RAM compatabiity?

[forlorn84]

Hello, recently bought a built PC from a local shop. I was given Crucial Ballastix RAM, model number BLS2K8G4D240FSB (A link to the ram on Newegg is below). I thought I'd add another 8 Gb x2 for a total capacity of 32 Gb to find this RAM is stupidly expensive, $204 is cheapest I could find. I couldn't understand why at first, it's nothing special (that I can tell), even the speed is meh. After some searching around it turns out the RAM is discontinued so I assume that's what is leading to the insane price tag. Anyway, I spoke to the guy who built the system, he says it's so expensive because it's so highly compatible with several components, which makes no sense to me, but none the less he refused to swap the kit out with a different kit. He went on to say that I can add different RAM to my system as long as the timings are the same.

 

This leads me to my questions. I've always been under the impression you should match up RAM exactly. Is this true? If I added RAM that is as similar as I could find, do I have to worry about major issues? If It's alright to match RAM as long as they're similar could someone suggest RAM (From Amazon if possible) that would be a good match?

 

Thanks much for your time.

 

https://www.newegg.com/ballistix-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820148985

Edited April 7, 2021 by forlorn84

[WhitetailAni]

I'm currently running a mixed set of 32GB of DDR4.

2x8GB kit of 3200 C14 B-Die, and a 2x8GB kit of 3200 C16 Vengeance LPX.

I have it overclocked to 3333 C16-16-16-32 tRC 48 (which is very nice for a mixed set) and I have no problems. Passed memtest86 full set, no weird bugs, etc.

 

I'd say try and get a kit with the same RAM timings to avoid compatibility problems.

[forlorn84]

18 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

I'm currently running a mixed set of 32GB of DDR4.

2x8GB kit of 3200 C14 B-Die, and a 2x8GB kit of 3200 C16 Vengeance LPX.

I have it overclocked to 3333 C16-16-16-32 tRC 48 (which is very nice for a mixed set) and I have no problems. Passed memtest86 full set, no weird bugs, etc.

 

I'd say try and get a kit with the same RAM timings to avoid compatibility problems.

Thanks for replying. I found this on Amazon, could you advice if this would be an acceptable fit?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LE0CG60?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

[WhitetailAni]

1 minute ago, forlorn84 said:

Thanks for replying. I found this on Amazon, could you advice if this would be an acceptable fit?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LE0CG60?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

Yep, that should work fine.