Quick memory question.

[Dreadbeard]

Hi all, I'm looking at testing 2 new 2gb memory sticks aside my 2 already in the pc, I know there is no garuntee they will work, but if they don't will it damage anything? Will tht cause problems? And what will the signs be?

 

[BlackPseudicide]

If the Ram is bad then it will post as such, but only put one stick at a time.

 

[geofelt]

Go ahead and try them.
If they are the same voltage and form(DDR2 or DDR3) you will not harm anything.
Test with memtest86+.
If the timings or speeds are different, they will default to the lowest common denominator of specs.
If they won't work, you will not be able to get into bios, or memtest will show some sort of error.

 

[Dreadbeard]

Go ahead and try them.
If they are the same voltage and form(DDR2 or DDR3) you will not harm anything.
Test with memtest86+.
If the timings or speeds are different, they will default to the lowest common denominator of specs.
If they won't work, you will not be able to get into bios, or memtest will show some sort of error.

How much does ram timing affect performance? As it's only temporary until I can put in a 8gb corsair vengeance kit.

 

[Dreadbeard]

Ok, so i just installed both rams. all works fine, and i went into my MSI control panel to see timings, and this is what i see for each dimm.
http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/neb1002/media/ramtimings_zps090db2ed.png.html
Thats supposedly the timings, i havent a clue what any of it means.

 

[geofelt]

Ram speed and timings mean little as far as actual performance goes for modern intel cpu's. Perhaps more if you are using a amd cpu.

The timings tell how many cycles it takes to access banks of ram. The speed is per ram stick, so dual channel speed will be 2x. As ram speed increases, so does the timing somewhat reducing the benefit of more speed.
The net of it all is that more ram will bring you more benefits than faster ram or better timings.

 

[Dreadbeard]

Ram speed and timings mean little as far as actual performance goes for modern intel cpu's. Perhaps more if you are using a amd cpu.

The timings tell how many cycles it takes to access banks of ram. The speed is per ram stick, so dual channel speed will be 2x. As ram speed increases, so does the timing somewhat reducing the benefit of more speed.
The net of it all is that more ram will bring you more benefits than faster ram or better timings.

You have demonstrated to me the reason I love this forum, so pretty much as long as this new 4 gbs of ram works it will be fine to use for gaming and the like. But if possible upgrading to a faster 8gb ram would be even better?