2 vs 4 RAM stick modules. 16 vs 32 vs 64 RAM amount

[Poppet 710]

I'm contemplating a new simming system at the moment and was trying to understand ram modules and amounts, 2 vs 4 sticks and so on.  I came across this post and found it very interesting. 

Further down in the post lots of good info, answered all my questions. 

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/ram-explained-why-two-modules-are-better-than-four-single-vs-dual-rank-stability-testing.363139/

Edited March 28 by Poppet

[Ted Striker 338]

Very informative and interesting article Poppet. I knew that 2 sticks were better than 4 but not the reason why. Never heard of single/dual rank, Gear1/Gear 2 mode etc. Thanks for posting that link.

Ted

[FBW737 511]

I always used 2 stick on my builds because the late great NickN said so. That was good enough for me! 😁

[CO2Neutral 278]

Welcome back Poppet.

Agree, the shorter the electrical circuit the more stable and reliable, even more so with higher frequency.  Always buy as much RAM as actually needed for the primary  application to be used.  With that said, both MSFS and P3D can exceed 32GB RAM usage in extreme situations.  

Great article!

[RaptyrOne 1,413]

Informative article. Highlights that 2x16GB can offer better performance than 4x16GB. More is not always better. As for the amount of RAM MSFS really needs, to say it has to have a minimum of 32GB or 64GB is also not so clear-cut. If you feed Windows and/or MSFS with a ton of memory, it will use it more “frivolously” from time to time because it is there for it to use. Does MSFS need more than 32GB in extreme cases? No. It will run perfectly with 16GB if that’s all you give it. The same with vRAM, MSFS might use more than 16GB if you feed it a RTX4090 with 24GB vRAM but it will run just as well with 16GB vRAM. Windows will just manage and use what it is given. Some 4090 owners say they have seen their vRAM exceed 16GB in the sim, justifying its value. In that exact same scenario a 16GB GPU would perform with the exact same performance and have some GB free as Windows and GPU are simply able to be less strict on how it manages memory when it has it in bucketloads.

Edited Thursday at 03:07 AM by RaptyrOne