Overclocking RAM help

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LordVile

LordVile

Splendid
May 27, 2016
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Hi I bought an 8GB stick of RAM about 18 months ago that is at 2133Mhz. Looking to buy a matching stick of 8GB but wondered if I would be able to OC it to 2400 or 2666 and if I could would I be better off buying a matching 2133 stick and OC that too or just buy a stick at either 2400 or 2666 depending?

Thanks.

Z270 Motherboard and a 6600K btw
 
Solution
geofelt
Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

If you buy a second stick, it will not be matched and is not 100% guaranteed to work. 85% perhaps.
What is your plan "B" if the new stick does not play well??

My suggestion is to buy a 2 x 8gb kit that closely matches what you have.
You will be guaranteed a working 16gb.
Then see if you can get your old stick to work with it.
If you do...
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

Titan
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Feb 13, 2014
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For the best shot at compatibility you should buy another of the stick you already have.

I have no idea if it will OC to 2400mhz+ stable and I cant even take a guess without the model number of the RAM. Likely the only way to know for sure is to try it.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,262
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Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

If you buy a second stick, it will not be matched and is not 100% guaranteed to work. 85% perhaps.
What is your plan "B" if the new stick does not play well??

My suggestion is to buy a 2 x 8gb kit that closely matches what you have.
You will be guaranteed a working 16gb.
Then see if you can get your old stick to work with it.
If you do, fine, you now have 24gb.
If not, keep the 8gb as a spare or sell it.

Do not try to overclock ram higher than the advertised spec which will be implemented by the XMP settings.
Not much real performance value for the most part anyway.
 
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Solution
mazboy

mazboy

Commendable
Dec 28, 2017
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You are probably not going to have much success trying to get a second stick of RAM to work in your system. Pairing off odd sticks of RAM just doesn't seem to work often, especially on faster boards, and particularly when you're trying to overclock them. What is the fastest, non-overclock speed your board will support? In your situation, I would buy 2x8GB RAM sticks that run at the fastest speed your motherboard supports non-overclocked (sell the old RAM on eBay--even used RAM is bringing close to new prices these days). Buy a top-end, name brand set: Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston.

One last thing. The general consensus is that overclocking RAM doesn't do much to improve the performance of your kit, and RAM is much touchier when it comes to overclocking than a CPU or GPU. It's pretty easy to damage it. Actually, overclocking in general is more of a game of chicken than a real-world way to improve the performance of your computer. I've done it, and it's fun. But I won't run anything overclocked more than it takes to see if it's stable, then it's back to stock settings. Save the wear and tear, and shortened life, of overclocked components. If you want a faster system, buy faster parts.

That's my opinion. Others will disagree. Your mileage may vary.
 
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