Okay, I've been wanting to upgrade the RAM in my desktop forever and I've decided that I'd better while I can still afford to. This is an older but very capable machine running Win7 64-bit. It currently has 1600MHz DDR3 DIMMs installed. Two Corsair brand ones and they say on the side, 8GB (2x4GB). I'm thinking I should get two more that are identical to these, since if I'm gonna use all four RAM slots, the MoBo manufacturer requires that all four be identical.

But here's where I'm getting confused. As mentioned above, I have two of these modules in my machine right now. And when I do the Windows System Properties page, it shows 8 GB. But when I look at some of the listings for these DIMMs on eBay, they're indicating that two of these modules are good for 16 GB. I guess it makes sense, since each module sez 8 GB, but I guess what's throwing me is the (2x4GB) that also shows on the sticker. And these ones they're saying are good for 16GB are absolutely identical to mine, even with the same long part number, i.e., CMX8GX3M2A1600C9.

So, if two of these DIMMs really amount to 16GB, then I've been running my system on a single DIMM all these years with the other one being no good. But that doesn't seem likely. I've had other motherboards where a bad ram stick was installed and the board would indicate a memory error on boot-up. But even more to the point, I don't recall buying 16 GB of RAM and I'm thinking that I would have noticed this deficiency like right away.

So I guess it's a terminology thing? And if that's the case, then why does each DIMM's sticker say 8GB, when it is actually only 4GB? Are they meant to be used in pairs only? I'm so confused.

Best,
Michael

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