Single-rank or dual-rank memory sticks for my Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H motherboard?

[Biru_cs]

Hello. My system has been running for the past 2 years on 16 GB of RAM (2x8GB DDR4-3200 sticks, G.Skill Aegis F4-3200C16-8GIS). Since 16GB is not enough anymore, I have decided to upgrade.

Now, my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H (rev 1.x) which has 2 slots, so in order to upgrade to 32GB I have to buy 2x16GB sticks of DDR4-3200 RAM. I am between 3 sets of memory modules:

• G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB DDR4-3200 (F4-3200C16D-32GVK)
• Kingston Fury Beast 32GB DDR4-3200 (KF432C16BBK2/32 (single-rank), KF432C16BB1K2/32 (dual-rank))

Apart from the price difference between the two companies (which can be upwards of 15 euros depending on the shop, even though I'm leaning towards the Kingston modules), I'm wondering if I should go with single-rank or dual-rank memory, mainly due to a possible limitation from the motherboard or the chipset's side that will prevent the system from booting with and running the dual-rank modules at their full 3200MT/s potential.

Main system specs:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H (rev 1.x), BIOS version F56b
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
• Memory (current): G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200 (F4-3200C16-8GIS)

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Any of these budget kits, just be sure the primary timings are even numbers such as 16-18-18-36 for example.

Single rank and dual rank will have little effect on performance. Just get the cheapest kit with the suggestion above in mind.

 

[Apocalypsee]

Dual rank memory has performance benefit over single rank, if you use iGPU on that 5600G I think you should take the dual rank one. Don't worry about the motherboard, dual DIMM motherboard almost always better than 4 DIMM ones in terms of memory overclocking and stability. I have the B450M S2H and overclock the memory all the way to 4000MHz

 

[Biru_cs]

Any of these budget kits, just be sure the primary timings are even numbers such as 16-18-18-36 for example.

Single rank and dual rank will have little effect on performance. Just get the cheapest kit with the suggestion above in mind.

I checked the timings and they all seem to be even numbers:

• G.Skill Ripjaws V are 16-18-18-38 (the same as my current Aegis modules)
• Kingston Fury single-rank are 16-20-20 and the dual-rank modules are 16-18-18 (Kingston does not include the 4th timing in their spec sheets for some reason)

 

[Biru_cs]

Dual rank memory has performance benefit over single rank, if you use iGPU on that 5600G I think you should take the dual rank one. Don't worry about the motherboard, dual DIMM motherboard almost always better than 4 DIMM ones in terms of memory overclocking and stability. I have the B450M S2H and overclock the memory all the way to 4000MHz

Yes, I do use the integrated GPU on my 5600G. As far as my workload goes, I manly use my PC for productivity and light gaming, if that helps my case.

 

[Biru_cs]

@ShrimpBrime @Apocalypsee After checking the "Clearing up any Samsung B-Die confusion" Reddit thread, it seems that the G.Skill RAM is also dual-rank:

 

[Apocalypsee]

@Biru_cs you will be fine with dual rank and any of the RAM you mentioned, so just buy the cheapest dual rank module

 

[Princess Garnet]

In a vacuum, dual rank has better performance but it's slight, and it doesn't exist in a vacuum. Typically, single rank DIMMs will achieve higher maximum frequencies, so in reality you're comparing "is a little more of A better or is a little more of B better".

If you're going to "set XMP/EXPO and call it a day", then the extra higher speeds probably don't come into play, and I'd lean towards dual rank. If you're going to run four DIMMs and/or want to clock them at higher profile speeds (namely with DDR5), then dual rank may prohibit this as it's harder to run.

For just a pair of DDR4 DIMMs at 3,200 MHz though? I wouldn't even worry about dual rank being a limiting factor. You should be fine with it.

 

[freeagent]

A gain is a gain, you gotta take what you can get when you have to run the loose timings of modern DDR4.

I'd hit it.

 

[Biru_cs]

@Biru_cs you will be fine with dual rank and any of the RAM you mentioned, so just buy the cheapest dual rank module

Great to know that I do not have to worry about any limitations. Thank you for your time!

 

[Biru_cs]

In a vacuum, dual rank has better performance but it's slight, and it doesn't exist in a vacuum. Typically, single rank DIMMs will achieve higher maximum frequencies, so in reality you're comparing "is a little more of A better or is a little more of B better".

If you're going to "set XMP/EXPO and call it a day", then the extra higher speeds probably don't come into play, and I'd lean towards dual rank. If you're going to run four DIMMs and/or want to clock them at higher profile speeds (namely with DDR5), then dual rank may prohibit this as it's harder to run.

For just a pair of DDR4 DIMMs at 3,200 MHz though? I wouldn't even worry about dual rank being a limiting factor. You should be fine with it.

Yes, I'm just going to set the XMP profile on my motherboard to run the memory at 3200MHz, just like I'm doing now with my current modules. So dual-rank it is. Thank you for your time as well!

 

[Biru_cs]

A gain is a gain, you gotta take what you can get when you have to run the loose timings of modern DDR4.

I'd hit it.

I'll go ahead and get the dual-rank memory. It now comes down to whether I prefer G.Skill or Kingston. Thank you for your time!