# 8GB 1866 or 12GB 1333Hz  RAM ,which one is better in terms for gaming?



## QARTS (Mar 4, 2018)

Hello,
My current rig has Hyperx Fury 1866Hz RAM mounted.
I saw a great deal of another 4GB 1333Hz RAm stick and am wondering if i install it too will i notice any noticible performance difference ?
What do u guys suggest?
Thanks and regards!


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 4, 2018)

Don’t do it.  Going more than 8gb with slower RAM will be slower. Noticeably.  1866 is a good sweet spot for DDR3 RAM in dual channel.


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## QARTS (Mar 4, 2018)

Thats true,but what if i overclock that 1333 one to 1600 and underclock my hyperx one to 1600!
will that be any good for overall performance?


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 4, 2018)

What is your reason?  Are you running out of system RAM?  What is the primary purpose of your PC?


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## QARTS (Mar 4, 2018)

Since past a few days my PC is running kinda slow!
Maybe i need to do a thorough cleanup..
Well my primary concern is gaming..


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 4, 2018)

How are you measuring kinda slow?  Do you use any tools like Afterburner On Screen Display to know what your system is using?  Or GPU-z recording to know what is happening while gaming?

I tend to not think slow is a result of not enough RAM.  What you would more likely see is hitching as the game pages out to paging file.


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## NdMk2o1o (Mar 4, 2018)

Kinda slow? c'mon man help us out? having a quick look at the specs listed in your profile I see you have 2x mechanical drives, have you ran any S.M.A.R.T tools to see if they are both running optimally? whilst your processor RAM and GPU aren't the fastest, I would definitely be looking to the HDD's fist if you think the system is running sluggish, you ask about the RAM, obvious question is are you constantly using more than 8GB wether you're gaming or doing everyday stuff, if the answer is yes then 12GB slower RAM will serve you better as you arent swapping things out from rAM to pagefile, if the answer is no, then 8GB fast DDR3 is definitely better than 12GB slow DDR3


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## Zyll Goliat (Mar 4, 2018)

I am using 24gb in triple channel on 1333Mhz(3x8) and the Gaming is perfectly fine....didn´t OC my Ram but I did change mem. timings.....I will always go for more RAM....it´s really depend if the gaming is your only purpose?


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2018)

Do you currently have 2 4GB sticks of the 1866 RAM, or just one 8GB stick?


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## QARTS (Mar 4, 2018)

rtwjunkie said:


> How are you measuring kinda slow?  Do you use any tools like Afterburner On Screen Display to know what your system is using?  Or GPU-z recording to know what is happening while gaming?
> 
> I tend to not think slow is a result of not enough RAM.  What you would more likely see is hitching as the game pages out to paging file.


While playing Brink(an old Arena shooter) which previously used to work fine but now its laggy like i feel at some point i get fine fps and at other moment the frames drops.
Also same happened while AC Origins too.
So i thought my RAM could be the culprit here.
ANy other suggestion?



NdMk2o1o said:


> Kinda slow? c'mon man help us out? having a quick look at the specs listed in your profile I see you have 2x mechanical drives, have you ran any S.M.A.R.T tools to see if they are both running optimally? whilst your processor RAM and GPU aren't the fastest, I would definitely be looking to the HDD's fist if you think the system is running sluggish, you ask about the RAM, obvious question is are you constantly using more than 8GB wether you're gaming or doing everyday stuff, if the answer is yes then 12GB slower RAM will serve you better as you arent swapping things out from rAM to pagefile, if the answer is no, then 8GB fast DDR3 is definitely better than 12GB slow DDR3


Well,i havnt run any sort of S.M.A.R.T tool till now,
also i dont do that heavy tasking either.
So as per you my current 8Gigs would suffice my gaming needs?



newtekie1 said:


> Do you currently have 2 4GB sticks of the 1866 RAM, or just one 8GB stick?


A Single HyperX Fury 8GB DDR3 1866 RAM

Well Sorry everyone,
my profile wasnt updated since my last use,
My current CPU is FX 6300 and my mobo is MSI 970 Gaming mobo.
So pls advice me accordingly.



Zyll Goliath said:


> I am using 24gb in triple channel on 1333Mhz(3x8) and the Gaming is perfectly fine....didn´t OC my Ram but I did change mem. timings.....I will always go for more RAM....it´s really depend if the gaming is your only purpose?


whoaaa...thats awesome.


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## Toothless (Mar 4, 2018)

Single channel sucks, first off.

If it worked before and now it doesn't then find what changed.


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## Vya Domus (Mar 4, 2018)

I would add that 4GB (may be able to OC it to 1600mhz) , might eliminate some stutter. I went from 8 to 16 and definitely noticed some improvement in frame times , though I still retained a dual channel config , I do not think it will impact things negatively.

8GB isn't really that much anymore.


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## Aquinus (Mar 4, 2018)

Zyll Goliath said:


> I am using 24gb in triple channel on 1333Mhz(3x8) and the Gaming is perfectly fine....didn´t OC my Ram but I did change mem. timings.....I will always go for more RAM....it´s really depend if the gaming is your only purpose?


You do realize that the third memory channel increases bandwidth over two channels by *50%* right? Triple channel at 1333Mhz is basically dual channel at 2133Mhz if you avoid the implications of latency and only consider bandwidth. Just saying.

@QARTS I don't suggest mixing and matching DRAM sticks. Dual channel will be a lot faster but, it won't be worth it if you can't get the two stable. Also different sized DIMMs won't help as much as it could either. I would save up and buy two new sticks at the same time and sell the old one or something.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 4, 2018)

QARTS said:


> A Single HyperX Fury 8GB DDR3 1866 RAM


Hmmm, that is different, it being single channel.  My fault I should have thought to ask if it was one stick of RAM.  It may indeed be possible to OC the 1333 and downclock the 1866.  However, if you can’t afford a matching set, may i suggest saving for one more 1866 stick of 8.  It will be much easier to configure while operating dual channel.


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## phill (Mar 4, 2018)

I thought whenever adding slower dimms or a mix of speeds, it would just run at the slowest?  That said, has the OP got the ram speed already set to XMP to make it run at 1866??  I'd rather have more ram than slightly faster ram but less of it..

@QARTS If you couldload up CPU-z and just put the CPU tab, memory tab, SPD tab and motherboard tab showing, that would be great   Can see what is going on then   Bit like this 






If you don't have it on your system, you can download from here - https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.83-en.zip   -  I've gone with the ZIP file rather than the install, find them easier


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2018)

QARTS said:


> A Single HyperX Fury 8GB DDR3 1866 RAM



In that case I would add the second 4GB stick, even if everything runs at 1333Mhz, because dual-channel 1333 RAM is faster than single channel 1866.  The FX processors will fun different sized RAM in async dual-channel.  So you'll get the first 8GB of RAM in dual-channel, and the extra 4 will run single.  It isn't ideal, but it is still better than 8GB in single channel.


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## Zyll Goliat (Mar 4, 2018)

Aquinus said:


> You do realize that the third memory channel increases bandwidth over two channels by *50%* right? Triple channel at 1333Mhz is basically dual channel at 2133Mhz if you avoid the implications of latency and only consider bandwidth. Just saying.


Yes I do realize that(thats one of the reasons I love X58 platform)....never the less I also have this very same memory in dual channel mode when I have my AMD FX setup and everything was working perfectly fine,when it comes to the gaming MOST of the time mem speed effects on gaming are negligible,it´s just a bit different with ddr4 or if you use APU then mem.speeds are important...


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## Aquinus (Mar 4, 2018)

phill said:


> I thought whenever adding slower dimms or a mix of speeds, it would just run at the slowest? That said, has the OP got the ram speed already set to XMP to make it run at 1866?? I'd rather have more ram than slightly faster ram but less of it..


I have two pairs of DIMMs where if I mix the two different sets on the 3820 in the attic, it flat out won't work with them and It ends up disabling one of the sets every time. Both are 2x4GB but, one was DDR3-1600 and the other was DDR3-1866 and it just flat out wouldn't work. It could be timings, it could be voltages but, regardless of what it is, the two sets are too different to be driven together. It happens.


Zyll Goliath said:


> Yes I do realize that....never the less I also have this very same memory in dual channel mode when I have my AMD FX setup and everything was working perfectly fine,when it comes to the gaming MOST of the time mem speed effects on gaming are negligible,it´s a bit different with ddr4,or if you use APU then mem.speeds are very important...
> 
> View attachment 97949


It's true that you hit a point of diminishing returns but, for Sandy Bridge that was 1600 when running dual channel. If 1333 and 1066 was up there, you'd notice them.


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## Zyll Goliat (Mar 4, 2018)

Aquinus said:


> It's true that you hit a point of diminishing returns but, for Sandy Bridge that was 1600 when running dual channel. If 1333 and 1066 was up there, you'd notice them.


Well not really especially if your mem timings are tighter(usually slower mem. have better timings) ,even IF it effect your FPS in games it will be at most few frame difference but in case that you run out of the memory you can have bad microstuttering during the gaming and thats in my opinion by far WORST experience.....also yes sometimes mixing different RAM speeds can cause the problems sometimes RAM needs to be tweaked(timings&V) in bios manually to work properly saying this still most of the games are OK with 8gb  but also more and more games becomes hungry for more RAM......

Here some links with detail testings:DDR3,DDR4


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## phill (Mar 4, 2018)

Aquinus said:


> I have two pairs of DIMMs where if I mix the two different sets on the 3820 in the attic, it flat out won't work with them and It ends up disabling one of the sets every time. Both are 2x4GB but, one was DDR3-1600 and the other was DDR3-1866 and it just flat out wouldn't work. It could be timings, it could be voltages but, regardless of what it is, the two sets are too different to be driven together. It happens.
> 
> It's true that you hit a point of diminishing returns but, for Sandy Bridge that was 1600 when running dual channel. If 1333 and 1066 was up there, you'd notice them.



It's true it might not work, but if you can try it out and it's not going to cost anything, why not give it a go?  Some boards are fussier than others, some ram kits are as well I'd imagine..  If the OP can give it a go and just set it too the lowest RAM speed he can and all works ok..  Job done for the moment I'd say


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 4, 2018)

Buy the same ram you bought before, go to HyperX site and research DDR3  of your kit and then the next fastest kit in same family, it should be 2133, try implementing the 2133 clocks, timings and voltage.

Clean your dust out, check room temperatures


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## Vayra86 (Mar 4, 2018)

Dont invest in an FX6300 based, DDR3 rig. It will run into more performance issues left and right besides RAM now and in the near future. You're also on a dead end platform.

Hardware progresses and this setup is last gen.

If anything, find an awesome deal on a second stick of 8gb 1866mhz. But even then, CPU wise, you will find yourself short on performance. It was already like that back in 2013...


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## Assimilator (Mar 4, 2018)

QARTS said:


> Hello,
> My current rig has Hyperx Fury 1866Hz RAM mounted.
> I saw a great deal of another 4GB 1333Hz RAm stick and am wondering if i install it too will i notice any noticible performance difference ?
> What do u guys suggest?
> Thanks and regards!





QARTS said:


> Since past a few days my PC is running kinda slow!
> Maybe i need to do a thorough cleanup..
> Well my primary concern is gaming..



So your first thought when your PC is running slow is "I need more RAM"?

No, that's not how it works. A PC doesn't suddenly magically become slower. Something has happened to your system - maybe a driver update, maybe a Windows update, maybe you got a virus or malware, ...

What will you do if you put in more RAM and the PC is still slow? Keep adding RAM until you run out of slots?


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## Bones (Mar 5, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> In that case I would add the second 4GB stick, even if everything runs at 1333Mhz, because dual-channel 1333 RAM is faster than single channel 1866.  The FX processors will fun different sized RAM in async dual-channel.  So you'll get the first 8GB of RAM in dual-channel, and the extra 4 will run single.  It isn't ideal, but it is still better than 8GB in single channel.



Did this as an example/reference to the above concerning FX chips, taken from the machine I'm running as my DD:




All sticks I used are capable of more speed if I want but it works fine as is.

I'll say it depends on what programs you use AND what those programs "Like", some want more RAM to run better, others prefer RAM speed.
In the OP's case I'd say faster RAM in dual channel is the thing but the OP could also grab a larger set and run those in DC, this way they get more RAM and speed too.
Just a suggestion guys.


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## QARTS (Mar 5, 2018)

Thanks everyone with all your responses..i've let down my deal of purchasing that RAM.
Yess,i found out the reason of getting my PC works slower and its wrong driver update(trusted an 3rd party driver updater app) since thats the only change i've done to my PC and am sure that its the culprit here.
Anyways am going to update everything and will let you know.
Appreciate all your replies.


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## Assimilator (Mar 5, 2018)

QARTS said:


> Thanks everyone with all your responses..i've let down my deal of purchasing that RAM.
> Yess,i found out the reason of getting my PC works slower and its wrong driver update(trusted an 3rd party driver updater app) since thats the only change i've done to my PC and am sure that its the culprit here.
> Anyways am going to update everything and will let you know.
> Appreciate all your replies.



Ah, the joy of apps that are supposed to help you but end up making your life worse. When will these guys learn? Even the "official" driver update apps from Intel etc. are crap!


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 5, 2018)

QARTS said:


> Thanks everyone with all your responses..i've let down my deal of purchasing that RAM.
> Yess,i found out the reason of getting my PC works slower and its wrong driver update(trusted an 3rd party driver updater app) since thats the only change i've done to my PC and am sure that its the culprit here.
> Anyways am going to update everything and will let you know.
> Appreciate all your replies.


Thanks!  We look forward to your updated driver results.


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## las (Mar 5, 2018)

It's going to make your gaming experience worse in 99 out of 100 games.

High speed + Low CL is best for gaming. 8GB fast mem is better than 16GB slow mem. 1333 MHz is like entry level DDR3. 1600 MHz is also kinda slow. I wouldn't run 1600 unless CL is 8 or lower. 1600 @ CL9 is entry level too.

In many games 1866/CL8-2400/CL9 delivers a huge boost over 1600/CL9, especially true for 120-240 Hz gamers.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 5, 2018)

QARTS said:


> Thanks everyone with all your responses..i've let down my deal of purchasing that RAM.
> Yess,i found out the reason of getting my PC works slower and its wrong driver update(trusted an 3rd party driver updater app) since thats the only change i've done to my PC and am sure that its the culprit here.
> Anyways am going to update everything and will let you know.
> Appreciate all your replies.



1 rule, stop using 3rd party updaters. Use the one built into the driver or manually download it and install it. You are the second person to report a issue because of one of these polyps.


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