Bad Idea to mix memory speeds?

[liamthepirate]

Hi i just upgraded my pc with a Corsair 8Gb DDR3 1600mhz 10-10-10-27 stick of ram

my old ram was corsair 1333mhz 9-9-9-24 4x1gb

so i took all of the old ram out and just have the 1 stick of 8 in there now

Is that the best idea or can i use the other spare 3gb i have left

Thanks

 

[Dunlop0078]

You can try it, mixing ram is hit or miss. If they do work together you will likely have to run the memory at the speed and timings of the slowest stick.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Leave it with just the new , why add your slower old modules.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Leave it with just the new , why add your slower old module.

 

[BadAsAl]

When you mix speeds it will make all RAM run at the lower speed. It won't make much of a difference and having the extra RAM but having it all run at the lower speeds will probably not have any benefit. I would stay with the single 8GB stick.

 

[need4speeds]

The slower corsair should overclock to the 1600speed and timings. I would just try it and see if it works.

If not set it manually to the 1333 stick's speed and timings. The faster one should run at the slower stick's speed.

Also if the slower stick has a lower default voltage than the 1600 stick, set both to the 1600's voltage and try it at those speeds. (Unless one stick has a way higher voltage, it it's a small difference say 1.5Volts vs. 1.7Volts, it should be ok.)

 

[need4speeds]

On the other hand going to 1833 or something with a bit of extra memory voltage with the single 8 gig stick will likely give you the most speed vs. mixing them. The 1333 stick likely can overclock to 1600 but not any higher while the 1600 stick likely can go to the next higher one like 1833. So it would be 12GB at 1600 vs. 8gb at 1833.