Can you mix RAM brands?

[Terobich]

I bought a Kingston 2133 ddr4 8gb stick, but it’s not available anymore

I found an ADATA 2133 ddr4 8gb stuck, can I put them together?

[Kyzer]

...yes, mixing RAM tends to be fine, but it should always be all the same capacity. higher-speed RAM will run at lowest speed of the other sticks, so thats not necessarily a big issue either.

 

Ts,dr; you're fine, just don't mix capacities. they're both 8gb, so.. its fine.

[aisle9]

Just now, Kyzer said:

Ts,dr; you're fine, just don't mix capacities. they're both 8gb, so.. its fine.

That's not even an issue anymore, tbqh. I never once had that surface as a problem with DDR3 (in fact, my X58 rig has mismatched 4GB and 2GB sticks all over the place), and have yet to encounter that problem with DDR4, though I rarely use anything other than 8GB DIMMs.

 

The era of picky RAM more or less died with DDR2, aside from the occasional Optiplex or HP Elite weirdness.

[Kyzer]

Just now, aisle9 said:

That's not even an issue anymore, tbqh. I never once had that surface as a problem with DDR3 (in fact, my X58 rig has mismatched 4GB and 2GB sticks all over the place), and have yet to encounter that problem with DDR4, though I rarely use anything other than 8GB DIMMs.

 

The era of picky RAM more or less died with DDR2, aside from the occasional Optiplex or HP Elite weirdness.

ive had some small issues with mixed 2 and 4gb

[aisle9]

Just now, Kyzer said:

ive had some small issues with mixed 2 and 4gb

DDR3?

[Kyzer]

Just now, aisle9 said:

DDR3?

yeh

[aisle9]

Just now, Kyzer said:

yeh

Huh, interesting. I know a few of the business desktop lines (lookin' at you, Optiplex 780) still had some RAM weirdness going on into the DDR3 era, but hadn't come across it on a consumer motherboard.

[Mitchell 3]

haven't had a problem mixing brands 

[TheCherryKing]

You can mix RAM but only do it if you have to.

[Vengeance1020]

37 minutes ago, Terobich said:

I bought a Kingston 2133 ddr4 8gb stick, but it’s not available anymore

I found an ADATA 2133 ddr4 8gb stuck, can I put them together?

Yeah totally, its better if the specs of the sticks are as similar as possible, but its often not an issue. I bought some DDR2 RAM for m current system which has 8GB RAM in total with each 2GB stick being from different brands, but the specs were exactly alike so I got em all to work, even OC'd all of them from 667 MHz to 800MHz on an intel board. I dont think itll be an issue

[ARikozuM]

You can mix RAM capacities and speed. 

 

Your RAM will default to the lowest speed of all sticks in the board and lowest CAS in each channel. Most modern boards come with flex mode where you mix capacities and get x-channel with the common amounts and single-channel with the remainder. 

[Vengeance1020]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

You can mix RAM capacities and speed. 

 

Your RAM will default to the lowest speed of all sticks in the board and lowest CAS in each channel. Most modern boards come with flex mode where you mix capacities and get x-channel with the common amounts and single-channel with the remainder. 

I am aware of the board choosing the lowest speed RAM, I had that in my old HP HDX16 where it had a 2GB 800MHz stick and a 1GB 667MHz stick so it defaulted to 667MHz, I changed the 1GB for a 2GB at 800MHz (same model actually). I am aware of how RAM and the board adapt to the situation. 

[Terobich]

Thanks to all