2 different brands, 4 sticks of RAM in 4 slot mobo?

[HelloJon]

So I have a GIGABYTE AB350 gaming motherboard with 8GB (2x4) of ddr4 2133mhz ram installed. The board has 4 slots two in which are taken by the same brand of ram. I want to upgrade to 16GB but with a different brand. I am a little short on money (I got a bad deal but everything else was sold out boxing day) to buy the same product so I was wondering if getting another dual stick 8GB kit with the same speed (IF speed is an issue if not please inform me) and put it in the other two slots or again, if speed is an issue, overclock my current ram to match the speed or something? I am pretty sure I can return the ram so if there isn't a way to tell wether it will work or not I can get my money back. Thanks for the help.

 

[Hellfire13]

Mixing RAM is never a good idea as it is not always guranteed to work. Not only about speed but it is also about timing. Hence why it is sold in kits so that two sticks with the same timing can be paired. When you pair a faster RAM with slower, the faster one will automatically scale down to the slower speed.
If you can return the current one, then do it and buy a kit of same speed. Else it comes down to trial and error.

 

[bjornl]

It might work, it might not. Ryzen systems are a little more sensitive to memory issues. In theory if the timing (not just the speed) of the ram is identical, it should just work. On older Intel systems if there was a mis-match you could use the lowest common denominator with some success. With Ryzen, I have gotten feed back from several owners that this "old method" is "renting problems you didn't have" on a Ryzen build. You can try it, but I'd make sure they have a generous return policy.

 

[Od1n]

Might be a little bit late reply here, I'm sure the 2 other fellows above my answer has provided you with answers enough. But I've actually witnessed a guy mixing RAM-sticks from different brands, different speed, even different size in the amount of MB (yeah it was long ago).

As for the result, that PC never awoke again. So I'd strongly advice not to do it.