Ram upgrade recommendations?

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22 Aug 2009
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16
Hi, I am looking for some advice on adding another 4 gb ram to my setup.I currently am using 2x2gb(4gb) of Mushkin XP2 8500 (ddr2), as you can see from the link this ram is now out of production.I would like to add another 4 gb of ram to my setup on a P5k motherboard.

Should I look at buying the nearest type that Mushkin have atm with the same timings and voltage (5:5:5:15 and 2.0v) or would I be ok adding another make of ram with the same timings?

Any help, much appreciated.
 
Hi,

DDR2 is quite expensive now so I'd buy the cheapest you can get which will do the job.

Buy whatever you can get, from a good brand, which will run at the same speed, timings and voltage as your current RAM.

Or if PC2-6400 is a lot cheaper you could get that and run your existing RAM at 800MHz instead of 1066MHz.

Remember that filling all 4 RAM slots may affect any overclock you have.

Edit:

Do you have a 64 bit operating system to make use of the extra RAM?
 
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Hi Surveyor, cheers again for the help.

Im running Windows 7 64bit, I am also running a q8400 cpu overclocked to 3.2ghz on a asus p5k motherboard.

Would it be better then to maybe just buy 2 gb of ram at the same speed instead of messing up my overclock?
 
Would it be better then to maybe just buy 2 gb of ram at the same speed instead of messing up my overclock?

Sorry, do you mean making it 3x2GB?

That wouldn't be a good idea as it would mess up the dual channel operation.

If you want more RAM add another 2x2GB or even adding 2x1GB will preserve dual channel operation.

You don't have a massive overclock so it hopefully won't be a problem.
 
Ok, I will stick to filling all four slots on the motherboard then.

Would this ** Linking to competitors is strictly prohibited - Please read FAQs regarding rules ** ram be ok.I see it states running it at 2.2v, would that also be ok to run with my mushkin ram at 2.2
 
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I'd remove the link to the competitor as it's against the forum rules.

What you've linked to is this.

Which is the same as this:

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel

Kingson specify 1.8V in the data sheet but 2.3V on the main page and OcUK specify 2.1V :confused:

Edit:

Sussed it.

It's 1.8V for 800MHz and 2.1-2.3V for 1066MHz.

If your Mushkin needs around 2.2V then they should be OK together.
 
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Hopefully you'll be able to get both running together at around 2.1V.

The kit from OcUK is at the special offer price until Wednesday morning.

You can try it and if it doesn't play nice with the Mushkin you can send it back for a full refund (including postage) under the Distance Selling Regulations.

All it would cost you was a couple of quid to post it back (I'd suggest recorded delivery) but hopefully you won't need to.

FYI:

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I have installed the new ram and now have 4 gb of Mushkin running at 5:5:5:15 and 4 gb of Kingston running at the same timings.It is using all for 4 slots on my P5k.

I have been testing it out in Battlefield 3 and started with the voltage at 2.0v.After about 30 minutes the game crashed with a blue screen.I increased the voltage to 2.1 and the same thing happened.I am now running it at 2.2 v and am about to test again.

Is there anything else I can adjust to make things more stable.Any help, much appreciated.
 
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