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Question

RAM Upgrade Question Dual Channel or Triple Channel

Sep 2, 2015 7:25AM PDT

My motherboard is Rampage III Extreme It supports dual and triple channel RAM configuration. The compatible RAM is DDR3 SDRAM DIMM 240-PIN.

Currently I installed 3x2GB RAM Triple Channel. My OS is Windows 10 Pro.

I have system monitor software accordingly most of the time RAM Usage hovers 80 to 83% and SWAP Usage hovers 70 to 74%.
I feel the system needs more RAM.

My laptop with 8GB of RAM plays Blu ray movies with Cyberlink PowerDVD 15 Ultra without any issue. But the desktop with 6 GB of RAM Triple channel has issue of playing Blu ray movies, not play smoothly it looks like playing damage disk. However Cyberlink PowerDVD 14 has no issue. Both the laptop and desktop passed Cyberlink’s BD & 3D test.

I decided to upgrade the Desktop RAM but I cannot decide which one I have to choose Dual Channel or Triple Channel. Dual channel is cheaper and easier to find than Triple channel to our local online shops.

Corsair Vengeance 3X4 GB 1600MHz 9-9-9-24, CL9, 1.5V is I am thinking to buy but dual channel 16 GB is cheaper. For example Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2x8 GB 2400 MHZ is almost the same price here.

This motherboard has 6 240-PIN DDR3 DIMM Sockets.
Help me to choose better RAM for my Desktop.
Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
I play BluRay on 4GB so I wonder if it's something else.
Sep 2, 2015 7:36AM PDT

Let's here more about the GPU and CPU. My older Athlon x2, well, not playing BluRay as it's CPU and GPU isn't up to the task.

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CPU and GPU
Sep 2, 2015 7:51AM PDT

The CPU is Intel Core i7-950 @3.07GHz
Graphics card AMD Radeon HD 5770 x 2 (CrossFireX)
Memory size 2x1024 MB
Memory type GDDR5
Core Clock in MHz 850 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 1200 MHz

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So that's 2 GPUs?
Sep 2, 2015 7:58AM PDT

To me this is an expert's setup. I've seen BluRay run on my dated Lenovo Core2Duo with 4GB RAM and a paltry Intel 4500MHD graphics. You have many times that horsepower and more RAM. My bet is it's something else going on.

The SWAP USAGE is high. Just last week a few PCs had similar complaints (not same) and they were infected. Another however had a failing Seagate HDD. Truly bizarre issues on the HDD failing as the drive passed diagnostics. Cloned the drive anyway and it's all good. And as expected the owner is asking why. Pretty easy to show it failing by swapping in the HDD. I think they are going to trigger the boss adding another hour of charges to the bill if they don't accept it's fixed.

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Something else going on
Sep 2, 2015 8:40AM PDT

Something else going on probably it is true but I do not know how to fix it.

The OS is on the SSD drive and other five HDD have no problems.

After I upgraded the RAM may be I know the problem of PowerDVD. Some other users have posted Catalyst 15.7 broke power DVD 15
Catalyst 15.7 broke Power DVD 15

I tried Catalyst 14 it failed BD & 3D test and never play blu ray. Now I use PowerDVD 14 for the desktop it plays Blu ray movies without any issue.

Somewhere I have read if there is no enough memory then SWAP usage is increase and performance decrease.

Still looking for advice to choose DDR3 RAM dual channel or triple channel. I consider 6 GB is no enough.

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5 HDDs, dual GPUs, OS on SSD.
Sep 2, 2015 12:40PM PDT

That's way complicated. I'd get back to this machine's maker and let them fix it.

As to the RAM, that would have me asking the motherboard support (it's maker.) My bet is it's another failure of drives, USB things or infection. The swap is not always caused by low RAM. You have more than enough RAM as my really outdated Core 2 Duo with 4GB showed.

I'd stick with PowerDVD 14 if that fixes it. You have proved that 15 has issues with your PC.

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Update
Sep 4, 2015 1:44AM PDT

Your post made me think to find the cause of the problem of RAM Usage and SWAP usage, thank you. There is no drive failures, I think I am able to access all my hard drives.

Just today I found that the reason of RAM Usage and SWAP Usage were very high. It was on the start up programs. There were a lot of programmes so I disabled some of them that's the system does not need. since then RAM Usage and SWAP Usage are 40-42 and 37-39% respectively. However the time of reboot RAM Usage is over 90%.

Now I do not like to try PowerDVD 15 until I upgraded RAM. PowerDVD 14 is served my purpose.

Thanks

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RAM use should be as close to 100% in this OS. Why?
Sep 4, 2015 7:39AM PDT

Windows in order to achieve speed uses RAM to cache everything, even for a trivial purpose. Windows is a virtual memory OS and tuned to use RAM. This is well discussed and those that try to reduce RAM use are fighting the way things work.

Swapping however is not a good thing. There are long dialogs on Windows and memory so it would be a bad idea to do that again and again.

But your PC is quite the advanced one. Simple may win the day. I shared my example old Core 2 Duo laptop which did bluray just fine.