Should I mix a fast and slow stick of RAM in dual channel or one fast stick in single channel?

[Renton577]

So right now I have two sticks of DDR4 in my laptop, I have a single rank, 2666Mhz 8GB stick and a 3200Mhz, dual rank, 16GB stick. Basically I'm wanting to know if I'm better off dual channel with the mixed RAM or if it would be better to go with the single stick if dual rank and faster memory for now and add another one later.

[goatedpenguin]

I rather go single stick then go with dual channel with diffrent ram speeds becuse when using two diffrent ram sticks with diffrent speeds the bios will run the ram but at the lowest common denominator of both speeds so your better of with using single channel.

[RONOTHAN##]

Dual channel will be universally faster than single channel. There are potential issues with it just not working, but assuming that it works the dual channel config will 100% be the faster setup. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

8 minutes ago, goatedpenguin said:

I rather go single stick then go with dual channel with diffrent ram speeds becuse when using two diffrent ram sticks with diffrent speeds the bios will run the ram but at the lowest common denominator of both speeds so your better of with using single channel.

DDR4-2666 isn't a huge issue unless you're doing something somewhat specific and really need all the RAM speed you possibly can get. In either case, the extra bandwidth from running dual channel will be much better on its own.

 

8 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Dual channel will be universally faster than single channel. There are potential issues with it just not working, but assuming that it works the dual channel config will 100% be the faster setup. 

As long as it's decent RAM, it's gonna work. I've never particularly paid attention to what RAM I throw in any of my systems, and I've never had any issues with my RAM configuration not working, even when I had 4 completely random and different DIMMs in the same system.

[RONOTHAN##]

5 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

As long as it's decent RAM, it's gonna work. I've never particularly paid attention to what RAM I throw in any of my systems, and I've never had any issues with my RAM configuration not working, even when I had 4 completely random and different DIMMs in the same system.

Whereas I've multiple times have had systems not POST when mixing memory or had issues when running at XMP. Granted I run a lot of RAM, and it's relatively uncommon, but it's not 100%.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, RONOTHAN## said:

Whereas I've multiple times have had systems not POST when mixing memory or had issues when running at XMP. Granted I run a lot of RAM, and it's relatively uncommon, but it's not 100%.

Fair point. I tend to err on the side of "if it's Samsung or Micron, there's probably not much cause for concern".

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

Fair point. I tend to err on the side of "if it's Samsung or Micron, there's probably not much cause for concern".

Honestly Samsung-based memory is the one I've had the worst luck when mixing. It's usually OK, but because I wouldn't be comfortable recommending spending money on something that just doesn't work I tend to err on the side of "avoid it when possible." In scenarios like this though where you already own both sticks though you might as well try, just know there's a non-zero chance that it doesn't work. 

[--SID--]

Native RAM support of the i7-7820HK is 2400 MT/s. Does the laptop support XMP or manual OC for the RAM?