I have a Ryzen 7 5700X, a B450 motherboard, an RTX 5070, and currently 16GB of DDR4 installed as 2×8GB T-Force Delta RGB sticks running at 3000MHz CL16. I regularly run out of memory and experience stuttering in games such as Black Myth: Wukong, Stellar Blade, and Final Fantasy XVI while playing at 1080p. I'm considering adding a matching 2×4GB kit to reach 24GB total. Would the extra capacity improve performance, or would using four sticks with 2×8GB plus 2×4GB create compatibility or performance problems?
3 Answers
The better upgrade would be replacing the current memory with a matched 2×16GB DDR4 kit. A 3200MHz CL16 or 3600MHz CL18 kit would give you 32GB and generally has a better chance of running reliably at its rated settings than mixing separate kits. Four DIMMs can place more stress on the Ryzen memory controller, and you might need to lower the speed or adjust BIOS settings.
It can work, assuming you mean adding two 4GB sticks—not four 2GB sticks. However, 24GB made from 2×8GB plus 2×4GB is an uneven configuration, so it may not run as cleanly as a matched kit. Check your memory usage first; if games are actually exhausting the 16GB, more RAM could reduce stuttering, but adding capacity alone does not guarantee higher FPS.
Adding more sticks is not automatically faster. If your RAM usage is staying below 16GB, the upgrade probably will not help and could slightly reduce memory speed or stability. Use Task Manager or an in-game overlay to confirm whether memory usage reaches the limit during the stutters. If it does, 32GB with 2×16GB is the safest long-term solution.
So the recommendation is to replace the existing 16GB rather than add the smaller kit, even if the brand and timings match?