Mixing RAM Speeds

[digerati]

I'm upgrading my girlfriend's RAM from one stick of 512mb pc2700 to 1 gig.

Checking at newegg, they have a pc3200 stick of 512 for 5 bucks cheaper than the pc2700 version (Corsair value ram).

My question is, will there be any problem mixing her current stick of pc2700 with a stick of pc3200? She has a mobo using the nforce2 chipset and plans on running it in dual channel.

So should i stick with pc2700 for the second stick, or is the pc3200 ok?

 

[FishBoy]

i dont think they'll work together, you can only have same rams installed, or i think they only have to be same speed and brand, but size can be different

 

[ElementalDragon]

well, it IS possible to run different speeds of RAM, just that the higher speed ram will be pushed down to the speed of the lowest stick. now Dual Channel...... that could be a toughy. My friend's computer has dual channel support, but it's one of the first motherboards to do so. because of this, his motherboard practically HAS to have the same speed RAM, or it will not be very stable. his is a P4 mobo. and for $5 more, why not just get the 2700? adding the 3200 wouldn't improve performance any more than a 2700 would. And for Dual channel, i think it MUST be the same speed.

edit: Welcome to OSNN.net!

edit #2: Welcome BACK to OSNN.net!

 

[LordOfLA]

will be fine just run it at 166/333

 

[LeeJend]

What they said above. It will run at 133/366 but if her MB supports dual channel it may not work in dual channel mode unless the RAM are matched.

 

[emeritus]

It all depends on the motherboard and how finicky it is. Unfortunately, there is no set way to determine whether her motherboard will behave, unless you try it. I have mixed ram before and had success and failure, even on the same brand and model motherboards.

 

[lancer]

ok from my experience, i put in two sticks of 256mb 2700, and two sticks of 256mb 3200, and my gigabyte mobo is dual channel and it would not boot, i imagine it was because of the two speed difference's. I think it is always best to have the same mem brands and speeds installed instead of a mis-match as this will probably just lead to crashing.

 

[dreamliner77]

I've never had a problem mixing brands/speeds in dual channel. It will just always run at the slower speed. As long as it's the same type of ram, it can always be underclocked.