Best Slot for 16GB RAM Upgrade for Optimal Performance in a Laptop?

[Ambady]

Hi everyone,
I have a laptop with two RAM slots. One of the slots is currently occupied by a 4GB DDR4-2400 SK Hynix stick. I recently bought a 16GB DDR4-2400 SK Hynix RAM to upgrade.
My question is: should I place the 16GB stick in Slot 1 or Slot 2 when paired with the 4GB for the best performance, or does it not make a difference?

I know this might seem like a basic or unnecessary question to some, but I’m asking out of genuine passion for learning and getting the most out of my machine. I just want to make sure I’m doing it right and getting the best performance possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much for your time and patience!

:::::::: my system specs :::::::::
Laptop: Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R45R
Processor Name: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U
Motherboard Model: RR Metapod_RR
OS: Windows 10 Home Single Language (x64) Build 19045.4957 (22H2)

 

[beers]

Hi there!

First off, great job on upgrading your RAM and looking into how to get the best performance from your setup. It’s always good to be thorough!

To answer your question, placing the 16GB stick in either Slot 1 or Slot 2 won’t make a significant difference in performance. However, just a heads-up: since you’re pairing a 16GB stick with a 4GB stick, your laptop will run in what's called "asymmetrical dual channel mode." This means that for about a quarter of your workload, you’ll get the benefits of dual-channel speed, but for the remaining three-quarters, it will switch to single-channel, which is a bit slower. So, while you'll still see a nice boost in performance, it won’t be as balanced as having two sticks of the same size.

That being said, the upgrade will still help your machine run more smoothly overall, especially with memory-intensive tasks.

Hope this helps, and don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions. We all start somewhere, and learning more about your hardware is a great way to improve your system’s performance!