What happens if i mix 2 sets of ram in a P4 system with different CL ratings?

[Raymond Lin]

Currently have 2 x 512 Geil ultra platinum PC3500 in my computer running in a P4 northwood in a Asus P4C800E mobo at stock.

The Geil is 2.5-3-3-6, and I wanna get some OCZ 1GB (2x512MB) DDR-400 PC-3200 CL 2-3-2-5 Platinum EL Dual Channel Kit to go with that.

Or some cheaper Kingston 1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz Non-ECC CL3 (3-3-3).

or

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 ?

Would it be ok? or would it cause stablilty problems? Which would i be better off with?

 

[steve258]

All 4 sticks will run at the slowest timings of the 4, so if you get OCZ it will run 2.5-3-3-6 to match the Geil kit, you can try to tighten it but not sure what timings your Geil kit is capable of.

Try running 2-3-2-5 on your Geil first, if it won't take it then getting OCZ would be a waste, go for Kingston instead as it is more likely to run at 2.5-3-3-6 from its default 3-3-3-8.

Hope that makes sense.

These are well known brands so shouldn't have any incompatibility issue.

 

[Raymond Lin]

what will I have to tweak to make them run the same or it'll just do that when i put it in? Sorry i am being really dumb here, never OC memory before.

BTW, the Kingston is £50, OCZ is £65, and Geil Value is £65 too.

 

[steve258]

If you don't tweak it then it will default to the slowest timings of the 4, so without tweaking:

Your Geil + OCZ = 2.5-3-3-6
Your Geil + Kingston Value = 3-3-3-8

£50 for 1Gb kit is dirt cheap!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Ta, think i'll go for the OCZ then only a bit more and its cheap as chips compared to the £120 i paid for the Geil !