Mixing Ram

[dorfma05]

Hello all. I've always bought all new ram at the same time. I currently have a Core i7 setup with 6GB of ram. I was looking to upgrade to 12GB of ram as I do a lot of heavy CAD work and multitasking.

I currently have a matched set of (3) 2GB sticks of ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231236

It is no longer available so I was looking at adding this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231225

Is this ok to do as long as I keep them in the "matched" slots? I see that the CAS latency is lower on the one I currently have but I'm not sure if that's really a big deal.

Thanks in advance!

 

[saratoga172]

I haven't had any problems in the past. I've done it with DDR and DDR2 ram, but never with DDR3 ram. Generally as long as your more concerned with using the extra memory you have rather than how fast it is.

For performance use you want the ram ideally from the same kit, but at least same model. For simply needing more ram it usually doesn't make a huge difference. It usually plays nice. It will still perform well but likely won't be completely dual or triple channel etc.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

What MB do you have that has 6 ram slots?

 

[dorfma05]

What MB do you have that has 6 ram slots?

Asus P6T. Exact one pictured here:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRelFQTeMRzAxHuvZ6Gv4D8YEAlMDSGYWkwI4u9-wd-qQ-_Td5iJg

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Nice MB.

 

[Denithor]

I haven't had any problems in the past. I've done it with DDR and DDR2 ram, but never with DDR3 ram. Generally as long as your more concerned with using the extra memory you have rather than how fast it is.

For performance use you want the ram ideally from the same kit, but at least same model. For simply needing more ram it usually doesn't make a huge difference. It usually plays nice. It will still perform well but likely won't be completely dual or triple channel etc.

Actually, the memory should still function just fine in triple channel mode, it will just run at the settings for the slower of the two kits. And no, latency and even memory speed have almost no impact on performance in the real world.

 

[dorfma05]

Actually, the memory should still function just fine in triple channel mode, it will just run at the settings for the slower of the two kits. And no, latency and even memory speed have almost no impact on performance in the real world.

Ah perfect. Thanks for the info. I used to be more into this stuff but I was never a min/maxer so I never delved into playing with ram timings.