rank unusual RAM questions

majajatasi · July 16, 2017

hey guys im new on the forum but I really would appreciate your help
I have here a 16 gb ddr4 sodimm ram stick inserted in my laptop but i have still one slot left and i have a 8gb stick
basically through Cpu-Z I was checking if they had same latency and the other specs to see if i could pair them to get 24 gb (i know useless but im really curious to try it out and test possible scenarios where they could be handy)
i'll attach the spd of both ram which looks to be identical specs
except one little small thing
the rank
one is dual while the other is single
i read on the net that single rank is faster and it is something that matters for server like..
anyway my questions here are:
1) will these rams run in dual channel? i mean do they have to be the exact same to run dual channel? same specs and same gb?
2) is there any drawback about not having one of the standards amount of gb like 4/8/16/32.. in my case 24gb?
3) what could be the possible problems that i could encounter if i put that 8gb in?
4) are there other factors to consider or that are unknown that could make them not work together?
ps i got the spd of the crucial ram (the 8gb stick) from the net i didnt put it in yet otherwise i would know if it did run dualchannel
why i didnt put it in ? well im afraid of messing something up
and unfortunately i have got an msi laptop with void if tampered sticker on the back so if i want to put in the 8gb stick i will have to remove the sticker, which is something i will do if there are no problems matching the rams

thank you very much for your time

Cyracus · July 16, 2017

mixing different brand/models of ram can cause odd issues, one stick may not detect, may have stability issues, won't blow up your system or anything though, just may not work as you'd like

majajatasi · July 20, 2017

but is there anyway to know if your ram sticks are working together in the best possible way or if there are any troubles with some kind of programs or tools?

Jonathan Lemmens · July 20, 2017

48 minutes ago, majajatasi said:

but is there anyway to know if your ram sticks are working together in the best possible way or if there are any troubles with some kind of programs or tools?

Best way to know is just plug it in and see if it works there really is nothing that can go wrong, in the worst case you may need to reset the bios if it doesn't work.

1) Dual channel will probably not work with mixed amounts of ram, but in your case that's not really an issue since one 16GB stick cant run dual channel by itself anyway.

2) There is no drawback from using "odd amounts" of ram like your 24GB, the issues can arise when speed and timings are not the same

3) Basically it runs or it doesn't.....

4) The only factors at play here are the RAM's compatibility with the rest of the system and compatibility with each other, even if both modules don't have identical speeds and timings it is still possible that the faster stick of ram "downclocks" to the same as the other ram stick in order to work together.