Solved Ram

I have a HP p7 1414 windows 8 desktop with 6GB of memory. It has 4 DIMM slots with 2 memory sticks I assume is 3GB each. Can I add two 8GB of memory to the other empty DIMM slots? or do it have to be all the same GB?

Hello mlum,

With RAM they need to be the same size in a channel (2 same colored slots), so you can add two 8GB sticks in the other channel.

The main thing that matters is that all RAM is the same speed (MHz) and type (ex: DDR3). If they are not the same speed, then all RAM will default to the speed of the slowest RAM. If they are not the same type, then the RAM will use the slower single channel mode instead of dual channel mode.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I've never seen a 3GB RAM stick. I have 6GB of RAM, which is made up of 2x1GB and 2x2GB sticks, for a total of 6GB in 4 RAM slots. Brink is exactly right when he says that RAM in a channel (bank) must match in terms of type/speed and rating.

My guess is that it may actually be 8GB (2 x 4GB) of RAM that mlum has but 2 GB of it is allocated to integrated graphics and/or hardware.

EDIT:
Well, looking at the specs for this computer at the Dell link below, it says 6 GB indeed. The specs says the system only supports 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB DIMMs (RAM sticks), so it seems that Dell has shipped it with memory running in only slower single channel mode instead of dual channel mode.

HP Pavilion p7-1414 Desktop PC Product Specifications HP Pavilion p7-1414 Desktop PC | HP® Support

Yes, that makes sense. RAM is so cheap now, I just wish PC2-6400 DDR2 would come down in price! I can buy 8GB of DDR3 for $45 and 8GB of DDR2 would set me back $150.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Glad we could help.