Different RAM sizes on the same motherboard

[DangerousPie03]

I have a motherboard with 4 RAM slots. Currently, each of them has a 1 gig chip giving me four total. Would there be a problem with upgrading only one of the chips to a two or four gig and leaving the rest as 1? Thanks.

 

[i7Baby]

Yes you can get lots of problems not using identical ram on motherboards - constant restarting, not booting, bsods, etc

 

[cub_fanatic]

Not as long as that new stick is the same speed or higher. The timings are also affected like this. So, make sure that the speed (as in 1333, 1600, etc) and timings are the same or higher. If you get a lower speed it will bring down the speed of the others. If you get a higher speed, the new one will drop to the speed of the others. Also, most likely, you will be losing the "dual-channel mode" feature of one pair. The other pair will still be in dual channel mode.

 

[Tradesman1]

Any time you mix DRAM it can be and often is problematic. If it runs, it will start at the mobos default, then if they run together you can adjust them to a given freq and voltage - they don't automatically go to the slowest sticks settings, that went by the wayside with the 775 mobos. Best bet is to get a single set of the full amount of DRAM you want

 

[God-father-board]

You didn't say what mobo you have but you usually can't mix the sizes like that. All four dosent have to be the same size and speed. Im sure your mobo is dual channel so it requires matching pairs. So you can have a two 2 gigs in slot 3 and 4 and keep the 1 gigs in slot 1 and 2.

 

[Tradesman1]

IF they will play together, which can be a big IF, in most all mobos, you would want the 2GB sticks in 1-3, and the 1 GB sticks in 2 and 4, that way you have 3GB in each channel, if you were to place them as God-father-board said you'd have 2 GB in channel A and 4 in channel B and in best case scenario you'd have 4 GB in dual and 2 GB running off in single channel which you don't want, added stress on MC (memory controller) and prob additional heat as it wouyld prob require extra voltage o run the sticks mismatched that way