Ram configuration 4x4 or 2x8?

Posted by Carl B on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Carl B
Published on 2012-09-22T06:05:10Z Indexed on 2012/09/22 9:40 UTC
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I am looking to upgrade my Ram to 16gigs and I am wondering if there is any distinct advantage of the way I do it. That being a 4x4 or 2x8 set up. In all my searching there have been a number of pros for each profile. I can find no benchmarck results for either setup as a compaison.

So, if there are 2 profiles of the same speed, same voltage, same timing and same cas what would perform better or have a better over all benafit?

A few examples from my search - a 4x4 set would lend a benafit in that if one stick failed, you only lose 25% of your Ram vs 50% in a 2x8 set up.

a 2x8 set up would have less strain on the memory controler and motherboard.

a 2x8 would generate less heat.

a 2x8 set up is easier to over clock (not part of my need, but alot of the comparisons circled around the overclocability ease of the 2 stick set up).

There is one outstanding benafit that I have found in at least the target company I have looked at and that is price. The 2x8 is nearly half the cost.

My motherboard supports a max of 16 gigs and I have a 64 bit OS.

Has anyone seen any performance comparisons or is 16 gb just 16 gb no matter how you slice it? And is there any merit to the above pros?

Edit: as per the mobo specs - Main Memory

Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*/1800*/2133* (OC) DRAM, 16GB Max

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