Mixing RAM brands

[nukchebi0]

A gaming friend wants to upgrade the RAM on his computer to play Battlefield 2. He currently has one GB of Nanya Technology RAM. I have never heard of Nanya, and his computer was store-bought, so my best guess is they are an off-brand. Anyways, he told me the model number that his modules are. From the best that I can tell, he doesn't have dual channel. However, I couldn't find, on their website, a product matching these numbers. I was wondering if he would be alright purchasing the model number that was very similar to it, or by purchasing a different brand of RAM.

 

[sailer]

I've never heard of Nanya brand ram, but it could well be the cheapest stuff the computer company could find. Mixing ram can be chancy, and when it works, it usually defaults to the settings of lessor ram. I think it would be best if your friend bought some ram from a well known company, such as OCZ, Mushkin, Corsair or similar.

The fact that you can't find the same model number from Nanya indicates that the particular ram that your friend has was probably made to the computer company's specification, which probably means as cheap as possible. That also means that it isn't a good idea to try to simply buy more ram from Nanya with a similar model number. In that case, the new ram may cause it to crash from incompatibilities.

 

[Mondoman]

Nanya Technology is a well-known RAM manufacturer based in Taiwan. Your friend should be fine either with the similar part number, or with a module from someone else, as far as the RAM working in the system. If his MB supports dual-channel mode, the more recent the chipset design, the less "identical" the two modules need to be to work in dual-channel mode.