risk of incompatible RAM?

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neeveklyh

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Oct 19, 2015
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Hi there,

I know if you get a set of ram and upgrade with a same set later on, the sets might not be compatible. However, since the RAM prices right now are so extremely high I was wondering if it's worth the risk of going 1x8gb or 2x4gb ddr4 now and upgrade with another 8gb later on, once the prices have dropped. The motherboard I will get has 4 ram slots, with a standard freq of 2666MHZ. I will be using the computer for every day use, gaming and programming (mainly Python, so RAM won't be an issue for that).

How big is the risk of having incompatible sets (if it is possible to tie a number to it) and would there be a big difference in risk between 1x8 and 2x4gb?

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
geofelt
The answer of course is "it depends"
My readings seem to indicate that AMD motherboards are more tightly dependent on ram than Intel.
Ryzen seems to be very picky.
Modern Intel motherboards are quite tolerant.
If you will need 4 slots, that is harder to manage than 2.

One must ask the question, what is my plan "B" if the addition fails???

We all have a budget and if 8gb is all you can manage, then, I would buy a 1 stick 8gb of basic default speed.
Exception... if you will be using integrated graphics, buy a 2 channel kit.

Later when I was rich, I would buy a 2 x 8gb kit of the same specs.
If the original 8gb also worked, good; you now have 24gb.
If it failed then sell it or keep it as a spare.
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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The answer of course is "it depends"
My readings seem to indicate that AMD motherboards are more tightly dependent on ram than Intel.
Ryzen seems to be very picky.
Modern Intel motherboards are quite tolerant.
If you will need 4 slots, that is harder to manage than 2.

One must ask the question, what is my plan "B" if the addition fails???

We all have a budget and if 8gb is all you can manage, then, I would buy a 1 stick 8gb of basic default speed.
Exception... if you will be using integrated graphics, buy a 2 channel kit.

Later when I was rich, I would buy a 2 x 8gb kit of the same specs.
If the original 8gb also worked, good; you now have 24gb.
If it failed then sell it or keep it as a spare.
 
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neeveklyh

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Oct 19, 2015
20
0
4,510


Alright, thanks for your response. I think your solution will be safer than getting a second 1x8gb later on. So, since I will be going for a dedicated graphics card, I will go for the 1x8gb, unless I find a good deal on a 2x8gb set.
 
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