A ? of Ram

**cRy_HAVoC** · March 30, 2010, 05:24 AM

Hiya

Just a quick question about ram frequencies...
I'm in the process of building a new pc and I have a bit of a surplus of ram and I'm not too sure which combination would be better...
What would be best, 1 stick of 2 gig running at 800 or would 3 gig (2 sticks of 1gig and 2 of 512) running at the next lowest frequency be better??

tnx in advance

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 30, 2010, 05:31 AM

The second option would be better in my opinion. But why not have 3GB of the 1 2GB stick and the 2 1GB sticks?

**cRy_HAVoC** · March 30, 2010, 06:13 AM

Well I'm trying not to 'mix' the frequecies of the sticks themselves, I know that the bios would set the frequency to the lowest stick anyway but as I'll be running a 32bit system (win7) putting the 2 one gig and the 2 gig together would give me a total of 4 but that would be pointless as the system would only 'see' 3 gig anyway so.....

or have I got that completely wrong?

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 30, 2010, 06:23 AM

Mixing Mhz numbers should work fine. Yes, the OS will only recognize 3gb but having more frequency on some of the sticks will improve performance.

**Roman_Man#3** · March 30, 2010, 07:27 PM

Sticks have to be the same, you can't mix a 400ddr2 with an 800ddr2. I'd say go with the single 2gb stick right now.

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 30, 2010, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Roman_Man#3

Sticks have to be the same, you can't mix a 400ddr2 with an 800ddr2. I'd say go with the single 2gb stick right now.

I've used different 667 and 800 together

**Roman_Man#3** · March 30, 2010, 07:33 PM

I could'a sworn they had to be the same to be used together. Maybe that's only DDR3 though.

**Capt. Fozdike** · March 30, 2010, 07:44 PM

Yeah, I think it's DDR3. I used 3gb made of a 800Mhz 2gb and a 667Mhz 1gb together for years

**cRy_HAVoC** · March 31, 2010, 06:22 AM

Thanks for the replies guys, very much appreciated

**GodofCats** · April 02, 2010, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by Capt. Fozdike

Yeah, I think it's DDR3. I used 3gb made of a 800Mhz 2gb and a 667Mhz 1gb together for years

It's not DDR3 either guys, I have 6 GB tri channel 1333 RAM and 2GB 1066 DDR3 RAM running at 1066... To my knowledge you can mix frequencies of any kind of DDR RAM... only thing is that the faster RAM will only operate at the lower frequency setting. I actually am kicking myself for putting the extra 2GB in because I have tried almost everything (even overclocking in my BIOS) to get the 6GB by itself to work at 1333 again...

ugh... anyways... just FYI.

**Taiji** · March 31, 2010, 10:33 AM

Increase the voltage, maybe loosen the timings, and run all 4 at the top speed. If your bios and the quality of the ram allows, that is.

**Freddie** · April 02, 2010, 07:26 AM

I'm not normally a fan of mixing ram like this as memory should be run in dual channel but given the price of ram these days I say go for it and wait until memory becomes cheap again and replace the whole lot a 2x2gb kit.

**cRy_HAVoC** · April 03, 2010, 03:29 AM

Yeah, it won't be long before I'll get more ram all running at 800mhz, as I've said I've installed win7 32bit atm but will upgrade to 64 bit when I get the ram, one thing that did surprise me is that the 32bit sys is 'seeing' 4 gig of ram instead of the 3.1 gig I first thought, ... oh well you live and learn I suppose.

anyway thanks for all the posts guys you've been great

cheers