[SOLVED] Ram Compatibility Question

[Notrix_]

My setup right now is the MSI B550-A PRO with a Ryzen 5 5600x and the G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB @3600 [F4-3600C18D-16GTZRX ].

I was wondering if it is reasonable to add another set of the same exact ram kit, in order to get to 32gb, as opposed to buying another, different 32gb dual module kit.

Will the 2 + 2 modules be compatible with each other or they have to be from the same kit in order to be sure and i will have to buy another set.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The answer, as it always is, is maybe.

If you read section two at the following link, titled "The odd man out (Or mixed memory)" it will fully answer your question. Reading the rest of the guide wouldn't hurt either.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

The long and short of it is that even buying another kit that has the identical model or part number of your existing kit is no guarantee of compatibility. Many changes can happen from production run to production run even on the same kit model. Still, if you MUST attempt using memory from more than one kit, this is the way you want to do it. Personally I recommend that even though it often does work, it equally often doesn't, or it does but with some variety of problems. Sometimes they can be worked out, other times they cannot.

 

[Newtonius]

They can be from different kits, just make sure the specs are the same, ie; Clock speeds, CL latency, memory size. Even if a few of these didn't match it could still work, but it could either hinder performance or cause random blue screens every now and again. Systems these days are pretty flexible but still require some tinkering to make work without issue.

 

[Darkbreeze]

They can be from different kits, just make sure the specs are the same, ie; Clock speeds, CL latency, memory size. Even if a few of these didn't match it could still work, but it could either hinder performance or cause random blue screens every now and again. Systems these days are pretty flexible but still require some tinkering to make work without issue.

Actually, memory compatibility issues are just as fickle as they've ever been. Not as bad perhaps in the VERY long ago when it was absolutely mandatory that all installed memory be exactly, EXACTLY, the same, including almost always, having come off the same assembly line and production run using all exactly the same components for the module build, because motherboards back then didn't have the same level of auto configuration capabilities as modern hardware, but the fact that there is SO MUCH different hardware these days contributes greatly to the problem as does the fact that quite often it is the specifications that you DO NOT see advertised, such as secondary and tertiary timings, ICs that are favorable to a given platform, better or worse CMOS hardware tables that can affect the degree to which a motherboard might be capable of finding equitable settings for different DIMMs and even some CPU related specifics can all contribute to things working or not.

The is only ONE way that is guaranteed to work and that is by buying a kit with ALL of the memory you want included AND making sure it is either validated as compatible for that motherboard by either the motherboard manufacturer or the memory manufacturer, with emphasis towards the memory manufacturer since they tend to do more extensive testing of their own products than the board manufacturers do. Even then, we've seen a fair number of cases where a memory kit shows validated for a given board for it's XMP or A-XMP profile, and across the board still has problems.