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[SOLVED] Adding two different pairs of ram together

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LDTheCourier

LDTheCourier

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Oct 12, 2015
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I have bought some new RAM. 2x8 GB 1866 MHz. Patriot Viper
I would like to combine it with my current RAM. 2x4 GB 1600 MHz. Ballistix sport
DDR3

Is this possible to do as they're both compatible with my setup?
And would I have to combine the MHz together in the bios?

MB: Asus M5A97 R2.0
CPU: AMD FX 8350
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (Aero?)
Windows 10

Thanks
 
Solution
Remeca
It may work fine, it may not like it. I had better luck mixing pairs with DDR3 than DDR2. No experience with DDR4. They will all run at the speed of the slowest ram automatically.
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The way things should be is ask first and then buy after. You should try and work with a matched set of rams. Meaning you should work with the same kit if you wish to add another kit to the existing kit. You could see a cumulative capacity but in reality you will see instability due to the rams being made in different assembly lines(standards, not to mention having different specs).
 
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Lutfij said:
The way things should be is ask first and then buy after. You should try and work with a matched set of rams. Meaning you should work with the same kit if you wish to add another kit to the existing kit. You could see a cumulative capacity but in reality you will see instability due to the rams being made in different assembly lines(standards, not to mention having different specs).
Click to expand...
Oh I know. The new ram was supposed to replace my current ram. But then I came up with the brilliant idea of combining them
 
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I will add that it is more likely if it boots, that the memory will be at the lowest default speed of both pairs, so 1333, maybe 1066.

Chances are decent that you could get both pairs on the timings of the 1600 sticks, or you could try overclocking the 1600 to 1866. All else fails you can just remove the slower memory.
 
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Remeca said:
It may work fine, it may not like it. I had better luck mixing pairs with DDR3 than DDR2. No experience with DDR4. They will all run at the speed of the slowest ram automatically.
Click to expand...
It's possible to change the MHz in the bios for them all though right. Even if two are at 1600 and two are 1866? Will I have to add them together?
 
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Remeca said:
They will all default to the maximum speed of the slowest ram installed. If you had 3 sticks of 1866 and 1 of 1333, all 4 would run at 1333 and you couldn't make any of them faster.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not, really depends on the SPD options in the memory.

And you can change the memory timings manually on that motherboard. If it boots, you can try many things, but be prepared to need to clear the CMOS if a configuration doesn't work.
 
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Lafong said:
You won''t know what will happen until you try it.

Most likely result is disappointment, headaches, or both.

Total satisfaction unlikely.

So then you try the 16 new alone. Maybe you notice the difference from the original 8 or maybe not.
Click to expand...

Well it worked for a while. Then got a blue screen about a USB port. So used windows’ Driver Verifier. Somehow ruined my pc and had to restore from a previous version.

It didn’t occur to me that it could of been due to the ram. So I attempted to load up a game I’ve been trying to play but haven’t been able to for a long time due to my limited ram. The game froze my entire pc. Had no choice but to press the reset button. Then just after boot up, I got a blue screen about Critical Process Died. Restarted and kept coming up over and over again.

Windows repair couldn’t repair. Couldn’t restore to a previous version, can’t do a system image recovery and can’t reset my pc. Which means it reinstalls windows and removes my apps.

And this hilarious chain of events is happening because I’m just trying to play Forza 5. I had to play it on the lowest settings possible, windowed and minimized to a quarter size of my screen so I can play for an hour before crashing lol. Only Forza 4 and 5 I’m having these issues with though. That is the reason I bought new RAM.

I think I may have to acquire another ssd with windows 10 on and plug it in, and boot from that. Maybe that’ll fix my problem. Then I’ll never mix RAM again :)
 
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USAFRet said:
Downvote all you want.
Doesn't change the truth.

Good luck.
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Well I figured since your a moderator, you’d give me some assistance with this as I have realized What I’ve done, as I asked.

But you just told me not to mix ram, which was not assistance or helpful despite me saying it was a helpful which was sarcasm. :/
 
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USAFRet said:
The mismatched RAM was the root cause of your issue.
Don't do that.
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I know lol. I removed the ram. But I don’t know how to fix my computer. This is the last thing I done;

Changed my settings from ultra to high on forza. It froze on the optimizing screen. Entire pc froze so had to press the reset button. Then when it was booting, blue screen came up again but with a different error; Critical Process Died. Kept doing it over and over. Startup repair wasn’t able to fix anything. Tried to do a system restore again, but it won’t work because I can’t enable system protection on my C Drive from this system restore page. I can’t reset the pc as there’s an error. Meaning it reinstalls windows and removes apps. I can’t do a system Image Recovery either because my last one was from 2017, and I had windows 7 then. I only got windows 10 late last year.
 
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LDTheCourier said:
I know lol. I removed the ram. But I don’t know how to fix my computer. This is the last thing I done;

Changed my settings from ultra to high on forza. It froze on the optimizing screen. Entire pc froze so had to press the reset button. Then when it was booting, blue screen came up again but with a different error; Critical Process Died. Kept doing it over and over. Startup repair wasn’t able to fix anything. Tried to do a system restore again, but it won’t work because I can’t enable system protection on my C Drive from this system restore page. I can’t reset the pc as there’s an error. Meaning it reinstalls windows and removes apps. I can’t do a system Image Recovery either because my last one was from 2017, and I had windows 7 then. I only got windows 10 late last year.
Click to expand...
Not knowing exactly what you've done, you may be in for an actual reinstall.
Not a "Image Recovery", since you evidently don't have anything recent.

Actual full OS reinstall (and everything else).

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com


After that, you may wish to start a real backup routine.
 
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USAFRet said:
Not knowing exactly what you've done, you may be in for an actual reinstall.
Not a "Image Recovery", since you evidently don't have anything recent.

Actual full OS reinstall (and everything else).

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com


After that, you may wish to start a real backup routine.
Click to expand...
Okay thank you. That was helpful. Apologies if I came across as rude earlier, I was not expecting your responses as your a moderator and such. No offense.

Would it be ok if you could delete this post as it’s a bit of a mess now and if anyone were to come across this with the same questions seeking answers, they most likely wouldn’t find what they’re looking for. Thank you, I really do appreciate it :)
 
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