Mixing memory

Loony BoB · 16 Jul 2010 at 21:07

Would these mix okay on a dual channel board?

Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2

Philtor · 21 Jul 2010 at 15:33

It's not a great idea to be honest as your board will force the Geil RAM to run at the speed of the Crucial stuff which is slower (667MHz). Also take into account that each set will have different timings and voltage requirements. It's better to stick with a kit containing matched pairs from the same vendor where possible.

Loony BoB · 22 Jul 2010 at 13:27

I'm just wondering which is more important, really - the 667MHz or the 4GB... this will just be a temporary thing for my girlfriend's PC while we save up for a full upgrade of both our desktops which will include new systemboards, RAM, CPUs and graphics cards (if not more). But that's a few months away, so I'm not sure if it's worth putting all four sticks into the board or just leaving her with 2GB for now.

Philtor · 22 Jul 2010 at 14:24

Well to be honest you would be well going to see any difference between 667MHz RAM and 800MHz RAM in the real world other than when running benchmarks. You might as well make use of the 4GB you have providing you have a 64 Bit o/s version to make use of the full 4GB

Loony BoB · 22 Jul 2010 at 17:03

Cheers mate! And yeah, I do.

Yellowbeard · 22 Jul 2010 at 17:04

Loony BoB said:
I'm just wondering which is more important, really - the 667MHz or the 4GB... .

It depends on what she is doing. If she's running out of RAM with 2GB, more RAM is better than more frequency.