Same brand/specs but unmatched Ram sets

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joshzstuff

joshzstuff

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Ok, after some research, I'm still a bit unsure of the rules when matching Ram these days.
I know they still sell matched sets for a reason, and you take a risk when you don't buy everything together.

I'm running an Asus Z77 chipset with 16GB of G.Skill Sniper:
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 9-9-9-24
Cas Latency 9
Voltage 1.5V

I paid $70 for it 1 last year :ouch:
I don't need to tell you what memory prices have done since then.
So:
I need 32GB and Im looking at

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 9-9-9-24
Cas Latency 9
Voltage 1.5V

(@ 3X the price lol)

The problem is that I purchased this low- profile ram to clear my CPU cooler:

Ram%20Clearance.jpg


Even though this is the same spec-ed ram with the obvious difference being the heat-spreader, Am I correct in thinking that their could be other hardware differences between this ram?

I would be interested in the added cooling of the Rip-jaws, although as of yet I am not overclocking my Ram.

The other concern is that now it's 1yr later, should I be worried that even if I purchase the identical ram, that it's composition may have changed in this time?

Thanks!
 
Solution
P
there is a way to do it that will pretty much guarantee no issues.
use your original set in channel A (slots 0 and 2 or 1 and 4, depending on your mobo namings) and your new set in channel B (slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4, depending on your mobo namings). The reason this works is that channel A and channel B are controlled by separate timings (and on some boards, even voltage)

have done this many times as to avoid having to buy full new sets just to accommodate installing more RAM without having to replace the whole lot.

Regards
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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Technically, aside from different sources for the RAM chips on the stick, there shouldn't be any functional difference between the 2 sticks: they have the same CAS latency/timing, same listed voltage, & same rated speed.

However, for every person that doesn't have a problem, there's someone else that ends up with a problem. In your case, however, both sticks are from the same manufacturer (G.Skill), so your chances of the sticks working together is much better.
 
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phate1337

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there is a way to do it that will pretty much guarantee no issues.
use your original set in channel A (slots 0 and 2 or 1 and 4, depending on your mobo namings) and your new set in channel B (slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4, depending on your mobo namings). The reason this works is that channel A and channel B are controlled by separate timings (and on some boards, even voltage)

have done this many times as to avoid having to buy full new sets just to accommodate installing more RAM without having to replace the whole lot.

Regards
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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WOW, this is news to me, would like to look into this, could you give me a MB that will do this? Thanks :)
 
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joshzstuff

joshzstuff

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Yeah, that was sort of the idea I was going for. Since I already have the 2X 8GB sticks installed, I would leave them in place and add the 2nd pair to the available slots.

My board has staggered spaces, Black/ Blue / Black/ Blue, the Black is currently populated with the small profile head syncs.

It sounds like you have had success using Much more disparate Ram than what I propose!
Ram%20Clearance.jpg




 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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I found this here.......what am I missing?
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.pdf

DDR3 Reference Voltage Generation

The processor memory controller has the capability of generating the DDR3 Reference Voltage (VREF) internally for both read (RDVREF) and write (VREFDQ) operations. The generated VREF can be changed in small steps, and an optimum VREF value is determined for both during a cold boot through advanced DDR3 training procedures in order to provide the best voltage and signal margins.

Rules for Populating Memory Slots


In all System Memory Organization Modes, the frequency and latency timings of the system memory is the owest supported frequency and slowest supported latency timings of all memory DIMM modules placed in the system, as determined through the SPD registers.

Note:
In a Two DIMM Per Channel (2DPC) daisy chain layout memory configuration, the furthest DIMM from the processor of any given channel must always be populated first.




 
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phate1337

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my previous rig had a deluxe board with a 920 in it and that had the options, just checked my current rigs (z68 and z77 rigs) and neither of them have the setting. regardless of this, the OP should not have any issues running two matched pairs as long as they keep them in separate channels. can't seem to find any current boards that have the feature. it was a bit of a pig in complete honesty as if there were any slight timing issues it clocked both sets of ram down to a stupidly low clock rate for stability.
on the flip side, most current boards will allow you to change the dram reference voltage per channel so you can put minor voltage adjustments in there. if running 2 sets of ram, just make sure they are on the same timings and you should be fine.
 
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phate1337

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as far as i can see from what you have said, you should have no issues what so ever running the 2 sets along side eachother. keep one set in your blue slots and one in your black slots and it should all perform well, just remember to set your XMP profile to 1600 in bios at first boot with it all in and you should be fine.

also a little bit of info for you: i currently have in this PC (Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3) two sets of vengeance LP memory with identical timings and voltages, but they were purchased at different times (like a year and a half difference). despite both sets using the same voltages and timings, the XMP profile for the old ones is version 1.2 and the new ones is 1.3 (checked using CPU-Z). I can confirm that these modules needed absolutely no tweaking at all outside of setting the XMP profile in BIOS to 1600 to get them all to run at 1600mhz stable.

Regards
 
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phate1337

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Hey Endeavour, i found one! oddly enough it's the board i am currently running at home... Gigabyte Z77X-D3H has seperate timings for RAM if you want em ;)

Regards
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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Hi Phate, cool, I did not know you could set separate timing on each controller, Thanks Much for letting me know (learn something every day :) ).

I would still think setting the timing of both banks the same would be the best way to go, just me I guess. If the data is interleaved then running one set faster would not really buy much as the cache would still have to wait for the slower bank to complete a block transfer.

But for figuring out what speed is needed for stability is good that you can do it I think. Perhaps get them stable then set all of them at the slowest speed, going to have to play around with this if I can.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know Phate !
 
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