Mismatching ram brands.

[bastienelziere]

So first of all I would like to apologize for any spelling errors / grammar in this question as english is not my first language.

I have bought this computer 3-4 years ago, with a single stick of hyperx fury 8 GB ddr3, nowadays with more and more demanding games starting to come out (and chrome going full retard on ram) I started to find that 8 gigs is kinda ... not enough ?

So, i do not have much money and i won't bother buying 16 gigs of matching sticks and sell the one in my pc. I have two choices either buy some corsair ram (vengeance) with same specs or buy the same part.
I've read that even with the same part I can have some compatibility problems, and that with memory it's hit or miss.
The corsair one is wayyyyy cheaper.
What would you recommend me to get (would it be worth to take the risk of buying the 20 euros cheaper corsair stick).
Thanks in advance !

 

[clarkjd]

What's the worst that could happen if you bought the cheaper ram? Either it will work or you will have to exchange it for a stick that works. All you've lost is time.

That being said, it is still a crapshoot as to whether or not it will work. They sell matched kits of ram for a reason.

 

[Solandri]

Cut and paste from another thread since it's basically the same question.

97% of the RAM for sale is made by Samsung, SK Hynix (South Korea Hyundai Electronics), and Micron (the only U.S. manufacturer - they sell under the brand name Crucial).

All the other RAM brands like G.Skill, HyperX, Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston, etc. simply buy RAM from one of these three manufacturers, and places it on their own PCBs. Then dress them up with fancy coolers and LEDs before selling it to you. They buy whichever manufacturer's RAM is cheaper that week, so even if you buy identical model numbers, you're not guaranteed to get identical RAM. Even if you buy manufacturer-brand RAM, because RAM bought at different times comes from different batches (if not different factories), they may still have problems working together. That's why it's recommended to buy a RAM kit when building a new system, rather than mixing and matching. The modules in a kit are from the same manufacturer, same factory, and come from the same manufacturing batch. So they're most likely to work with each other.

That said, in my experience, mixing and matching RAM works 98% of the time. I've only had a RAM upgrade fail to work a few times out of more than a hundred upgrades I've done. (I keep old RAM sticks from client systems which were upgraded past the motherboard's capacity, and try those sticks first when another client requests a RAM upgrade.) Nearly all stores allow free returns of RAM which fails to work. So unless the store you're buying from charges you a restock fee or makes you pay return shipping, I'd just try adding more identical-spec RAM first. It's less hassle than trying to sell your old RAM.

If the specs match and returns are free and you have time, it's worth a shot.