How important are "matching" pairs of ram? Will two different specs cause issues?

NeilF · 29 Aug 2019 at 09:51

So I have an old Dell Optiplex 3010 which has a factory fitted 4GB stick of ram in one of its two slots.

I'm considering putting another 4GB in the remaining empty slot, but clearly it will be a different spec to the other one.

Will this cause an issue?

NeilF · 29 Aug 2019 at 10:01

Armageus said:
99.9% of the time it will be fine.

Most issues with mixing ram are when overclocking or trying to use ram that is faster than a jedec SPD standard.

I won't be doing that... I'll just be plugging it in and running everything on this monster Intel Core I3 8GB machine at stock!

So let's assume the stick I buy (which is listed as compatible with that machine) is sligthly higher spec than the stick that was put in this Optiplex X years ago, I assume all that will happen is they will both be run at the same standard settings? ie: If the new stick is slightly higher spec, it'll just be under utilised?

NeilF · 29 Aug 2019 at 10:04

andy_mk3 said:
Yeah will be fine. Both will just run at the slowest speed.

Thanks!

NeilF · 29 Aug 2019 at 10:13

Armageus said:
Exactly that. E.g. if your first stick is 1333mhz and your new one is 1600mhz (pc12800) then both will run at 1333mhz.

Thanks!