Mix two 4GB CL8 CL9 kits or replace with 2x8 kit?

[dumdum12]

Hello, I have 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical running in double channel (DDR3, 1600Mhz, 1,5v, 8 8 8 24) and I'd like to upgrade my nemory to 16GB, MoBo GIGABYTE GA-H87M-D3H)
I'm considering three options,
1. get the same kit (for the same price) as I first bought it 4 years ago
2. get a cheap 2x4GB CL9 kit on eBay for half the price and hope there won't be stability issues or
3. replace the current kit with 2x8GB kit I can get on eBay for roughly the same price as a brand new Crucial Ballistix Tactical 2x4

(Btw I just found out my memory was running at lower frequency the whole time, starting today I have the XMP profile on)

Thank you kindly for any suggestions

 

[ChumP]

I will approve the third option. You should always go with a kit instead of mixing and matching modules.
Even if you buy a similar kit, there's a possibility that they won't match with the older kit.

 

[jojesa]

You should go with option 3. replace the current kit with 2x8GB kit...
Mixing RAM that was not tested to work together could give you issues.

 

[dumdum12]

Thank you both! I originally planned option 1 but after reading your suggestions I went with option 3, sort of. I didn't like the idea of selling my current RAM as its the best ram my current MoBo can handle so I got the identical (used) 2x8 kit for a reasonable price and will run it in double dual channel (or quad?) in 24 GB glory. Quite an upgrade.