[SOLVED] Difference in memory sticks with same product number

[Buffdude94]

I'm currently diagnosing my brothers pc due to it having so many bsod's and ran into something weird. I swapped my RAM sticks into his pc and vice versa as we have same RAM sticks with same product code and everything (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR). With my RAM in my pc Windows shows 3200MHz as ram speed, but when I put my brothers RAM into my pc it only shows 1600MHz. Exact same deal on my brothers pc, my ram shows 3200MHz and his shows 1600MHz. Am i missing something, how is this possible?

 

[rgd1101]

sometime they put in the ddr rate.
ddr mean double data rate 1600x2 is 3200

 

[Buffdude94]

So it is exactly same still? I wonder whats the reason behind that, just adds confusion.

 

[Endre]

So it is exactly same still? I wonder whats the reason behind that, just adds confusion.

The “confusion” was created in the first place when the memory sticks went from SDR SDRAM (Single Data Rate SDRAM) to DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), because while on SDR frequency was equal to transfer rate, on DDR, the frequency is twice lower (x2).

Example: DDR4-3200 = 3200MT/s (1600MHz x2).
They should call it 3200MT/s (Mega Transfer per Second), but instead, they call it 3200MHz.

 

[Buffdude94]

Thanks for the answer, but it still doesn't answer the question how two sets of RAM with exact same product number can be "different". They should be exactly same to know what youre buying, so i'm wondering why manufacturer even adds the confusion if they are the same product?

 

[Endre]

Thanks for the answer, but it still doesn't answer the question how two sets of RAM with exact same product number can be "different". They should be exactly same to know what youre buying, so i'm wondering why manufacturer even adds the confusion if they are the same product?

It could be that they’ll be seen exactly the same if you load BIOS defaults before installing the other kit.

 

[rgd1101]

they are the same. depend on your hardware/windows version, they might show one or the id.

use cpuz to id the exact model of the ram