[SOLVED] Mixing RAM speeds from same manufacturer?

[Genralkidd]

My PC currently has 2x Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB DDR4-2400 RAM. I recently upgraded my motherboard which now has 2 extra DIMM slots. I'm thinking about adding 2 more sticks of RAM and everyone says it's best to keep all DIMMS the same size and speed. But Corsair's faster DDR4-2666 and sometimes DDR4-3000 is actually cheaper than their DDR4-2400 RAM.

So with that in mind, would there be any issues if I mixed the faster RAM with the current slower RAM? Both are the same brand and same product line. Would it also still be compatible with Intel XMP profiles on my B360 motherboard?

 

[alceryes]

It's never recommended to mix RAM. You'll have to try and see. Your chances of actually damaging something from trying are slim to none. If you do get it to boot with mismatched sticks remember to run it through some Memtest86 loops to make sure it's stable.

Also, are you really running something that uses close to 16GBs of RAM? If not, putting in another 16GBs won't speed up your system at all, and may actually slow it down due to looser memory timings from mixing RAM and having fully populated slots.

 

[Genralkidd]

It's never recommended to mix RAM. You'll have to try and see. Your chances of actually damaging something from trying are slim to none. If you do get it to boot with mismatched sticks remember to run it through some Memtest86 loops to make sure it's stable.

Also, are you really running something that uses close to 16GBs of RAM? If not, putting in another 16GBs won't speed up your system at all, and may actually slow it down due to looser memory timings from mixing RAM and having fully populated slots.

Sometimes will video editing I will hit almost 16 GM of RAM usage. Sometimes I run virtual machines on it too. But I only do that occasionally, I'd say this particular PC most of the is used more for gaming. I would totally get the exact same sticks of RAM again but I just don't get why faster RAM from the same product line is cheaper than the slower RAM.

 

[alceryes]

The faster RAM is cheaper because of the economics of supply and demand.
Only you will know whether it's truly worth adding the memory. If you do get it make sure you can return it if need be.

 

[Calvin7]

One issue is that kind of combination has no guarantee to work. If PC boots up, there are no guarantees as to how it works.

XMP profiles are for memory in the form sold. Often combinations of multiple kits causes the memory to no longer be able to operate at rated specifications.