Let us assume there are 4 slots for RAM in a given motherboard A, B, C and D. Slot A and C form a dual-channel and B and D form another dual channel. (They are of same colour physically.)
Now I have 2 similar RAM sticks of 3000 MHz running in dual channel. I am buying 2 similar RAM sticks of 3200 MHz (only available option for me now)
What would be the best configuration to get most speed in games from these?
p - 2 sticks of 8 GB (3000 MHz)
q - 2 sticks of 16 GB in proper dual channel configuration
r - 2 sticks of 8 GB (3000 MHz) and 2 sticks of 16 GB (3200 MHz) inserted in the 2 dual channel configurations respectively.
If you’re running a bunch of virtual machines or LLMs or something that needs a lot of RAM(video production/editing), it could be beneficial to run all 4 simultaneously if they’ll play nice with each other.
That said, it’ll certainly be slower than running the faster of the two kits in proper dual-channel mode for gaming. If you’re a novice or get easily fed up, I’d go with q. Be sure to activate XMP.