I'm trying to make a decision about my RAM situation. Right now, I have a single stick of 2666MHz RAM (8GB), but one of my sticks broke down. I'm considering whether I should buy a new pair of faster RAM (16GB with two sticks at 3200MHz) or just get another stick that matches my current one since prices for RAM are pretty high here in the Philippines. What do you think would be the best choice?
5 Answers
I'm still using 2666MHz RAM with my 5700X overclocked to 3200MHz. By the way, I have a friend from back when I was doing my exchange program who told me that RAM prices have skyrocketed lately on the second-hand market!
Check out benchmarks using your specific CPU if you can. A lot of early Ryzen setups really benefited from faster RAM, and generally, 3200MHz or 3600MHz is considered the sweet spot for DDR4.
2666MHz RAM should still be okay for everyday use. Just remember, your motherboard might not even support 3200MHz speeds.
The actual year doesn't really matter. If you were happy with how your system performed before, just grab another 2666MHz stick and stick with it.
First off, check what speed your motherboard and CPU can support. Running a single stick can slow things down, sometimes up to 20% compared to dual-channel setups. If you're sticking with your system, I suggest going for dual-channel at the highest speed your motherboard allows.
It's actually more like a potential slowdown of up to 50% for memory-sensitive applications since the bandwidth gets halved.