I'm putting a computer together as a gift and was wondering whether it would be better to use a single stick of 8GB DDR3-1866 or two sticks of 4GB of the same, so as to be upgradeable (or not). I'm thinking about an AMD A10-5800K Trinity with a MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 mATX motherboard, with any old 1866 DDR3 that's a good price. Any advice is appreciated.
get 2 sticks of 4GB so they will run in dual channel instead of single channel
If this is going to be a dirt-cheap gaming system, then just get one stick. It will save you a bit of cash and you can upgrade later on. Also, get a RAM stick with a good heatsink, as you might be able to overclock the thing.
Definitely go with two it should get you almost double the speed
Ever heard of dual channel?
And believe me or not, single 8 gig sticks are often more expensive than 2 4gigs.
Dual channel is a bit faster.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/PARALLEL-PROCESSING,1705-11.html
Article is a bit old but you can see the difference is not that big, some say they see a big difference but I think that's just in their heads. If you have the choice pick up a dual channel kit but as said.. if you want to upgrade later maybe you can start with one ;)
Thanks, I will definitely be going with the the 2 x 4GB option.