Risks of incompatible RAM

[Hitchens]

Hi. I'm not good at computerspeak, so please go easy on me.

I bought a Shuttle barebones system from Amazon. Having only the haziest understanding of compatibility issues, I ordered components based on "Others Who Bought This Also Bought . . ." This was foolhardy, I realize now.

On that tenuous basis, I also bought two 8Gb sticks of RAM:
Komputerbay 16GB (2x 8GB) PC3-10600 10666 1333MHz DDR3 1333 DRAM DIMM 240-Pin RAM Desktop Memory Dual Channel KIT 9-9-9-25. There are four slots, and the system, I read, supports up to 32Gb.

I am not a gamer, but, as others have noted, RAM is relatively cheap, and I'm tired of my old clunker, and I don't want my frugality slowing me down in this case, so I went for 8Gb sticks in case I ever become a RAMhog.

When I finally did go to Shuttle's site to check compatibility, I found no Komputerbay memory on the compatible list.

Contacting Shuttle for support seems oddly complicated.

For what it's worth, this is from Shuttle's specs page for my system:

DDR3 1333 MHz support RAM Socket * 4, Dual channels support
up to 32 GB total (8GB*4)

Is my KomputerBay RAM really incompatible, just because it's not on Shuttle's list?

What are the risks of installing RAM that isn't listed as supported, given that the incompatibility is not in the amount supported? Might I ruin the RAM, the HD, the CPU?

Thanks very much for any help.

Sorry so verbose; I've included a lot, hoping to avoid lots of back-and-forth clarification.

 

[Binky]

Just because the memory isn't on the approved list does NOT mean it will not work. They don't test all memory. There is probably a high chance that your memory and system will work fine together.

 

[rsutoratosu]

Good thing is you order from amazon, they have easy return process, but it should be compatible. I would run memtest upon receipt and make sure there's no errors

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I never heard of Komputerbay RAM, so I can't comment on its reliability.
But in terms of specs, you should be OK...

 

[Hitchens]

Thanks to you all for your input. Based on what you've said, I'll go ahead and use what I've got.

If anyone has anything to contribute re what risks lie in using incompatible RAM, I'd still like to learn that.

 

[Zardnok]

The only risk of incompatible RAM is the system would not boot or would perhaps be unstable in some way. I seriously doubt it would "damage" anything. I would try the new RAM and see if the system will boot. It likely will be fine and you can set a memory checker to run overnight to verify stability.

 

[Emulex]

improper rank causes things like ram to disappear randomly on cold boot to system crashes with memtest.

i've seen some crazy stuff happen that is unexplainable.

 

[Hitchens]

Thanks, Zardnok. I supposed that there was no real risk of harm, else I'd have been cautioned by now, but I'm glad to hear the situation plainly stated. I will run a memory checker, and be at ease.

 

[Hitchens]

Oops. Didn't see Emulex's post before I posted. I don't understand it. I'll keep watching.