Looking to upgrade RAM and I am wondering about compatibility

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Josh_164

Commendable
Nov 28, 2016
1
0
1,510
Hi I have a mb with 4 ddr3 ram slots, two of which are filled by 4gb ram sticks, I am looking to get more ram but I do not want o spend too much because this is not a priority upgrade. will I be able to get one more stick of ram to put into one of the empty slots or will i have to get 2? and if i get 2 will they have to be the same as my other ram? thank you for your time
 
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Tradesman1
You can try but there are no guarantees when mixing packages of DRAM, even if the same exact model. Best to get full amount you want/need in a single package ;)
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andrewd

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2003
22
0
18,510
I have the same question. I remember when I upgraded my ram years and years ago, I did have to upgrade the sticks in pairs. But I don't know if they have to match what is presently there. I have 2x4gb sticks. My board has 2 additional slots and supports a max of 32 gb. Can I stick 2x8gb in the other 2 slots?

MOTHERBOARD: * GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P AMD 970 ATX w/ Ultra Durable 4 Classic, On/Off Charge, GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 2 PCI
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1866MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance)

Thanks!
 
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littleleo

Splendid
May 8, 2009
4,097
17
23,465
You have to be careful with the timing of the RAM if the 2nd kit timings don't match the 1st you could be in for freezing, BSO and other issues. It would be best to just buy a new kit to be safe. Even kits with the same brand and part number may be slightly different after time.

You have to be sure how much is slot can use. Take the total RAM supported by the motherboard and divide by the number of RAM lots the motherboard has for each slot's max capacity. If you are using a chipset that only supports 16GB and you have 4 slots the most each slot can take is 4GB, 8GB won't work at all. If your motherboard has 4 RAM slots and supports up to 32GB each slot will work with up to 8GB...

The best time to buy RAM was about a little over a month ago. Memory shortages have pushed prices up and they will most likely continue to increase until the end of the year.
 
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