Combine a new RAM with an old one..

[lightninghawke]

Hello,

I wish to upgrade my RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB... Following is my current configuration:

Processor: Intel 3.1 GHz LGA 1155 Core i5 3450
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)
Graphic Card: Sapphire Tri-X R9 280X 3GB DDR5
PSU: Corsair RM850 850W
Cabinet: Cooler Master K281 Cabinet

I want to buy the same RAM again..and upgrade it to 16 GB.. However my friend told me that its not advisable to use a new ram with an old one (its 2 1/2 years old) and doing it may cause crashes and imbalance.. He is suggesting me to buy a single 16 GB RAM instead.. but its too costly so I cannot buy it..

Please advise, if i combine the new RAM with the old one.. will it cause any problems as my friend suggested or will it work out normally..?

Im upgrading the RAM to play high end games. I recently bought Dragon Age Inquisition but its extremely laggy so was wondering if the RAM upgrade could solve the problem..

Thank you.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Heres the thing. If you are going to mix RAM, buying the identical model number is your best chance for it to work right. It is very likely you will buy it and it will work fine. Either way even if you buy new ram, buying 2 8GB sticks vs 1 16gb is advisable as it will run faster. Now the problem here is sometimes RAM manufacturers change the chips they use, if your module is one that is affected by this you may run into crashes and instability. Its not likely but possible.

Now as for going from 8gb to 16gb probably won't cure your issue. What resolution are you trying to play at? Are you pushing the detail levels (especially the AA)?

 

[-HH-]

Grab the same RAM as before and you'll be fine. (E.G another Corsair Vengeance stick)

 

[lightninghawke]

Heres the thing. If you are going to mix RAM, buying the identical model number is your best chance for it to work right. It is very likely you will buy it and it will work fine. Either way even if you buy new ram, buying 2 8GB sticks vs 1 16gb is advisable as it will run faster. Now the problem here is sometimes RAM manufacturers change the chips they use, if your module is one that is affected by this you may run into crashes and instability. Its not likely but possible.

Now as for going from 8gb to 16gb probably won't cure your issue. What resolution are you trying to play at? Are you pushing the detail levels (especially the AA)?

Thanks for a quick reply. I'm planning to buy the same RAM again in order to avoid any compatibility issues. Im playing the game at 1600 X 900 60.00 Hz. I checked in system requirement lab and my PC was compatible to play the game on medium settings.. So i started with Ultra settings, it was good in the beginning but after sometime the game started adding patches and it started to get slower and more laggy.. so i kept on decreasing the graphic quality.. but the issue persists. Atm, im playing on medium settings with Post Process Aliasing OFF and Multi Sampling Aliasing 2 X MSAA.

I was also adviced by a friend to free up lot of space of the Hard Disk and the game might run properly.. I uninstalled a lot of games and my drive has 168 GB free of 341 GB... that didn't seem to solve the issue. Experiencing smooth gameplay is the main reason im planning on upgrading my RAM..

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yeah I mean you need free space but you don't need to free up 168gb. The extra ram may help but probably not, very few games can even use more than 8 gb, or even care. Generally anything over 8gb serves as backup ram for your GPU. Your GPU is pretty solid and at that resolution you shouldn't be maxing it out. I'm just not sure this is the solution for you. Have you tried doing some data logging while playing see what is jamming up (Processor, GPU etc)? You will be able to see there what the issue could be for you.

 

[lightninghawke]

Yeah I mean you need free space but you don't need to free up 168gb. The extra ram may help but probably not, very few games can even use more than 8 gb, or even care. Generally anything over 8gb serves as backup ram for your GPU. Your GPU is pretty solid and at that resolution you shouldn't be maxing it out. I'm just not sure this is the solution for you. Have you tried doing some data logging while playing see what is jamming up (Processor, GPU etc)? You will be able to see there what the issue could be for you.

I'm not sure if this would have anything to do with the issue im facing but last week my system abruptly shut down or crashed and then couldn't start again. When tried to restart, i kept on getting a beep sound from the CPU. But next day morning it started normally without any problem and since then the otherwise less laggy game became unplayable... That's when my friend told me these beep sounds usually come when RAM is faulty and I decided to get a new one..

Also is there a way to check if my GPU is working fine..? and the term you used "Data Logging" im not familiar with that .. please advise how to do it?

 

[Rogue Leader]

System BIOS beeps have many meanings, not just RAM. This is a link with the meanings:

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Most likely your GPU is working correctly if nothing is crashing however, The fact you were getting BIOS beeps tells me something went wrong and being that the system is acting weird, it seems something could be permanently wrong.

You can download MSI afterburner and have it running while you play. It has a hardware monitor that lets you check your CPU and GPU usage, see if one or the other is maxing out while playing. Also you want to monitor system temperatures which I think that does as well.

http://gaming.msi.com/features/afterburner

Also you should consider running some system stress tests to see if all is working correctly. Prime95 for example is normally used for overclocking tests, but if your CPU is failing it should show you that

http://www.mersenne.org/download/

You can also use memtest to check your RAM and see if it is bad.

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Theres a prebuilt downloader that can build you a bootable USB drive to use to run it.

I recommend doing all these things to pinpoint whats wrong with your hardware before you spend money. You may well be throwing good money after bad.

 

[lightninghawke]

System BIOS beeps have many meanings, not just RAM. This is a link with the meanings:

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Most likely your GPU is working correctly if nothing is crashing however, The fact you were getting BIOS beeps tells me something went wrong and being that the system is acting weird, it seems something could be permanently wrong.

You can download MSI afterburner and have it running while you play. It has a hardware monitor that lets you check your CPU and GPU usage, see if one or the other is maxing out while playing. Also you want to monitor system temperatures which I think that does as well.

http://gaming.msi.com/features/afterburner

Also you should consider running some system stress tests to see if all is working correctly. Prime95 for example is normally used for overclocking tests, but if your CPU is failing it should show you that

http://www.mersenne.org/download/

You can also use memtest to check your RAM and see if it is bad.

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Theres a prebuilt downloader that can build you a bootable USB drive to use to run it.

I recommend doing all these things to pinpoint whats wrong with your hardware before you spend money. You may well be throwing good money after bad.

Thank you for the valuable information. I will follow your instructions and do all the tests.. hopefully I can get the root cause of the issue and get it fixed. I was worried about my GPU being faulty but I've checked in the Device Manager > Display Adaptors section and the note says "This device is working properly.".. Thank you very much for your help and guidance.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Thank you for the valuable information. I will follow your instructions and do all the tests.. hopefully I can get the root cause of the issue and get it fixed. I was worried about my GPU being faulty but I've checked in the Device Manager > Display Adaptors section and the note says "This device is working properly.".. Thank you very much for your help and guidance.

That doesn't mean anything there still could be problems. That said its not likely, but device manager won't show you if there is some sort of cooling issue or something else, it really only shows driver issues or total or near total hardware failure.