MEMORY MIXING (is it worth it?)

[Zeeshan Chaudhry]

My motherboard has 4 ram slots, i have Vengence 1600 Ddr3 2 X 4bg ram sticks.
I found a corsair 1600 ddr3 4bg stick from somewhere.

I was plannin to add this stick of ram but i read several articles saying that mixing ram of different brands causes problems

My main question is that is it worth adding 1 more stick making it a total of (12gb ram) or should i leave it as it is (8gb) and avoid problems

I would really appreciate you guys helping me out

 

[daveybrat]

My motherboard has 4 ram slots, i have Vengence 1600 Ddr3 2 X 4bg ram sticks.
I found a corsair 1600 ddr3 4bg stick from somewhere.

I was plannin to add this stick of ram but i read several articles saying that mixing ram of different brands causes problems

My main question is that is it worth adding 1 more stick making it a total of (12gb ram) or should i leave it as it is (8gb) and avoid problems

I would really appreciate you guys helping me out

I wouldn't do it. First you'll break dual-channel memory mode, and second it might make it unstable. Not worth it for another 4GB of ram.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I agree with daveybrat regarding the addition of only a single module. First, look around for the kit of Vengeance (XMS ?) RAM that you have. You should be able to buy the identical kit.

IF NOT: Look at the Corsair model-line similar to what you have. If you can find a kit spec'd at a higher speed than your kit, and if the price is right, you should be able to downclock it from its spec and run it with the existing kit. And in fact, that's what the board will likely do, using the lowest common denominator to configure the RAM.

But the kits should operate in the same spec voltage range. Somewhere, you should be able to find confirmation about the JEDEC and XMP profiles. The model codes of the manufacturer should also give you an idea if the kits are of similar design, using similar "black parts."

So for kits from the same manufacturer and similar or identical model-lines, it's less of a risk to mix kits than it might prove for different brands.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Mixing kits of RAM always carries some risk of incompatibility, increased by higher clock speeds or tighter timings.

I probably wouldn't do it, because, as was said, you'll lose dual-channel, but secondarily, if you're not sure of the history of the DIMM in question (NOT new from retail sealed package), then that carries a much higher risk of actually causing damage to your existing kit.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The above posts aren't wrong, but imo it's not all that bad.

If you don't have any overclocking set up, the motherboard should automatically run at the fastest speed supported by all your ram. That's usually a notch or two slower, maybe 1333. This works like 99.999% of the time without you having to do anything.

You'll likely never notice the difference in speed though.

With mismatched ram installed, interleaving or dual channel mode should still continue to work on the dimms that are installed in matched pairs. It's only when accessing the data on the odd dimm that bandwidth would be halved.

Thing is, if you aren't running out of ram, you won't notice a difference, and upgrading the ram is not worth the bother. But if you ARE running into a ram limit, you would be better off with 12 GB of mismatched ram, then with 8 GB of matched.

VirtualLarry has a point about potential damage, if the dimm has been sitting out somewhere. I would install it in the computer by itself, and run a memory test for, say, 4 to 6 hours, to make sure it is reliable, before installing everything.

 

[Prova moni]

I read this but don't have any Ideas. You can search in google for your help or take those suggestion.