Adding a second stick doubles bandwidth. Swapping for a bigger single stick doesn’t.

No — but it depends on how you upgrade.

Memory bandwidth comes from the number of channels, not the total capacity. If you currently have one 16GB stick, you’re running single-channel — one 64-bit data path. If you replace that with a single 32GB stick, you’re still single-channel. Bandwidth doesn’t change.

But if you add a second 16GB stick alongside your existing one, you hit dual-channel. Two 64-bit paths working together roughly doubles bandwidth. That’s the upgrade that actually matters for things like gaming, video editing, or any memory-sensitive workload.

So the real question: are you swapping or adding? Adding = yes. Swapping = no.

Don’t buy a single 32GB stick if you care about bandwidth. Buy the second stick.