RAM Question - Using 3 Sticks?

I have a W530 running two identical 8GB G.Skill 1600-MHz dual-channel RAM sticks. I'm wondering about adding the 4GB stick that came with the system, and I was curious if I would notice any performance losses. I need to run multiple VMs for school, and I figure the more the merrier RAM-wise, but at the same time, I have no clue if that would be any better given the dual-channel would break(?). Thanks guys.

 

Until you hit over 16GB, you should be running in dual channel mode and then in async dual channel, the performance hit won't be important, maybe a little loss of snappiness, but nothing major and that is if you use the extra 4GB of RAM. Keep it where it is and if you need more than 16GB, drop it in there, alternatively, you could with another 2x4 or another 2x8 because you can.

 

One stick, two sticks, three sticks, four sticks, same sizes, different sizes, same makes, different makes... Ah, it doesn't really matter in 2013 and beyond.

The true "snappiness" savior is the SSD and, to be fair, even the mSATA SSD running at the "measly" 3Gbit/s speed. Yeah.

 

So you guys are saying it won't make much of a difference? Cool. Also, can't wait to get an mSATA, but I'm waiting until the Crucial M500 256GB is out.