Help me identifying if ram is capable of overclocking

[Milan Patel]

I have 2 rams produced on 2021 Feb and another one I purchased today produced on 2023 Aug. I purchased new one because my PC was getting slowed by low ram on my pc.

Ram details
DDR4-3200 8GB F4-3200C16S-8GVKB CL16-18-18-38 1.35v Intel XMP 2.0 Ready

I have ram with these exact same details mentioned above. All of 3. Now the problem is that the base frequency of these rams is not 3200 but my motherboard is capable of overclocking it using XMP. So previously when I had only 2 of them, I was running them at 3200. Now if I'm trying to so the same with using this on 3rd slot, it's lowering all the way to 1833.

What could be the issue here? Should I mark the product as defect and replace it?

I have also tried to replace 1 of the older rams from 2 with the new one still it isn't picking up to the 3200MHZ while same is working with the older 2 rams with the same settings. 

Motherboard - MSI B450M mortor max
Processor - Ryzen 5 3400G

Graphics card - None

[Jon-Slow]

You can't mix and match RAM sticks. This is why they come in kits of 2 or 4. For a motherboard to make RAMs work in dual or quad channels and for your to know 100% that they work together, you need to purchase a kit and not just an extra stick. You've unfortunately made  a mistake by buying that extra stick and need to return it if you have the chance or just put it aside. You can only buy RAMs in kits to increase your capacity and put aside what you've previously had.

 

EDIT: Said kit once instead of stick

[Average Nerd]

14 minutes ago, Milan Patel said:

I have 2 rams produced on 2021 Feb and another one I purchased today produced on 2023 Aug. I purchased new one because my PC was getting slowed by low ram on my pc.

Ram details
DDR4-3200 8GB F4-3200C16S-8GVKB CL16-18-18-38 1.35v Intel XMP 2.0 Ready

I have ram with these exact same details mentioned above. All of 3. Now the problem is that the base frequency of these rams is not 3200 but my motherboard is capable of overclocking it using XMP. So previously when I had only 2 of them, I was running them at 3200. Now if I'm trying to so the same with using this on 3rd slot, it's lowering all the way to 1833.

What could be the issue here? Should I mark the product as defect and replace it?

I have also tried to replace 1 of the older rams from 2 with the new one still it isn't picking up to the 3200MHZ while same is working with the older 2 rams with the same settings. 

Motherboard - MSI B450M mortor max
Processor - Ryzen 5 3400G

Graphics card - None

You can't mismatch RAM and expect it to run at its maximum speed, that's just not gonna happen.

If you really want the modules to run the fastest they can, you will need all the same modules, so basically get a kit with the desired specs, or 2 of the same kit if one doesn't suffice in terms of capacity.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Average nerd
Fixed grammar error

[Bad5ector]

Just to be clear here... Yes, you can mismatch RAM. But no, you can't expect them to run at the same speed / timings. 

[Bad5ector]

21 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

You can't mix and match RAM sticks. This is why they come in kits of 2 or 4

People go out and do this all the time. You're telling me if you had a 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM and you wanted to upgrade to 64gb, that the only way would be to buy a 64gb kit with 4x16gb? Give you head a shake. You'd just go out and by another 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM.... 

[Average Nerd]

16 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

People go out and do this all the time. You're telling me if you had a 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM and you wanted to upgrade to 64gb, that the only way would be to buy a 64gb kit with 4x16gb? Give you head a shake. You'd just go out and by another 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM.... 

Mismatched RAM, (like "from different manufacturers or series" mismatched), is unlikely to be able to run at its maximum speed, at least not stable, but if it's the same exact modules, just purchased some time apart, it's likely to function as expected.

[Bad5ector]

1 minute ago, Average nerd said:

Mismatched RAM, (like "from different manufacturers or series" mismatched)

You should probably DM this guy then, cause they seem to think your only option is to get kits.

46 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

This is why they come in kits of 2 or 4.

 

3 minutes ago, Average nerd said:

is unlikely to be able to run at its maximum speed

Which was my point in my first post:

 

29 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

Just to be clear here... Yes, you can mismatch RAM. But no, you can't expect them to run at the same speed / timings. 

 

[Jon-Slow]

44 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

People go out and do this all the time. You're telling me if you had a 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM and you wanted to upgrade to 64gb, that the only way would be to buy a 64gb kit with 4x16gb? Give you head a shake. You'd just go out and by another 2x16gb kit of Corsair LPX 3200mhz RAM.... 

 

20 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

You should probably DM this guy then, cause they seem to think your only option is to get kits.

Hey, "this guy" here. I think you're going a little too fast and misreading the connetation of what I wrote, or the fact that OP is asking why they can't overclock the one stick of ram along with their currenly installed 2 sticks of rams.

 

And in your scenario with the 2x16gb 3200MTs Corsair  kit, you can't just purchase that and hope to turn on XMP for all 4 of your sticks together. Because rams also have timings and that matters too. And even after all that considered, you're not granteed that 2 different kits that haven't been tested together, will overclock together. If you're doing that, you should know that you might have to default to the default speed instead of overclocking it.

 

And you also misread  @Average nerd and missed the point when they said "at least not stable, but if it's the same exact modules, just purchased some time apart, it's likely to function as expected." It's not about the RAMs just saying "3200MTs" on the box and carry the same branding, It's about it being the exact same thing which is a lot more than just the transfer speed. Peace

[Bad5ector]

9 hours ago, Jon-Slow said:

And in your scenario with the 2x16gb 3200MTs Corsair  kit, you can't just purchase that and hope to turn on XMP for all 4 of your sticks together

So just that we're clear here, you're saying you'd only ever expect XMP / EXPO to work as advertised if you bought it as a kit? And not even the same SKU kit purchased a few months later, you wouldn't expect to be compatible? That's funny.

 

I mean, I get what you're trying to say RAM can be finicky at times. Sometimes for example even if you buy it as a kit doesn't mean you can get advertised speed since in the end anything XMP, EXPO, etc is still overclocking. 

[Jon-Slow]

3 hours ago, Bad5ector said:

So just that we're clear here, you're saying you'd only ever expect XMP / EXPO to work as advertised if you bought it as a kit? And not even the same SKU kit purchased a few months later, you wouldn't expect to be compatible? That's funny.

Not really, I think you should spend a little more time to properly read what you're responding to. I don't have more time for this discussion.

[Beerzerker]

15 hours ago, Bad5ector said:

Just to be clear here... Yes, you can mismatch RAM. But no, you can't expect them to run at the same speed / timings. 

You can, yet you can't.
In some cases the IC's in different sticks, because these IC's are different between these sticks have specs that don't match and it throws the machine into a state of chaos trying to get it all running the same way.

Some call for different voltage, different timings, speeds..... When you figure in all the variables that can apply it makes sense that in some cases it won't work, but in some cases it's fine and the machine doesn't mind it.