Quick Memory Question

[hgcn]

I'm thinking of doing an upgrade, and this may be a stupid question but I wanted to be sure....


I currently am running a EVGA 780i mobo...with 2gb of G.Skill 800mhz ram.

I'm thinking of upping my ram and I was wondering the rule on adding a kit of ram...

- I don't think I can add different speed ram right? like I couldn't add 2 more sticks of 1066mhz in combination with 800mhz? without downclocking the faster?

- Also does brand matter that much? Or do I just have to make sure that the speeds line up....800mhz and 800mhz??

Thanks and sorry for the ignorance,

-J

 

[Ratman6161]

It is sometimes possible to mix and match modules. But all of your RAM will run at the speed of the slowest. So you could add 2 sticks of 1066 but the actual speed you will be able to set will be the speed of the DDR2 800. So its kind of a waste to buy 1066. Then again a lot of people think 1066 is a waste anyway because its much more expensive and even if you were running it at 1066 the performance gain would be marginal.

As to brand, etc, your best luck and best compatibility will be when all the modules are the same. That said, I've gotten away with mixing and matching before, but its luck of the draw if it will work.

As to making the speeds "line up" you are only going to have one setting for memory speed (i.e. you can't run one set at one speed and another set at a different speed). As I mentioned above, they will all have to run at the same speed which will be the speed of the slower modules.

 

[hgcn]

Thanks.

-J