Mixing XMS with Kingston Value RAM - OK?

[daws0n]

Quick question for you guys;

 

At the moment I am running 2x1GB of Corsair XMS PC3200 ram. It's high performance and rated at 2.75v (which is what I run it at). Since upgrading to 64 bit o/s it is fast being used up, and I've found an old unused ******** 1GB PC3200 stick I forgot about. Problem is, that it's value ram.

 

The timings are a lot lower and it's rated at only 2.6v. I wouldn't expect it to run at the same speeds as the XMS, so is it safe to slow the timings/voltage down to accommodate for it? i.e whole system running@2.6v, CL3 etc... I know it's a waste of the XMS performance but i'd rather the extra memory over speed. Since it's not designed for this, will it effect the stability/life span of the XMS ram?

 

Thanks,

Dawson

[daws0n]

Hmmm. Then there's the issue of dual channel vs single channel...

 

If this is a good idea, I think it may be better to use 2x512mb in the spare slots 3/4 than a single 1GB stick in slot 3 to keep it in dual mode? I have another computer with 2x512 PC3200, so it's not a problem to swap them about.

 

@wired

 

What's with the asterisks? Are references to other brand names not allowed? Sorry, didn't know that.

[Wired]

Correctamundo. It's covered in the rules page which you were redirected to the first time you logged into the forum after the redirection mod was installed.

 

Ultimately it's never recommended to mix memory from different manufacturers. No one can guarantee how well they'll run together.

[daws0n]

Well, I've put in the 1 gig stick, all up and running :)

 

I figured it was a better idea to run 3 x 1gb sticks in single channel than 2 x 1gb and 2 x 512mb in dual channel. Since if you use the four slots on a 939 board, the memory speed goes down to DDR333.

 

So far so good anyway, will run a memtest for a few hours tonight.

 

So, am I ok with run the XMS with the value RAM at 3-3-3-7 / 2.6v.

 

Will it damage it in anyway as it's rated for 2-3-3-6 / 2.75v.?

 

Edit: I've just taken a PNY heat spreader off an old ram stick and fitted it to the value RAM. I wonder I can bump the voltage back up to 2.65 or 2.7 safely now?

[RAM GUY]

Max memory Voltage for any of our DDR1 memory Modules would be 2.9 Volts so as long as you don't go over that you can do anything you like and if they ever fail we will replace them.