Mixing DDR2 memory
Community Forums/General Help/Mixing DDR2 memory
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| Is is safe to install two types of DDR2 memory with differing speeds into a motherboard? The PC in question has a new 2GB DDR2 stick at 667Mhz The memory stick removed is 512MB DDR2 but this is likely to be at a lower Mhz Since there is a spare memroy slot I want to fill it with the 512MB stick. Would this be an issue if the two sticks differ in Mhz? |
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| Could depend on your mobo but I'm guessing it'll be fine as long as your run your mem clock at the lower rated speed. |
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| On most motherboards it should be fine, provided: - That the slowest stick is still equal to or faster than the minimum speed necessary for the motherboard - Depending on the motherboard, you /may/ need to put the slowest stick in the first memory slot - Everything will run at the slowest speed, although a computer with more 'slow' memory will typically still feel faster than one with less 'fast' memory. Possible caveat: Make sure that the voltage of the memory stick is acceptable to the motherboard. DDR was pretty standardized, DDR2 voltages can be in a pretty wide range, and some motherboards may require the various banks to all work at the same voltage. If the memory chips can't come to a agreement here, then your system may end up being really unstable. It shouldn't break anything, but may not work reliably. |
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| Done this many times in the past and never had a problem. |
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| I also have a mixed set and the computer boots and defaults to the slower 333mhz speed no problems. |
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| Thanks. Good info as usual Since it's not my PC I wanted to take extra precaution Anyhow, The extra 512MB is installed now and the PC runs without complaint (apart from having to cope with Windows Blista) |
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| Yep DDR2 can me mixed up (it should all clock to slowest if, as said above it is supported) What about DDR3 though? I have not come across this yet myself and someone told me it needs to be paired. :/ |
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| What about DDR3 though? I have not come across this yet myself and someone told me it needs to be paired. :/ According to my Rampage 2 Extreme manual the recommended minimum memory configuration is two DIMM'S, but says that varying memory size can be installed in Channels A,B and C as long as the DIMM'S have the same CAS latency. |
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| tx :) |
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| I bought today one Kingston DDR3 2GB chip, and the salesman said it works alone with my Asus P5K motherboard. I had already two Kingston 1GB DDR3 chips in my PC, so now I have 4GB. Last edited 2010 |
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