past few years.

My recommendation would be to get a pair of 4 GB Kingston ValueRam sticks. Either install them alongside your existing 2 GB sticks for 12 GB total, or swap out the 2 GB sticks (this should allow you to use more aggressive timings than if you fill all 4 slots).

[JustAnEngineer]

$49 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 Crucial BLT2KIT4G3D1869DT1TX0 (DDR3-1866, CAS 9, 1.5 V)

[thecoldanddarkone]

I suggest getting 8 gigs like the other's are saying. It's hard to say if your going to be able to get all 4 slots stable depending the setup since the modules are going to be different.

[just brew it!]

I suggest getting 8 gigs like the other's are saying. It's hard to say if your going to be able to get all 4 slots stable depending the setup since the modules are going to be different.

It should be possible to get them stable, but there's a fair chance the RAM will need to be underclocked and/or the timings loosened to get there, especially if all of the DIMMs are double-sided. The mobo might be able to sort things out by itself (I've had a couple of Asus mobos that automatically downclock the RAM if you use Auto timings with all 4 slots filled), but this is by no means guaranteed.

OP will probably need to decide whether 12 GB vs. 8 GB is worth a small drop in memory bandwidth. If he's not running stuff that will use more than 8 GB then going for 8 GB at tighter timings might be a net win over 12 GB at looser timings and/or lower clock speed. But even if apps aren't filling 8 GB the extra 4 GB will still get used as file system cache which should improve system responsiveness, so the choice is far from clear even in that case.

[royalsong]

wow, I was under the impression it didn't really make a difference if I used different RAM.. so long as the sticks were exactly the same in each of the colored slot pairs.

Would you be able to offer more direction if I tell you that this is the RAM that's currently in it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146748

[just brew it!]

It's filling all 4 slots that is more likely to cause issues at rated speed, not the mixing of DIMM brands/models.

[puppetworx]

Make sure they have equal (or better) timings and voltages of course so that there is no problems (hopefully).

[thecoldanddarkone]

I suggest getting 8 gigs like the other's are saying. It's hard to say if your going to be able to get all 4 slots stable depending the setup since the modules are going to be different.

It should be possible to get them stable, but there's a fair chance the RAM will need to be underclocked and/or the timings loosened to get there, especially if all of the DIMMs are double-sided. The mobo might be able to sort things out by itself (I've had a couple of Asus mobos that automatically downclock the RAM if you use Auto timings with all 4 slots filled), but this is by no means guaranteed.

OP will probably need to decide whether 12 GB vs. 8 GB is worth a small drop in memory bandwidth. If he's not running stuff that will use more than 8 GB then going for 8 GB at tighter timings might be a net win over 12 GB at looser timings and/or lower clock speed. But even if apps aren't filling 8 GB the extra 4 GB will still get used as file system cache which should improve system responsiveness, so the choice is far from clear even in that case.

Don't get me wrong I agree with you, but i've had situations where no matter how much voltage or clocks I wasn't able to get the ram to play nice together. I will say most of the time it's the "premium" sticks I've had the problem with.

[royalsong]

It's filling all 4 slots that is more likely to cause issues at rated speed, not the mixing of DIMM brands/models.

Why would filling all 4 slots cause issues? Why include additional slots on the motherboard if it's better not to use them all?

[just brew it!]

It's filling all 4 slots that is more likely to cause issues at rated speed, not the mixing of DIMM brands/models.

Why would filling all 4 slots cause issues? Why include additional slots on the motherboard if it's better not to use them all?

Signal integrity. Current DRAM bus speeds really push the limits of what is reasonable/possible to do with current tech. More DIMMs adds load to the memory bus and degrades the control signals coming from the memory controller.

It is not uncommon for motherboard manufacturers to state that the highest RAM speed your motherboard supports is only guaranteed to work if you leave the second slot on each channel empty and/or use single-sided DIMMs. It is then up to the user to decide whether they want more RAM, or faster RAM.

Server platforms deal with this issue by using registered DIMMs. This solves the loading issue by decoupling the DRAM chips from the physical memory bus; registered DIMMs essentially put repeater chips on each DIMM for the control signals. The downside is that this adds latency, since it takes time for the control signals to propagate through the extra chips.

[Arclight]

Maybe this could be of help....