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Mixing RAM - The Pros and Cons

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Go to solution Solved by Enderman,

Using different brands will work 99% of the time, but you always risk instability, BSODs, mem errors, etc...

If you use the same brand and model of ram (with same speed, timings, etc) it will work 99.9999% of the time

If you use a validated quad channel kit, you know for sure it will work 100% because all 4 DIMMs are tested together.

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Hey LTT! I'm back after a short summer break to ask some more questions. I've been doing a lot of reading about mixing RAM, and It's hard to pin down (no pun intended) what really is okay to do, and what shouldn't be done. 

Say for example, I want to mix what I currently have (Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB 1866 MHz) with Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB @ 1866MHz. The cas 9 and 10 respectively, and the timing is 9-10-9-27 (Vengeance) and 10-11-10-30 (Platinum). What does this mean in regards to mixing the RAM? I'm curious about what cas and timing mean, and if this mixing could be done. 

Thank you!

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Pros if you mix different ram brands = it works

 

Cons if you mix different brands = instability, failure to boot/CTD

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Pros if you mix different ram brands = it works

 

Cons if you mix different brands = instability, failure to boot/CTD

And it looks bad:D

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You should always use the exact same ram same brand, speed, and timing.

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  • Solution

Using different brands will work 99% of the time, but you always risk instability, BSODs, mem errors, etc...

If you use the same brand and model of ram (with same speed, timings, etc) it will work 99.9999% of the time

If you use a validated quad channel kit, you know for sure it will work 100% because all 4 DIMMs are tested together.

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Hey LTT! I'm back after a short summer break to ask some more questions. I've been doing a lot of reading about mixing RAM, and It's hard to pin down (no pun intended) what really is okay to do, and what shouldn't be done. 

Say for example, I want to mix what I currently have (Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB 1866 MHz) with Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB @ 1866MHz. The cas 9 and 10 respectively, and the timing is 9-10-9-27 (Vengeance) and 10-11-10-30 (Platinum). What does this mean in regards to mixing the RAM? I'm curious about what cas and timing mean, and if this mixing could be done. 

Thank you!

 

CAS Latency is the measure of time it takes for RAM to respond to a request. Lower the better. I don't think it would be a good idea to mix those RAMs.

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