Can I mix and match DDR2 667 and 800 ram cards?

Fishlol69 · Aug 18, 2015

My motherboard is an ASUS Maximus II Formula, it has four slots for RAM cards.

For now I have 3gb of RAM, I put 1gb in each slot. They are 800 mhz.
My plan is to remove one of them, and add in two 2gb ram cards that have 667 mhz.
Is this possible? How do I configure it? For bios, it allows me to choose 667, 800, other numbers, or auto. What do I choose?

Is this an okay set up?:
[DDR2 1GB 800mhz RAM]
[DDR2 1GB 800mhz RAM]
[DDR2 2GB 667mhz RAM]
[DDR2 2GB 667mhz RAM]

it should add up to 6gb of ram. I have 64-bit windows 7.

JamesSneed · Aug 18, 2015

It can work but mixing RAM of various speeds can cause some stability issues. You will likely end up having tweak the bios to run at the 667mhz speed and also very likely will have to tweak some CAS latencies to loosen it up some for running 4 sticks.

Dunlop0078 · Aug 18, 2015

I doubt that will work ram can be finicky. Do you already have this sticks? If so give it a shot it might work. If you have to go out and buy new ram it would be best to just get a 6gb set of ram that you are sure is compatible with your motherboard and not try to mix up ram.

bambiboom · Aug 18, 2015

Fishlol69 :

Fishlol69,

As far as I know, you can mix RAM speeds, but the system will run at the lowest speed module, that is your system memory will run at 667Mhz. Unless you have severe limitation in cost or availability, I'd suggest using RAM that is as similar as possible.

Have a look at the ASUS Maximus II manual and see if they recommend mixing speeds, and when using different size modules, how to place them in the slots- some systems like to have the largest modules in slots, 1 and 3- that kind of thing.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Snipergod87 · Aug 18, 2015

You can mix and match (done it many times), by default the 800Mhz RAM will clock down to 667, You could try OCing the 667 to 800Mhz if you want

Dunlop0078 · Aug 18, 2015

If you mixed ram it and worked you were lucky. Sometimes the same exact ram with the same exact specs wont work together if they were not packaged and tested together. And if the mixed ram does actually boot it may cause stability problems down the road. So yes you can mix ram and it might work but their is absolutely no guarantee.

JamesSneed · Aug 18, 2015

I have mixed RAM speeds a few times over the years as well. Just know going into it you will very likely have some stability issues and very likely will have to loosen up timings via the BIOS to get stability back.

Fishlol69 · Aug 18, 2015

So I can mix and match, but I would likely have stability issues.

If I have stability issues, either I could get the same ram again to have 4x2gb ram cards,
or I could run the cards at 667mhz, which would slow down the 800mhz 1gb ones. It's worth a try.

ASUS website had a QVL (Qualified Vendor List) which listed all the compatible cards, but it was last updated at 2007 or something. Newegg only showed 667mhz ram cards when selecting "choose compatible ram cards with motherboard".

I ordered 2x2gb 667mhz on newegg, and I currently have the 800mhz 1gb cards. I could have taken the easy route and chose to get 8gb of ram in one buy, but it was way too expensive.

---

Everyone here gave very useful information, I don't know who to choose as best solution. Maybe I'll choose once I get to install the ram cards.

Tradesman1 · Aug 18, 2015

If you have the sticks give them a try. If their are compatibility or stability issues, we can try some voltage or timing changes, otherwise, it's best to buy the full amount you want/need in a single package and sell off the old or use in another rig, more in item 2, here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr-dram-myths,4155.html

Fishlol69 · Aug 19, 2015

ohh so it will very likely be unstable because the chips are all manufactured differently, even by company.

Oy vey, this is may seriously damage my wallet, I may have to buy the same 2x2gb ram twice.

I'll see what happens. Likely there will be a problem since my bios said that ram speeds bellow 800mhz may cause stability issues, or something like that

Snipergod87 · Aug 19, 2015

TBH with Intel systems (in my case Core 2 Duo systems/LGA 775) I have NEVER had a problem mixing and matching RAM from different MFGR's and different capacity and speeds.

Tradesman1 · Aug 19, 2015

DDR2 is much easier to mix/match but even still have run into numerous problems especially with single and dual rank sticks

Fishlol69 · Aug 20, 2015

Well, awesome enough, taking a closer look, my three cards were actually a 2gb and two 512mb.

The 2gb one doesn't show the speed, just that it's ddr2. Nor does it show the company.

I mixed and matched it with the brand new G.Skill ones, so now I have a total of 6gb, and there are no issues. I never had such an easy time installing working ram. I'm really lucky.

Tradesman1 · Aug 20, 2015

Whooo, glad it went well, have fun

Fishlol69 · Apr 5, 2016

Roughly 8 months later, I wanted to say that I don't have any stability issues whatsoever. Mixing the RAM cards went perfectly fine. It still runs perfectly to this day.

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Can I mix and match DDR2 667 and 800 ram cards?

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