Do you really need a RAM upgrade? Not past 2x2GB according to results for MacBook Pro performance with 2,4,6 and 8 GB of RAM

One of the first things a tech blog will say you can do to speed up your computer is to increase your RAM. I wanted to see the performance difference in a test called geekbench. http://browse.geekbench.ca/ I use geekbench to compare the performance of computers to each other.

I actually found that, for the tests in geekbench and with quantities of ram from 4,6, and 8 GB (not 2 because I was not able to test 2 x 1 GB sticks), the amount of ram does not matter. The only thing that matters at these levels of ram is whether you have one or two sticks installed, with two sticks always being better than one. (So two 2 x 2 GB sticks is better than 1 x 4 GB stick). One stick of 2 or 4 GB produced scores below 3512. Two sticks of 2 and 4 GB always scored above 3553.

In these tests, the 2 x 2 GB (4 GB) was equivalent to (actually slightly faster than) 1 x 2 GB + 1 x 4 GB (6 GB) and 2 x 4 GB (8 GB).

These tests show no reason to upgrade your RAM past 2 sticks of 2 GB ram for your computer. In fact, it is possible that the hibernate file equivalent to the size of your installed RAM that your computer stores on your hard drive when you tell it to sleep (+ automatically hibernate in the unibody models and perhaps even older) could be larger than it needs to be if you upgrade your ram. Basically, the less RAM you have, the smaller the hibernate file is on your hard drive giving you a few GB more hard drive space. Not a huge deal, but an interesting possible fact.

I tested a MacBook Pro version 5,3 with a 2.53 Core 2 Duo
1 x 2 GB (2 GB)= 3505 | 3506 (one stick of ram)
2 x 2 GB (4 GB) = 3561 | 3573 (two sticks of ram)
1 x 4 GB (4 GB in bottom slot)= 3512 (one stick of ram)
1 x 4 GB (4 GB in top slot) = 3508 (one stick of ram)
1 x 4 GB (bottom) + 1 x 2 GB (top) (6 GB) = 3567 (two sticks of ram)
1 x 4 GB (top) + 1 x 2 GB (bottom) (6 GB) = 3553 (two sticks of ram)
2 x 4 GB (8 GB) = 3555 (two sticks of ram)

The results will look like this.

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2 x 4 GB ram

Integer Processor integer performance 2927
Floating Point Processor floating point performance 5205
Memory Memory performance 2629
Stream Memory bandwidth performance 1833

AVG 3555
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1 x 2 GB ram

Integer Processor integer performance 2918
Floating Point Processor floating point performance 5238
Memory Memory performance 2537
Stream Memory bandwidth performance 1473

AVG 3509
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I should have saved the results to look at the memory scores from a 1 x 4 GB RAM, but I imagine they would resemble the 1 x 2 GB one because the overall scores were the same.