Can I mix this memory

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Rage5119

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Jun 18, 2013
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I ordered a dell 8700 xps ( yes yes I know please don't rag on me for the dell lol) but anyway I would like to know if I can mix these sticks of ram.
The dell comes with 8gb ddr3 1600 dell brand. And I bought an additional stick of 8gb ddr3 1600 but its corsair vengeance ram. Is there a problem mixing these? And is one really better then the other and how?
 
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darkmendez

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Sep 6, 2011
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Dude.....the smartest thing to do is read up information about your PC before you stick that RAM in there. Your Motherboard handle up to 32GB of RAM. It doesn't matter if mixed RAM of DDR3...It goes to the lowest common denominator. Example: if you mixed DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600 with total of 8 GB....then your memory will be ddr3-1333. your bios will auto-adjust your RAM.
 
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Rage5119

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Jun 18, 2013
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Well as you can see from my post. They are both 1600
 
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Tseg

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Jun 11, 2013
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Please check out the thread I just recently started on a similar subject. See link below. Not sure how much different the 8700 is vs. the 8500, but Dell and memory is a tricky subject. I just packaged up my Vengeance RAM to send back after it downgraded my speed from 1600 to 1334. There are alternatives however to get 1600. Right now you can go into your BIOS, look at the General tab, and see if you can make any edits to Memory speed. If not, Vengeance and a whole host of other "performance" memory, like Kingston Hyper X, will slow your speed. Kingston Value Ram, some value Crucial memory and a couple of others supposedly will run at 1600 right out of the gate on an XPS desktop.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1711984/performance-ram-ram-dell-xps-8500.html

Also, here is a long thread on a Dell forum describing the discovery of this challenge (read all 3 pages).

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19454353.aspx?PageIndex=1

You were right to ask as the question/solution is not as simple and Plain Jane as the response "if it says 1600 it must be 1600"... because it is not, it is 1334 in some instances until it is manually changed, which cannot be done on an XPS 8500 and not sure about the 8700.
 
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darkmendez

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any desktop or laptop that motherboard uses 16-32 GB and beyond is considered a high-end PC...Always do research on your PC to see the do's and don'ts. Never get second-hand information, check your manufacturer about your computer.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Most all mobos these days take at least 32GB, and it's never a good idea to mix sets of sticks, in particular 1600 and above.....mixing sticks like that basically went out with lower end DDR2....You generally can mix up to 1600, but even then it's best to set the timings and voltages manually or you are wasting money as you don't get your performance worth
 
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darkmendez

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Like I said.....check with your manufacturer....always keep your timings and voltage on auto unless you want to overclock your RAM.....the highest amount RAM that is use on a Motherboard on PC is 64GB.....
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Or if you buy good sticks, even 1333 or 1600, AUTO equates to the mobos BIOS defaults of 1333 or 1600 and has associated generic timings (often) of 9-9-9-27, on Intel if you have 1333 it's best to set the timings manually, with sticks 1600 and above, enable XMP and select profile 1 which should be balanced timings for the sticks, Profile 2 is slightly more aggressive settings, generally not in the base timings but in the advanced timings timings
 
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joechoniski

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Jun 24, 2013
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your question: Can I mix memory on my computer?

Answer:I put a new mother board in my computer. It says it supports DDR400/333/266 DDR SDRAM. I am usind 512mb of pc2700 333mhz now. I have a friend who has 1gb of ddr PC3200 DDR400.I have 2 slots total.Can I use them both together?Also, if I go to the ddr400, what is the difference.Is it faster or runs cooler or what?
 
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