Mixing Ram of different Speeds, Sizes, and Timings?

[itsTrickAF]

Hey guys,

 

So I recently built my dad a computer using the 8GB (2x4) kit of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600mhz from his old computer and a new 16GB (2x8) kit of Patriot Viper DDR3 1866mhz. Initially we were just going to get another 8GB Corsair kit but we found the 16GB Viper kit on sale for the same price and we were just going to use that alone instead. But, we ended up just throwing it all in for a total of 24GB running at 1600mhz.

 

It seems to operate fine as it's been a couple of weeks now; however, I was wondering what problems(if any) might incur as a result of using kits of different size, speed, and timings.

 

Thank you!

[Crunchy Dragon]

I've never had problems mixing sizes of RAM.

 

Speed doesn't matter on modern systems, the board will default all memory to match the speed of the slowest DIMM. I believe it's the same for timings.

[Moonzy]

if it boots, it's probably fine

 

just that it might not run in dual-channel mode anymore due to difference in capacity between sticks

 edit: not quite sure how dual channel reacts to 2 sets of different capacity ram

edit 2: actually, scratch that, i've tested it myself in the past and it doesnt run on dual channel with 2x8 and 2x4

[itsTrickAF]

@Crunchy Dragon Okay cool, that puts my mind at ease.

@Moonzy Hmm, I didn't even think about dual-channel mode being a problem. Thank you for bringing it up, I'll look more into it.

 

Thanks guys!

[Moonzy]

Just now, itsTrickAF said:

I didn't even think about dual-channel mode being a problem

it wont bring up any issues unless you're doing tasks that's memory bandwidth intensive... which is quite rare

(no, chrome isnt memory bandwidth intensive... i think...)