Matched Memory

Do vendors match the memory they sell in kits?

GSkill sells 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz for $135 and 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz for $450.

I could just get two of the 2x4GB kits and save $180, so does gskill do any testing that comes close to equalling $180 when they pair modules up?

Kasm said:

Do vendors match the memory they sell in kits?

GSkill sells 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz for $135 and 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz for $450.

I could just get two of the 2x4GB kits and save $180, so does gskill do any testing that comes close to equalling $180 when they pair modules up?

Click to expand...

In theory they do. There are two lines of thought for this situation. On the one hand the matched set of four sticks is guaranteed to work together...but if one stick dies you must RMA all 4 sticks normally. If you go with two sets of sticks they are not guaranteed, but if a stick dies you are only down a couple sticks during RMA.

All that said...are you positive you are comparing the same kits? I say this because that price difference doesn't sound right. Also, for 90% of people, 8gb is completely pointless with today's apps and games.

You might also take note that if you plan to overclock, 4gb normally works better than 8...or at least 2 sticks is easier than 4.

IMO it's always better to buy one tested, matched guaranteed RAM kit for your specific CPU/platform so you know it's been confirmed compatible and properly functioning. It normally doesn't cost any more to buy one proper kit than take a chance with two RAM kits, when you're comparing the exact same RAM.

It's also worth noting that with some vendors such as Corsair you can get a cross-shipment if you have a module fail. This way your PC is never down as you return the faulty RAM after you receive the new RAM.

xoke said:

Also, for 90% of people, 8gb is completely pointless with today's apps and games.

Click to expand...

Ok, the reason I wanted more RAM was to speed up my video encoding. I already have a i5-750 and 4GBs of ram and I remembered when I encode my memory went to 0 but after you said this I ran an experiment.

When I start encoding task manager reads the following to me:


Physical Memory (MB)
Total 4087
Cached 2203
Available 2654
Free 0

Kernal Memory (MB)
Paged 318
Nonpaged 49

So what is the difference between available and free? If free is what counts it looks like I need more RAM for encoding. If available is what counts, what else could be my encoding bottle neck, CPU only runs 50-75%. Maybe I need to read source file from one harddrive and write to another to remove hd bandwidth when reading/writing to same mechanical drive. EDIT: I just tried reading source from mechanical drive, and writing to a separate SSD drive that my OS is on, and there was no change in speed. Doesn't look like HD is the bottleneck.

Side question: why is kernal using paged memory when there is available RAM?