sticks not the same... problem?

SooTyLaD · 3 Mar 2008 at 22:58

hi guys,

i'm currently giving an old shuttle setup a facelift to use as a backup pc, and it currently has 512MB of standard crucial ram (PC3200)

if i whack in a stick of PC3200 Geil RAM is it gonna be just the same as a matched 2x512 pair? does it depend on timings or something?

i'm assuming i will be disadvantaged in some way but i'm not really clued up on RAM so whats the score on this?

Sean_UK · 4 Mar 2008 at 13:59

Timings + GB size perhaps, no idea tbh as im not clued up on this topic either. However I can say one of my brothers has DDR400 based pc with 1Gb Crucial and 1Gb Elixir running fine togther, timings were the same though.

Yellowbeard · 6 Mar 2008 at 17:57

Unfortunately the ONLY way to know for sure is to install and test. Do you already own both modules?

Tooks · 6 Mar 2008 at 18:55

2 x 512MB of different branded memory is the same as 2 x 512MB of 'matched' memory as far as your PC is concerned.

If they do have radically different timings, just set them manually in the bios to whatever the timings are of the slowest stick.

To be honest though, your bios will probably do a perfectly good job of sorting it out for itself.

The only benefit of 2 sticks of RAM is dual channel operation, and even that isn't worth that much performance wise in almost all everyday apps.

There is no performance benefit from 'matched' pairs of RAM vs 2 different sticks of RAM, given like for like speed ratings/timings.

You'd be very unlucky in my opinion if they didn't get on well together!!

Yellowbeard · 6 Mar 2008 at 20:36

Tooks said:
2 x 512MB of different branded memory is the same as 2 x 512MB of 'matched' memory as far as your PC is concerned.

That's not quite accurate. There are MANY different factors that can cause the memory modules to appear electrically different to the MOBO. In worst case, 2 different modules will not post together but, this is increasingly rare. Best case, you install and the system runs just fine. However, it is impossible to guarantee that a mixture of different RAM will run together which is why we don't recommend it.

Differences that can cause issues:
Different PCBs
Different density of ICs
Different brands of ICs
Limited MOBO bios characteristics
Chipsets
Memory Controllers
Etc, etc, etc.