4 sticks of RAM: do they all need to be identical?

[manveruppd]

I've got 2x4GB sticks of Gskill RAM in my PC atm, which keeps throwing errors in Memtest86+ so it needs to be RMA'ed. Since I don't want my computer to be out of commission until Gskill sends me new sticks, I decided to buy another 2x4GB set to keep me going, and then when I get new Gskill sticks, hey, I've upgraded to 16GB!

My question is: does it matter if the replacement sticks I get are rated at slightly different speed, or have slightly different latencies or whatever? Will it throw up any problems when I get the new Gskill sticks and all 4 are running together?

As far as I know, only the sticks running in dual-channel pairs need to be identical, so I just need to make sure that the Gskill set is in slot 1&3 and the other set in slot 2&4 and I'll be fine. Am I right in thinking this, or do I need to get something identical to my current sticks?

 

[Doogles]

I think it should be fine as I've got 2x4GB 1600mhz in one channel and 2x4GB 1866mhz in another with different timings etc but I'd make sure to get another response or two before hand.

 

[russell664]

I ran mine with 2x Avexir 2400mhz and a set of Team Group 2400mhz, both different timings, and it ran fine!

 

[Nasher]

Yea but they should only run at the speed of the slowest stick I think.

I have seen it cause crashes in the past, but it's not as common these days.

 

[shamus21]

You should be fine unless you are overclocking.

 

[manveruppd]

I *am* overclocking, my 2500k is running at 4GHz. I'm not overclocking the RAM though, if that's what you meant. The 2500k only supports up to 1333-rated RAM, so if the second pair of sticks I get is at least that fast or faster (the GSkills are 1600), it shouldn't matter: all 4 sticks will run at 1333 anyway. I was more concerned about the latency timing, and whether it might create problems with dual channel.

 

[manveruppd]

If nobody knows for sure I'll just go with my gut, which tells me it'll be fine. Will report back if I get weird crashes!

 

[russell664]

I ran my CPU overclocked also with mixed RAM.

 

[Guest2]

Would 4 sticks over 2 sticks of matched ram have any effect on overclocking?

I currently have 2x4gb Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600mhz.

'khx1600c9d3x2k2/8gx ddr3'

It looks like its quite hard to find this stuff now so should I just buy 2 lots of 2x4gb of other memory? Is it worthwhile going to DDR3 2200? On OcUK at least 2200 does exist, it jumps from 2133mhz to 2400mhz. Can you get matched 4x4GB or do you just but 2 lots of 2x4?


This the the blurb about my motherboard

4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 2200/1600/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

(Go to GIGABYTE's website for the latest memory support list.)

edit, maybe something like this would be better - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-127-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2426

 

[Nickolp1974]

If your overclocking 2 sticks is always the better route, why not get 2x8gb and sell the others??

Something like this would work well https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-142-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2550

 

[Guest2]

If your overclocking 2 sticks is always the better route, why not get 2x8gb and sell the others??

Something like this would work well https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-142-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2550

Would 8gb sticks work on my motherboard? It is this - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3159#sp

On the memory supported list there is only 1 4gb stick listed

 

[Nickolp1974]

Should be fine yes, support is upto 16gb

 

[holygamer]

I run heavy restoration scripts that use up a lot of CPU and Ram. Is 8GB enough RAM or do I need more?