To mix or not to mix?

brandon1232 · 07-13-2008, 03:50 PM

Hello

A few months ago I purchased an ASUS M2A-VM mobo w/AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.8 Ghz cpu. In addition I purchased 2gbs of 800MHz value A-Data RAM. Discovered that the A-Data was not on the mobo QVL, but not completely incompatible with the mobo. With both modules installed it seems to overclock itself and shut down. With a 1gb module installed it works fine. In a few weeks I plan to upgrade to 3gbs. What I would like to do is add 2gbs of 800MHz value Kingston RAM and keep the 1gb A-Data. The voltage of 1.8 is the same for both brands, and the CAS Latency is the same (CL5). Will the mixed brands cause problems?
The other alternative is to purchase 3gbs of 667MHz or 4gbs of 800MHz value Kingston.
The reason I am going with 4gbs is because eventually I will purchase a 512MB PCI express video card. I read somewhere that the 512MB video card needs the upper memory addresses.

Thanks,
brandon1232

**belfasteddie** · 07-13-2008, 11:02 PM

I run virtually the same setup. To run the 800 ram I had to update to the latest Bios . Then insert one stick, reboot, go into the Bios and manually set the ram timing. Then insert second stick. The ram I am using is Kingston 800 sli.( from memory it's set at 4-4-4-12) I also run a 512 Nvidia card with no probs,(I'm not a gamer).
The only other thing I have is an extra fan blowing onto the Vga/ram , M/B temp is 34c.
When I upgraded the Ram I had a single stick of Hynix 5300, I inserted one stick of 800 along side it and the machine worked perfectly.(at 5300)
Lastly, If you click Start,run,msconfig,bootini,advanced,numproc,2,ok.
My xp boots up considerably faster.

07-13-2008, 03:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
brandon1232 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 16 OS: Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1	To mix or not to mix? Hello A few months ago I purchased an ASUS M2A-VM mobo w/AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.8 Ghz cpu. In addition I purchased 2gbs of 800MHz value A-Data RAM. Discovered that the A-Data was not on the mobo QVL, but not completely incompatible with the mobo. With both modules installed it seems to overclock itself and shut down. With a 1gb module installed it works fine. In a few weeks I plan to upgrade to 3gbs. What I would like to do is add 2gbs of 800MHz value Kingston RAM and keep the 1gb A-Data. The voltage of 1.8 is the same for both brands, and the CAS Latency is the same (CL5). Will the mixed brands cause problems? The other alternative is to purchase 3gbs of 667MHz or 4gbs of 800MHz value Kingston. The reason I am going with 4gbs is because eventually I will purchase a 512MB PCI express video card. I read somewhere that the 512MB video card needs the upper memory addresses. Thanks, brandon1232

07-13-2008, 11:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
belfasteddie TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 664 OS: Suse 10.2 64 bit	Re: To mix or not to mix? I run virtually the same setup. To run the 800 ram I had to update to the latest Bios . Then insert one stick, reboot, go into the Bios and manually set the ram timing. Then insert second stick. The ram I am using is Kingston 800 sli.( from memory it's set at 4-4-4-12) I also run a 512 Nvidia card with no probs,(I'm not a gamer). The only other thing I have is an extra fan blowing onto the Vga/ram , M/B temp is 34c. When I upgraded the Ram I had a single stick of Hynix 5300, I inserted one stick of 800 along side it and the machine worked perfectly.(at 5300) Lastly, If you click Start,run,msconfig,bootini,advanced,numproc,2,ok. My xp boots up considerably faster. Last edited by belfasteddie : 07-13-2008 at 11:09 PM.