Upgrading ram - 1x8 GB

Blabagas

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New Zealand
So I am looking to upgrade my computer to have 8GB of ram from 4. As I understand it 2x4GB is better than 1x8GB, but I am looking to get the cheapest ram possible and getting 1x8 is about $20 cheaper.
Is this stupid, how much of an effect on performance would it have? I will be playing games, using photoshop and maybe some video editing (unsure).
I am also looking to replace this computer next year.
Lastly if I go with 1x8 can I use one of the leftover ram in the other slot? I would assume not but just to be sure.
Thanks
 
Yes it'll support the 8GB stick and you can add another stick you currently have to it. 8GB IMO these days should be minimum but I did run my old AMD rig for a while waiting for water with 6GB of DDR2 with no issues.

What CPU do you have now?
 
Intel i3-2120 3.30GHz
And yeah I have 4GB now and am constantly running on like 75% so I really need an upgrade. Can I really use one of the 2GB sticks I have now with it, for 10GB total? The ram I have now I believe is slower.
 
Yes, it'll just run at the slower speed. If it doesn't boot up immediately after you put the stick in make sure to manually set the speed to 1333 (or whatever the slower stick is) so it'll boot.

Also the i3 is pretty fine for gaming when paired with a good video card. Not really necessary to buy a whole new machine anytime soon.
 
Yes, it'll just run at the slower speed. If it doesn't boot up immediately after you put the stick in make sure to manually set the speed to 1333 (or whatever the slower stick is) so it'll boot.

Also the i3 is pretty fine for gaming when paired with a good video card. Not really necessary to buy a whole new machine anytime soon.

Does that mean that I would be limiting the 8GB stick to 1333?
And the i3 is still ok you say? That actually changes my thoughts on building a new pc, yeah. I really though that my i3 was slow and holding back my pc, but if not then I can deffinitely just upgrade. Im thinking an SSD and this new ram would probably solve a lot of the slowdown problems I have, which are mostly when booting and when I have a lot of programs open.
I have a 660 OC atm, which is holding up decently for now.
Thanks for the help and advice!
 
Well whatever the old stick's rated speed is. 1333 or even 1066 is fine honestly.

Yes, I actually made a video recently showing an i3 paired with a 970 playing all the top games of today. It faired decently even on the games demanding a quad core. The only thing the i3 will be slow at is rendering videos if you ever want to seriously video edit long videos.
 
I would certainly get the 1 stick of 8GB, that way it allows you to upgrade to 16GB in the future.
A SSD card will certainly be a good upgrade for you.
 
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