Quesiton about adding RAM

[15thD]

Currently, I'm running two 2gig DDR3 1333 ram modules to make a total of 4gigs, and I want to upgrade to 8gigs. I'd prefer to get 1 stick of 4gigs so later if I wanted I could add even more memory. My quesiton is: would running two 2gig modules and 1 4gig module stop the memory from running in dual-channel mode? Would it even make much of a difference? Thanks in advance for any answers.

 

[computernugget]

refer to your motherboards manual. it should say wether or not it will work with 3 dimms.

 

[15thD]

*Facepalm* I can't believe this never occurred to me. I checked and from what I understand three DIMMs will not allow for a dual channel configuration. If got two more 2gig sticks of a different brand (although still the same type of memory) would it make a difference in the ability to run dual-channel?

 

[blazorthon]

It should work but doesn't always work. The new kit would need to run at the same speed and timings with the same voltage as the first kit.

 

[beenthere]

Mixing is never recommended as it may not work. At the current cheap price of RAM you'd be better off to buy a matched, tested 8 GB. kit. There are numerous brand name 8 GB. DDR3 kits under $60. on Newegg and surely elsewhere.

 

[blazorthon]

Don't go for the cheapest kit(s) because generic RAM is NOT good. It will fail much quicker than brand name kits and may have compatibility problems.

 

[blazorthon]

Corsair, Crucial, G. Skill, Hynix, OCZ, and Kingston are the brands I can recall but there are other good brands.

 

[computernugget]

ocz stop making ram, but if you are getting value ram then go with kingston or crucial, or mushkin. mushkin has legendary customer service. g-skill is good also, they have awesome performance memory, and the new patriot gaming memory is pretty good too.

but yeah its best to get like a dual channel kit that has the same speed, timing and voltage as the other ram in your pc.

 

[x Heavy]

I went with a quad channel kit that had 4 matched modules and filled all 4 of my dual channel Dimms.

It worked very well.

I never mix ram. The new build and the previous two had Gskills and my last 4 computers prior to that had Kingston Hyper X with the coolers that were solid for their day during gaming. I did order one machine with generic ram once. They burned up without coolers within a few months. But hey what did I know back then?

Now I run memory fans in addition to ram coolers on my sticks so that the RAM will have a good long life.

 

[15thD]

Wow, thanks for all the help and advice. By the looks of it I'll probably go ahead and just by an 2x4 gigabyte kit and keep my current ones as spares.

 

[15thD]

Best answer selected by 15thD.