I've been shown that higher speed ram, up to ddr3 2400, is beneficial when the system is run by an apu, using the apu's onboard gpu for graphics. My question is, would it also be beneficial to have more ram as well, or would it just be overkill for a mostly gaming, light editing rig? eg. ddr3 2400 @ 8gb, or ddr3 2400 @ 16 gb
Since your shareing system memory with the GPU yes you would need more ram. I have 16GB of DDR3 1600 on a system with a dedicated gpu, and I don't think I've ever used up all of it but I have no idea about editing on it. So i guess 16GB of DDR3 2400.
depends on the board, i dont know if it will make gaming performance any faster but there is a limit (again depending on your board) of how much RAM you can dedicate to the onboard GPU of the APU
If you are strictly using the built-in-graphics in the APU. high performance memory will be beneficial. it's been tested multiple times and it's shown to improve APU graphical performance at most 10%. if you have a stand-alone Graphics card, so lets say if you have a 280 or 280x or whatever, the APU isn't going to see an improvement and neither will your system for the most part. unless you are doing something other than gaming you really won't ever need more than 1866mhz memory.
What I'm asking though is if 16gb would be better than 8gb if I was only using the apu for graphics.
@societies_end 8Gb would be the best option, you aren't going to notice a difference going from 8-16GB. For performance, you want to have faster ram than more ram. So if you can, grab an 8GB kit of the highest available speed for your motherboard
Thank you.
Another 4 GB DIMM stick added on to an 8GB system should do the trick just fine.
8Gb is basicly fine.
But its true, that APU´s bennefits from higher speed memory, and can make a significant diffrence. so 2400mhz ram would be a good buy.
If you have a setup with a dedicated GPU, like most gamers do, then super high ram speeds, dont make any sense.
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unless you are doing dual graphics, then you'll need to make sure the graphics card you are using comes with GDDR3
Apparently the benefit of higher speed RAM drops off after 1866Mhz.
I have an older system I built a couple years ago using an A8-5600K with 8GB of 1866Mhz RAM. Don't have any overclock on the CPU/GPU or the RAM and it runs fine. Though, I am limited to 60fps because of my refresh rate on my screen.
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Do you use the apu's graphics, or, do you have a dedicated gpu?
I have just been using the built-in graphics on the APU. Debating throwing an older 5870 in there, but I need a new power supply before that would work well. Plus for now, the APU is running just fine. I don't remember settings, but I have BF3 on that system and know that Fallout New Vegas runs on just about the highest graphics settings without any issues.
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