Is it ok to use same exact RAM but bought separately?

[gh0st47]

Normally people told me that as long both RAM runs at same speed and timing it should word, regardless of the brand. 
So is it OK if I buy the same exact RAM separately instead of Kits ? Like example buying 2X Corsair Vengeance 8GB CL15 @ 3000mhz individually instead of a Kit ?

Some people said that I may risk running in to compatibility problem since the " Version " of the RAM maybe different. 
I did came across this problem, as for my current PC I'm using 16GB I bought 2X 8GB Kits. The specs are exactly the same, but one of the other RAM kit has a slight different timing. 
The Version Numbers are different as well. So far I'm it's working well. 

But now I'm buying RAM for RyZen PC, which it can be rather sensitive when comes to RAM. Do you guys think it be alright if I bought them individually ??
I would buy them in Kits, but sadly our local Distributor / Supplier is rather " stupid " they tend to import more Single Kit rather than Dual Kit not to mention we couldn't even find Quad Kit here

[NinJake]

Should be fine. However normally if you buy 2 of the "same" sticks over the course of lets say 6 months, the timings should be the same as well.

[Guest]

If you bought the RAM sticks seperately, they would most likely end up being the equivalent price as you would buy them in a kit format. Well, you should be fine, make sure that the RAM sticks are the same.

[federicosergio]

To be honest, 99% of the time you should be able to stick in whatever ram module you have on hand, even one with different rated speed and timings, and it should work just fine as long as you set the specs of the "worst" for both in the bios.

[Terryv]

Match your sticks not by spec, but by part number.

[Avve1000]

yes, it should be alright, just make sure to buy (as you said) the EXACT same. 

[Zeitec]

1 hour ago, gh0st47 said:

Normally people told me that as long both RAM runs at same speed and timing it should word, regardless of the brand. 
So is it OK if I buy the same exact RAM separately instead of Kits ? Like example buying 2X Corsair Vengeance 8GB CL15 @ 3000mhz individually instead of a Kit ?

Some people said that I may risk running in to compatibility problem since the " Version " of the RAM maybe different. 
I did came across this problem, as for my current PC I'm using 16GB I bought 2X 8GB Kits. The specs are exactly the same, but one of the other RAM kit has a slight different timing. 
The Version Numbers are different as well. So far I'm it's working well. 

But now I'm buying RAM for RyZen PC, which it can be rather sensitive when comes to RAM. Do you guys think it be alright if I bought them individually ??
I would buy them in Kits, but sadly our local Distributor / Supplier is rather " stupid " they tend to import more Single Kit rather than Dual Kit not to mention we couldn't even find Quad Kit here

Yes, that's what u did when I went from 8gb to 16.

[gh0st47]

1 hour ago, federicosergio said:

To be honest, 99% of the time you should be able to stick in whatever ram module you have on hand, even one with different rated speed and timings, and it should work just fine as long as you set the specs of the "worst" for both in the bios.

Actually like my current situation...the Timing aren't exactly different. 
I'm not even sure what am I looking at....I've try understanding RAM for ages and couldn't so I gave up...since as long it works so I couldn't be bother with it and I never really tweak my RAM since there isn't any performance gain in games till now with RyZen....

It's late now and I don't have CPU-Z....I will post a pic later tomorrow to show you what I meant by the timing, maybe you could explain it to me, I'm really interested to learn and understand it. 
 

[gh0st47]

1 hour ago, TheBeastPC said:

If you bought the RAM sticks seperately, they would most likely end up being the equivalent price as you would buy them in a kit format. Well, you should be fine, make sure that the RAM sticks are the same.

Hmm if not mistaken I believe buying them individually it's cheaper here. 
But I will get them in 16GB Kit of course if it's available but as I said it's our local distributor / supplier who are at fault. 
I think they don't even know what are the differences and what's the point of RAM being sold in Kits....all they care is earning money. Don't be surprise they are totally ignorant about PC stuffs. 
Example if I wanted a 32GB Kit ( maybe 2X 16GB or 4X 8GB)  I couldn't find them, I will have to buy 2X 16GB Kit ( 2X 8GB ) instead...so it's basically two different kits matching together which some people claimed that it's not a good thing since they aren't tested together and it may not work well. 

It's almost impossible to find any 4X Kits...
What's worst is I think many of our Kingston HyperX RAM are only sold in Single Kit ! 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, gh0st47 said:

Hmm if not mistaken I believe buying them individually it's cheaper here. 
But I will get them in 16GB Kit of course if it's available but as I said it's our local distributor / supplier who are at fault. 
I think they don't even know what are the differences and what's the point of RAM being sold in Kits....all they care is earning money. Don't be surprise they are totally ignorant about PC stuffs. 
Example if I wanted a 32GB Kit ( maybe 2X 16GB or 4X 8GB)  I couldn't find them, I will have to buy 2X 16GB Kit ( 2X 8GB ) instead...so it's basically two different kits matching together which some people claimed that it's not a good thing since they aren't tested together and it may not work well. 

It's almost impossible to find any 4X Kits...
What's worst is I think many of our Kingston HyperX RAM are only sold in Single Kit ! 

Well yes, in terms of buying them seperately, it would be cheaper because your buying them individually as one stick. It also depends on RAM speeds, because the higher the RAM speeds, the more expensive the RAM is.

[federicosergio]

17 hours ago, gh0st47 said:

Actually like my current situation...the Timing aren't exactly different. 
I'm not even sure what am I looking at....I've try understanding RAM for ages and couldn't so I gave up...since as long it works so I couldn't be bother with it and I never really tweak my RAM since there isn't any performance gain in games till now with RyZen....

It's late now and I don't have CPU-Z....I will post a pic later tomorrow to show you what I meant by the timing, maybe you could explain it to me, I'm really interested to learn and understand it. 
 

Ok, let’s start from here:

Spoiler

 

 

Computer can only do one thing at a time (actually not true, but follow me on that), they work sequentially, in “cycles”.

In every cycle they can process an action (I’m oversemplifying here).
Just like the cpu works at the rate imposed by its clock generator, ram has its own.

The speed (in MHz/GHz) is the number of “cycles” that the component  goes through every second.
Latency on the other hand, is the number of cycles that ram reuires to perform an action or fulfill a request.
For example, CAS 9 means that, between the moment in which the cpu asks for a “piece of data” and the moment ram gives it back, 9 cycles pass.
You can easily see that the crude time you have to wait for an action to be performed is dependant on both speed AND latency, since a higher speed will result in shorter cycles.

Now let’s get to the point that many people tend to miss: speed and latency are NOT a proprety of the ram module itself, they are determined by the cpu’s memory controller and how it is set up.
The numbers you see on the spec sheet are the maximum speed and minimum latency that the module is rated for. It means that the manufacturer guarantees it will work at this specs. It could work at higher speeds (usually not unless you raise the voltage), and it will clearly work at lower speeds.
That’s why I told you that, as long as you set the specs that the slowest module is rated for in the bios, you shouldn’t get compatibility issues, even if you’re rocking complitelly different modules.
Don’t get me wrong, I guess it can happen (Linus apparently has problems all the times, even when using kits), but it never happened to me in years building pcs. And I’m writing to you from a perfectly working desktop with two 8GB sticks and two 4GB sticks in it. 

Cpu Z is probably telling you the available XMP profiles of each module, not what it's running at.

Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure a memory controller that lets you set different timings for each module doesn't exist (but I have to get my dirty hands on a Ryzen platform yet, so I can be wrong)

[gh0st47]

5 hours ago, federicosergio said:

Ok, let’s start from here:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Computer can only do one thing at a time (actually not true, but follow me on that), they work sequentially, in “cycles”.

In every cycle they can process an action (I’m oversemplifying here).
Just like the cpu works at the rate imposed by its clock generator, ram has its own.

The speed (in MHz/GHz) is the number of “cycles” that the component  goes through every second.
Latency on the other hand, is the number of cycles that ram reuires to perform an action or fulfill a request.
For example, CAS 9 means that, between the moment in which the cpu asks for a “piece of data” and the moment ram gives it back, 9 cycles pass.
You can easily see that the crude time you have to wait for an action to be performed is dependant on both speed AND latency, since a higher speed will result in shorter cycles.

Now let’s get to the point that many people tend to miss: speed and latency are NOT a proprety of the ram module itself, they are determined by the cpu’s memory controller and how it is set up.
The numbers you see on the spec sheet are the maximum speed and minimum latency that the module is rated for. It means that the manufacturer guarantees it will work at this specs. It could work at higher speeds (usually not unless you raise the voltage), and it will clearly work at lower speeds.
That’s why I told you that, as long as you set the specs that the slowest module is rated for in the bios, you shouldn’t get compatibility issues, even if you’re rocking complitelly different modules.
Don’t get me wrong, I guess it can happen (Linus apparently has problems all the times, even when using kits), but it never happened to me in years building pcs. And I’m writing to you from a perfectly working desktop with two 8GB sticks and two 4GB sticks in it. 

Cpu Z is probably telling you the available XMP profiles of each module, not what it's running at.

Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure a memory controller that lets you set different timings for each module doesn't exist (but I have to get my dirty hands on a Ryzen platform yet, so I can be wrong)

So basically....lower Timing is better obviously ? But how do I even know what Numbers I can dial in ? Some I've seen is rather simple like 18-19-19-39 then there's like 19-26-26-46 it make no sense the numbers are so far off...
And here's my current RAM weird huh lol...two different kits. 

[Princess Luna]

Most of the time it works even if there is nothing matching, Get a Corsair 2133mhz throw it together with a G.Skill 3400mhz it is going to work, the performance will just be capped to the worse frequency and worse timings of the worse stick.

 

You have the same model so even if purchased in different times there won't be any issue.

[federicosergio]

As I said, what you read there are the standard profiles that each module supports, not what they're actually running at the moment.

In this case, I would set the XMP-1600 profile and leave everything on auto. Stress test it for a bit with memtest or prime 95, but it should be perfectly fine (as you said, it worked until now).

Just as a reference, your memory modules are both rated for 1600MHz speed (dual channel 800MHz) and 9-9-9-24 timings at 1.5V, pretty standard values for DDR3.

 

As you also said, Ryzen benefits much more from fast ram than other cpus, but what you're interested in here is mainly the rated clock speed of the modules.

The simple explanation is (and please, DON'T quote me on this, since I have a fairly limited knowledge of this particular topic) that the Infinity Fabric -the structure that connects CCXs, or modules, of a Ryzen core- speed is limited by the memory clock.

It means that, in this particular application, speed is more relevant than latency.

Everything we previously said is still valid though: you should be able to use different memory sticks without issues, as long as you don't ask one of them to go faster than what it was made for.

I heard that some models of ram work better with Ryzen than others, but I still have to get into it, so I can't help you on that. I'm pretty sure that bios updates in the last months are making compatibility issues rarer and rarer though.

 

P.s.

Sweet wallpaper, loved the Borderlands series

[gh0st47]

14 hours ago, federicosergio said:

As I said, what you read there are the standard profiles that each module supports, not what they're actually running at the moment.

In this case, I would set the XMP-1600 profile and leave everything on auto. Stress test it for a bit with memtest or prime 95, but it should be perfectly fine (as you said, it worked until now).

Just as a reference, your memory modules are both rated for 1600MHz speed (dual channel 800MHz) and 9-9-9-24 timings at 1.5V, pretty standard values for DDR3.

 

As you also said, Ryzen benefits much more from fast ram than other cpus, but what you're interested in here is mainly the rated clock speed of the modules.

The simple explanation is (and please, DON'T quote me on this, since I have a fairly limited knowledge of this particular topic) that the Infinity Fabric -the structure that connects CCXs, or modules, of a Ryzen core- speed is limited by the memory clock.

It means that, in this particular application, speed is more relevant than latency.

Everything we previously said is still valid though: you should be able to use different memory sticks without issues, as long as you don't ask one of them to go faster than what it was made for.

I heard that some models of ram work better with Ryzen than others, but I still have to get into it, so I can't help you on that. I'm pretty sure that bios updates in the last months are making compatibility issues rarer and rarer though.

 

P.s.

Sweet wallpaper, loved the Borderlands series

Very informative and well explained, even for a person like me who's have weak command in English is able to understand it clearly. 
Amazing, we need more people like you in the Forums or working in the Technical Support team in general lol....

Yeah some claimed that " Samsung B Die " RAM works best for RyZen like the G.Skill Flare-X or some of the Trident-Z RGB ( there are many different part numbers you have to do research and see which is it... ) and only a couple of Ripjaws V...
Corsair...so far I've check are their Vengeance LPX and Dominator but rated at least 3200mhz and even up to 3600 ++ 

I've sold my G.Skill Trident-Z, wasn't really fan of the RGB all I be using is Red...so I just bought myself a 16GB Kit of Corsair Vengeance LED Red instead 3200mhz CL16. 
Sadly I'm still waiting for my 1700X return from RMA.....I be pairing with the Crosshair VI HERO board instead this time, I'm actually using the Gigabyte X370 Gaming 5 before, decided to sell it and get the CH6 instead...

This point on it's getting out of topic continue to read if you're interested to hear my story. 

Pray that all my problems be resolve after my CPU come back from RMA, having weird issues with my 1700X....and I'm still worried about my VEGA 64 Liquid, I haven't confirm  if there's any problem with the GPU.....since before I RMA my CPU...I ran into two BSOD...! A weird one too at it...it's not your typical BSOD....my PC just locks up and black screen...first time there's sound loop and I had to reset myself, second time it just auto restart itself...no BSOD screen were display but I was able to find BSOD reports using WhoCrashed. 
Wonder it was maybe just a bad Driver or something...or maybe it's the CPU causing it...

[o0jac0b0o]

I bought a 2 pack Corsair Vengenace RGB Pro 3200MHz RAM about 1 year later I done the same again but saw the version went from 4.32 to 5.22 but thought nothing of it because I never saw forums saying it’s an issue to mix RAM in this way. 
 

2 years later I start to get BSOD. I started doing Memtest found that the first pack of RAM just randomly died and the second pack had 1 failed stick (but still working) and 1 passed stick. 
 
I contacted Corsair and they are saying I have voided the warranty on the sticks and they won’t be able to help me. 
 

Check the warranty is my advice. Corsair warranty doesn’t cover mixing kits of the exact same model.
 

Quote from Corsair Support:

“Do understand that mixing kits (even if it is 2 of the same SKU) is not recommended as it can lead to compatibility issues such as system stability problems, prevent XMP/DOCP from working correctly, or even prevent your system from booting. Our DRAM kits are only validated and guaranteed to work in the configuration they are packaged and sold as, and any incompatibility issues that arise from mixing two individual kits in order to increase capacity is not something that is covered by the warranty as the memory kits themselves are not defective.”

[squirrel265]

That isnt what Corsair is saying tho, they are saying that they cant help you over compatibility issues but if the RAM stick has physically "died", im quite sure they will RMA it. Just make an RMA for physically defective stick and RMA each individually or better said kits individually because they will most likely require you to RMA a whole kit.