Buying different ram

[darkxknight]

i currently have 2gb of crucial ballistix. im upgrading to 4 gbs of ram and wanted to get 2 more gb of crucial but have been hearing shady things with crucial. is it alright if i mix my 2x1 gb of crucial with 2x1gb of gskill?

 

[lxskllr]

I've never had problems mixing brands of ram, even in the same channel. I would personally go for the Gskill. I've completely lost confidence in Crucial's ram.

 

[Andrew1990]

I probably wouldnt mix them unless the voltage and timings were identical.

I just got my Ballistixs back from RMA. I has the single sided sticks, hope these double sided sticks actually make it past 20hours(the amount of time the first batch survived).

 

[Tweakin]

Considering the extra strain of 4-dimms on a motherboard, and the current cost of DDR2-800 memory, I would just upgrade to a nice 4GB kit from GS Kill or others for $70.

I wouldn't mix and match different vdimm sticks.

 

[Mondoman]

Originally posted by: Tweakin
...
I wouldn't mix and match different vdimm sticks.

Exactly!

 

[n7]

I don't like mismatched pairs either per say, but if you know what you're doing, this really isn't so bad, as long as the voltages needed is close.

I ran my 2x2 GB Mushkin & G.Skill just fine mixed...you just have to make sure you choose a good balance of vdimm & know what timings to watch.
(And yes, i OCed it quite a bit too )

Obviously, if you dislike what could be a bit more of a challenge, matching is a better idea.

Of course, if you are buying the second pair a lot later than the first, truth is they aren't likely matching anyway, as often the ICs get changed anyway over time...

I like the idea of getting a 2x2 GB kit, but not to replace the 2x1 GB kit.

Get 2x2 GB to add to your 2x1 GB for 6 GB
If you don't have a 64-bit OS...well, i'd say get one, but obviously that's not something everyone will want to do