RAM Compatibility

[Simple Hobbyist]

Is it possible to have to have different kits of RAM of different brands with different speeds and CAS latency to work together?

 

I have a kit (2x8gb) of corsair vengeance 3000mHz C15 ram and wanted to get some faster ram. I was looking at the G.Skill Trident Z (2x8gb) 3600mHz C16. My build is mainly for gaming, but I also use for it school and occasionally run some engineering programs. I've heard that when you have the same brand of RAM, but different speed the system will resort to the slowest speed of RAM.Would I be able to pair both of these kits when I'm doing extensive work and then take out the slower kit for regular usage (like gaming)? Or would it be better to just save up for a 32gb kit of a faster RAM and sell/give away my current kit?

Usually I get by with my 16gb of RAM for school work or gaming, but even then then I'm hitting about 11-14gb of usage and under heavy work loads I reach 100% usage. I don't really want to upgrade to a different 32gb kit, so I was wondering how pairing 2 different kits would work. Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you have a great day!

 

My system:

Ryzen 5 3600

Corsair (2x8gb) Vengeance 3000mhz C15

B450 tomahawk MAX

EVGA 650 80+ gold 

Samsung 970 Evo

EVGA 1660ti

 

 

[SpookyCitrus]

It should work but I don't recommend it. Like you have heard it will use the slower of the speeds. But it is highly likely that the kits will not be compatible with each other and may cause crashing and bluescreens. You could have two identical ram kits, same speeds, manufacturer, and CL and still have issues. I always recommend to buy the amount and speed of memory you want/need in a kit rather than mix matching or buying separate kits. It's less risky and a full kit would be tested by the manufacturer to work together. If you want 32GB of ram buy a 32GB kit and sell the 16GB kit you have rather than mix matching kits or even buying a second of the same kit you already have.

[Jurrunio]

They will work, but speed and timings will have to get worse, worse than the lesser binned kit.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Two different kits will work together at whatever you manage to make them work. Both rated speeds are "overclock" speeds anyway, so you would have to enter a RAM overclocking process to find a stable setup.

The only speed+timings both kits should be able to do for sure is the JEDEC standard for DDR4 (so 2133MHz CL15 and other timings I just don't know), there may be another one for 2400MHz but I'm not sure. Other than that, nothing is guaranteed, because although the 3600 kit is probably able of doing some 3000MHz setting, it may not coincide with the timings of the 3000 kit you have.

 

I think it's a safer bet to get more of the same 3000 memory, or sell it and replace it with a faster, higher capacity kit(s).

[Simple Hobbyist]

Thank you everyone!