Does different branded ram matter
- Thread starter Devon_20
- Start date
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Barty1884
Retired Moderator
- Apr 16, 2015
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Brand, in & of itself is not the driving factor - but in an ideal world, you'd only use 'kits' (any number of modules, sold together in a single retail package).
Best chance of (easy) success is matching speeds, timings, CL etc - but there's still no guarantee 100%.
Best chance of (easy) success is matching speeds, timings, CL etc - but there's still no guarantee 100%.
Luminary
Admirable
- Nov 29, 2015
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Tradesman summed it up nicely in his article "The Most Common DDR DRAM Myths Debunked":
"Even though you are buying two of the exact same sets (or in your case, types of RAM) there is no guarantee that they will work together. The DRAM that goes into a package has been tested to work together. Manufacturers don’t guarantee mixing or adding one set to another, even when they are the same exact model.
Customers often try this with higher data rate sticks using XMP to set them up. With XMP enabled, the motherboard may read the profile for two sticks of DRAM and set the secondary timings accordingly, but the tRFC timing for two modules may be 226, whereas four sticks require 314. This can be especially hard for most users to troubleshoot/find, as few ever go into the secondary DRAM timings."
In summary, it's about a 50/50 chance the two different RAM modules will work together, even if they are the same speed and general CAS timings. We typically recommend buying RAM in pairs from a single package to ensure reliable performance. Since you already have them there is no harm in trying the two different sticks together, but be aware the PC might not post with both stick in, and in the future do try and buy RAM in identical sets.
"Even though you are buying two of the exact same sets (or in your case, types of RAM) there is no guarantee that they will work together. The DRAM that goes into a package has been tested to work together. Manufacturers don’t guarantee mixing or adding one set to another, even when they are the same exact model.
Customers often try this with higher data rate sticks using XMP to set them up. With XMP enabled, the motherboard may read the profile for two sticks of DRAM and set the secondary timings accordingly, but the tRFC timing for two modules may be 226, whereas four sticks require 314. This can be especially hard for most users to troubleshoot/find, as few ever go into the secondary DRAM timings."
In summary, it's about a 50/50 chance the two different RAM modules will work together, even if they are the same speed and general CAS timings. We typically recommend buying RAM in pairs from a single package to ensure reliable performance. Since you already have them there is no harm in trying the two different sticks together, but be aware the PC might not post with both stick in, and in the future do try and buy RAM in identical sets.
Tradesman1
Legenda in Aeternum
- Jun 5, 2013
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Plus 1, item 2 in the article also touches on this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr-dram-myths,4155.html#p1
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