Faster RAM vs More Ram (For large image editing)

Hi DS members!

I know this question has been shot at so many times, it's probably overkill. I have searched forums after forums, but am not satisfied with the answers!

I currently have 2x4gb (8gb) G Skill Sniper 2133 AND 4x4gb (16gb) 1600 Corsair Vengeance.

I switched out the default 16gb 1600mhz for the 8gb 2133mhz and didn't think that I felt too much of a difference after switching.
But recently, I've been doing more "intense" photo editing, opening LR and PS, editing large images, comparing RAW images with DPP at the same time.. I noticed that RAM usage was peaking pretty high, but I didn't notice any performance issues.
Just to be on the safe side, I switched back to the 16gb 1600mhz ram. Now, it seems like images take a tad longer to load LR doesn't seem to be as "snappy".
I know we have a lot of helpful and intelligent forum members, but I'm hoping one of the DS techies, such as Alex or Captain Ahoge could also chime in, as they have done, i'm sure, hundreds if not, thousands of tests, if indeed there is actual difference - not necessarily for gaming but for image/video editors such as this example.

Is it just me? Or is there actual performance hit for RAM on speed vs size (that's what she said... ).

-criTalon

Wow, that was fast!

Thanks Alex, if it's coming from you, I can stick to the 16gb without hesitation.

Thanks again!

-criTalon

Yeah. Most computers work in the following way; they will use the RAM, but when they run out, they will switch to using paging file space, which is an allocated segment of your hard drive that performs the same function as your RAM, but with a significant drop in speed.

While the 2133MHz RAM will probably run slightly faster than the 1600MHz RAM, the problem with your scenario is that photo editing takes up large amounts of RAM. While the necessary processes use fewer than 16GB, they use more than 8GB. Therefore, with the 1600MHz RAM, the performance would reflect the performance of the 1600MHz RAM, while the performance with the 2133MHz RAM would reflect a performance level between the transfer speeds of your RAM (which is fairly fast) and your hard drive (which is really slow). As a result, on larger programs, the 16GB would be faster, while on smaller programs, the 8GB would probably be slightly faster than the 16GB.

Edited by Orange7 - 04 Jul 2012 at 8:43am

Your welcome. Good luck.