New and need advice about adding RAM and its compatibility with my Motherboard, please!

[matsp]

Hi!

Wandering around my local charity shop this morning I couldn't resist picking up some cheap unboxed RAM! On the downside I have no idea what I am doing , I've never added to or upgraded a desktop before.

My question, as you might guess, is whether it is compatible with my motherboard. From researching using online scanners it would appear to be, but I would really appreciate some advice and instruction from some knowledgeable human beings.

The RAM I bought is Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2x4gb 2400MHz, and my motherboard is an ASUSTeK - PRIME B550M-A WIFI II.

I have 4 memory slots, 2 open. The installed ones are 2x8gb speed: 2666MHz, a scanner says they are made by A-DATA.

If it is compatible is there anything I need to do other than carefully slot them in? I read somewhere that I would have to make a change in the BIOS.

I look forward to reading any replies, many thanks!

Matt

 

[_roman_]

You most likely have to manually tune the DRAM in uefi. Maybe you are lucky and auto mode may work

 

[QuietBob]

Mixing differently spec'd memory is usually asking for trouble. There's a chance that it might work without any adjustments, but it's more likely that the PC won't even boot and you'll be forced to clear CMOS data to recover.

I'd recommend against installing the new kit if you're not familiar with BIOS settings.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Not sure what "trouble" one is asking for. If the board supports the same type of RAM (standard DDR4, in this case), the RAM will "physically" fit the slots. So no trouble there. I note the QVL for that board says it does support 2 x 4GB Corsair, which he bought - though we don't know the exact model number, the specs match and that is the most important thing since board makers just can't test them all.

Beyond that, typical response is, the board (and Windows) will boot just fine at the speed of the slowest RAM, or the new RAM will not be recognized but the system still boots, or the system will not boot.

For sure, years ago, the odds of something unpleasant happening was much greater. But today, CPUs and chipsets are much more tolerant of differences. This is especially so when talking about inserting RAM in pairs (with two like sticks in each pair). But even mixing different RAM with the same specs in a pair works the majority of the time with no "trouble".

I do agree with _roman_ that tuning may be require - but would be to "optimize" performance, not to get it to work. It typically has to work first in order to tune it.

I am NOT saying adding a second mismatch pair is always trouble free. But I am saying it is not "usually" asking for trouble - like it was yesteryear.

Regardless, and again, I don't see what "trouble" is involved that warrants the recommendation to not give it a try. I say to @matsp, try it and see. Just make you unplug the computer from the wall and touch bare metal of the case interior BEFORE reaching towards the motherboard or the RAM to discharge any static in your body. Make sure you don't knock loose any cables, then boot and see what happens.

Let me add one more thing. You already have 16GB installed. You also indicate you are using SSDs. You don't say what you do with this computer but don't expect major significant (if any noticeable) performance gains. You might see some on some tasks but 16GB is already a nice chunk - especially when coupled with a SSD.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi!

Wandering around my local charity shop this morning I couldn't resist picking up some cheap unboxed RAM! On the downside I have no idea what I am doing , I've never added to or upgraded a desktop before.

My question, as you might guess, is whether it is compatible with my motherboard. From researching using online scanners it would appear to be, but I would really appreciate some advice and instruction from some knowledgeable human beings.

The RAM I bought is Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2x4gb 2400MHz, and my motherboard is an ASUSTeK - PRIME B550M-A WIFI II.

I have 4 memory slots, 2 open. The installed ones are 2x8gb speed: 2666MHz, a scanner says they are made by A-DATA.

If it is compatible is there anything I need to do other than carefully slot them in? I read somewhere that I would have to make a change in the BIOS.

I look forward to reading any replies, many thanks!

Matt

Run it, if not stable, try to tweak it or sell it off

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi!

Wandering around my local charity shop this morning I couldn't resist picking up some cheap unboxed RAM! On the downside I have no idea what I am doing , I've never added to or upgraded a desktop before.

My question, as you might guess, is whether it is compatible with my motherboard. From researching using online scanners it would appear to be, but I would really appreciate some advice and instruction from some knowledgeable human beings.

The RAM I bought is Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2x4gb 2400MHz, and my motherboard is an ASUSTeK - PRIME B550M-A WIFI II.

I have 4 memory slots, 2 open. The installed ones are 2x8gb speed: 2666MHz, a scanner says they are made by A-DATA.

If it is compatible is there anything I need to do other than carefully slot them in? I read somewhere that I would have to make a change in the BIOS.

I look forward to reading any replies, many thanks!

Matt

Those 2400 and 2667 sticks will work together fine, but they will all default to running at 2400 speeds. You will notice the difference with the extra 8GB of RAM a lot more than the difference in speed(which you will not notice at all in reality). So yeah go for it and enjoy!

 

[The King]

I had many issues getting 4GB DDR4 dimms to boot on B450 and B550 with Zen 3 CPUS.

They would not even post in most cases. Consider selling all your RAM and getting a 16GBx2 kit that is on your QVL list
although most 32GB kits should work on B550 chipsets.

You will save yourself alot of headaches going this route.

3600 CL16 is what I recommend but 3200 CL16 will also work just fine.

 

[Rover4444]

Put each set of sticks in different channels and run them at the speeds and timings of the slowest set. So 8844 would be the correct configuration for your motherboard. Be aware you'll also be running asynchronous dual channel, but this usually doesn't matter unless you go over 16GB with these sticks.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I had many issues getting 4GB DDR4 dimms to boot on B450 and B550 with Zen 3 CPUS.

I never had any issues. Also..

They would not even post in most cases. Consider selling all your RAM and getting a 16GBx2 kit that is on your QVL list
although most kits should work on B550 chipsets.

You will save yourself alot of headaches going this route.

3600 CL16 is what I recommend but 3200 CL16 will also work just fine.

The OP was not asking about new kits. They asked about a pair sets they already have. Also, QVL lists are only useful when the motherboard makers keep them updated. No one is doing that anymore for DDR4. Additionally, there is a metric ton of RAM kits that work perfectly and never show up on QLV lists. QLV lists are a solid reference guide, but are by NO means the end-all-be-all of RAM compatibility.

 

[The King]

I never had any issues. Also..

The OP was not asking about new kits. They asked about a pair sets they already have. Also, QVL lists are only useful when the motherboard makers keep them updated. No one is doing that anymore for DDR4. Additionally, there is a metric ton of RAM kits that work perfectly and never show up on QLV lists. QLV lists are a solid reference guide, but are by NO means the end-all-be-all of RAM compatibility.

You should never mix 8GB and 4GB sticks of different speed. The OP is already losing performance by not running at least 3200MT going form 2666 to 2400 is
not going to make things better

I asked the OP to "consider" selling all his RAM and buying a 32GB kit. The advice That I gave will be best for the OP IMHO since he has no experience with tuning RAM or troubleshooting.

3200 is also the recommend Spec for his 5600G.

Also most of you guys don't know the compatibility issues when running 4 X Dimms that is one of many reasons a QVL exist.

Sweet!

 

[lexluthermiester]

You should never mix 8GB and 4GB sticks of different speed.

Nonsense. I do it frequently with no ill effects. I'm currently mixing 2x4GB at 2667 and 2x8GB at 3000, all running at 2400, in one of my personal systems. Gaming and general computing performance is identical regardless of the RAM speed so they are running at a slower speed and a lower voltage. The OP will have no problems whatsoever.

The OP is already loosing performance by not running at least 3200MT going form 2666 to 2400 is
not going to make things better

Incorrect. The 2667 sticks will follow their SPD profiles, clock down and sync timings with the 2400 sticks. The minimal performance difference will have no effect on their experience.

I asked the OP to "consider" selling all his RAM and buying a 32GB kit.

That is not what they were asking. Your suggestion isn't that helpful.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Nonsense. I do it frequently with no ill effects. I'm currently mixing 2x4GB at 2667 and 2x8GB at 3000, all running at 2400, in one of my personal system. Gaming and general computing performance is identical regardless of the RAM speed so they are running at a slower speed and a lower voltage. The OP will have no problems whatsoever.

Incorrect. The 2667 sticks will follow their SPD profiles and clock down and sync timings with the 2400 sticks. The performance difference will make no difference.

That is not what they were asking. Your suggestion isn't that helpful.

I also think the OP will loose performance but depending on the workload it might not be noticeable outside of benchmarks. The OP's iGPU performance at 2400 is going to probably be much less than ideal to put it nicely.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I also think the OP will loose performance but depending on the workload it might not be noticeable outside of benchmarks. The OP's iGPU performance at 2400 is going to probably be much less than ideal to put it nicely.

I've done this level of testing. The difference is less than 5% in most situations. You've got to remember, slower speed generally means tighter timings, which offsets the speed difference. So the difference between 2667 and 2400 is not something they are going to notice given that they have been running at 2667 previously. They will notice the difference between 16GB of shared system RAM, with the AMD driver giving the Radeon GFX 6 to 10GB of it, and 24GB of shared system RAM. In that situation the AMD drivers scheme will give 8 to 12GB to the Radeon GFXs. So instead of the OS only having 4 or 6 GB to work with it'll have 12 to 16 GB, a much better divide.

Would 32GB of 3600MT be better? Sure, but at that point it would make more sense to just buy a video card.

This situation the OP has is a favorable one. It's a cheap 50% increase in RAM that will work perfectly and breath a bit more life into that system.

 

[matsp]

Wow - so many replies! Thanks every one of you for your replies, they are very helpful and very much appreciated.

I have some thinking to do!

 

[Bill_Bright]

You should never mix 8GB and 4GB sticks of different speed.

Nonsense. I do it frequently with no ill effects.

I agree with lex. For one, your comment "sounds" like a warning of imminent, inevitable doom - like it will cause a fire or something worse. It won't.

The OP is already losing performance by not running at least 3200MT going form 2666 to 2400 is
not going to make things better

The OP does not have 3200 so it makes no sense to even mention it. And to suggest a drop from 2666 to 2400 is going to be significant, or even noticeable is just not true either - except on paper (benchmarks) - not when, at the same time, the OP is increasing his RAM amount by 50%, which is significant, and is using a SSD to house his page file.

So again I agree with lex and if anything is noticeable, it will be because the OP is increasing his RAM amount. HOWEVER, as I noted above, he is using a SSD. This means if his page file was being banged on before, being on a SSD imposed a MUCH SMALLER performance hit than if using a hard drive. And adding 50% more RAM is likely to result in hits on the PF occurring less often for even lower priority data.

Having said all that, we still don't know what the OP uses this computer for. Depending on the tasks, no improvement at all may be noticed.

I have some thinking to do!

Not really. Your next steps are pretty clear, IMO, as are the facts.

1. You already purchased the 2nd pair of sticks.​

2. They were preowned so your investment is not a budget buster.​

3. There is NO HARM in trying them in your computer to see what happens.​

4. In the unlikely event adding these 2 new sticks result in the computer failing to boot, or become unstable, then you can consider selling all 4 and getting 2 x 16GB sticks of faster RAM.​

 

[matsp]

Thanks, I'll try the new sticks in the morning, making sure I discharge any static first.

The most resource intensive activities I do on the computer are a little gaming, but mostly I use it for photo editing and graphic design.

I'll let you know how I get on!

 

[The King]

Thanks, I'll try the new sticks in the morning, making sure I discharge any static first.

The most resource intensive activities I do on the computer are a little gaming, but mostly I use it for photo editing and graphic design.

I'll let you know how I get on!

This video by Gamers Nexus is pretty old but shows how Ryzen can benefit from a DR setup in mostly gaming scenarios. There should also be some
benefit if you running an IGP but i have never tested this has I always ran a dedicated GPU setup.

If you need help tuning RAM in the future you can contact me on the overclock.net forums.

https://www.overclock.net/threads/official-amd-ryzen-ddr4-24-7-memory-stability-thread.1628751/page-1290?post_id=29468540#post-29468540

Sweet!

 

[blinnbanir]

The truth is that 4 sticks from 2 different vendors will almost guarantee problems if not on day one then some time down the road. 2 Sticks is always best. One of the things that can cause instability is Windows update.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The truth is that 4 sticks from 2 different vendors will almost guarantee problems if not on day one then some time down the road.

Nonsense. 10, 15 years ago, this might have been true. But manufacturing techniques have improved so dramatically since then that the purity of the raw materials used to make the RAM has reached near perfection. Plus production techniques are such that stick after stick after stick coming off production lines easily match designed/published specs to extremely close tolerances.

On top of that, CPU and chipset/motherboard makers have made dramatic improvement in memory management such that getting slightly mismatched RAM to work together is MUCH MORE likely these days as well.

One should remember that many years ago, RAM makers tested each stick as it came off the production line, then matched pairs and packaged them as dual channel.

Today, testing is no longer needed simply because those manufacturing improvements ensure sticks match and the ONLY REASON RAM is sold in dual (or quad) channel "kits" is because it is cheaper logistically in terms of packaging, retailing, inventorying, transportation, warehousing etc. to control 1 package of 2 instead of 2 packages AND selling in "kits" makes for good marketing hype/fodder.

Are there exceptions? Of course! Until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be exceptions. But to suggest using 4 sticks from different "manufacturers" (not "vendors") will almost guarantee problems is simply false - these days.

I will concede one point. If mixing manufacturers, it would be best to stick to known brands, and avoid no-name, generic, or off brand names. But then I would advise that in all cases anyway.

2 Sticks is always best.

"Always" Like all blanket statements, that one is wrong. I'll take 4 x 8GB over 2 x 4GB, thank you.

One of the things that can cause instability is Windows update.

This is just another OT opportunistic bashing of MS that has absolutely nothing to do with the OP's topic. Why not name the other 99 things that might cause instability?

 

[freeagent]

I have Corsair ram that doesn't play nice with other Corsair ram.. luck of the draw I would say. I ran 4 sticks on AM4 for 4 years no problem, big problem on AM5 though

 

[Bill_Bright]

I have Corsair ram that doesn't play nice with other Corsair ram.. luck of the draw I would say.

I agree. I had a similar problem with Crucial sticks. I've even had DOA RAM. Rare but as you say, luck of the draw.

But then I've used Crucial sticks with Corsair sticks with no problems. And I am currently using 2 Corsair and 2 Kingston in a backup computer here.

My MSI laptop has 1 x 8GB Hynix and 1 x 8GB Crucial and it is running fine.

Much of the problem is, I think, that when problems using multiple sticks occur, it is difficult to determine which stick is the culprit, especially memory testers reveal no problems. Some sticks are just ba$tard$ and just refuse to play nice with other sticks.

 

[blinnbanir]

Nonsense. 10, 15 years ago, this might have been true. But manufacturing techniques have improved so dramatically since then that the purity of the raw materials used to make the RAM has reached near perfection. Plus production techniques are such that stick after stick after stick coming off production lines easily match designed/published specs to extremely close tolerances.

On top of that, CPU and chipset/motherboard makers have made dramatic improvement in memory management such that getting slightly mismatched RAM to work together is MUCH MORE likely these days as well.

One should remember that many years ago, RAM makers tested each stick as it came off the production line, then matched pairs and packaged them as dual channel.

Today, testing is no longer needed simply because those manufacturing improvements ensure sticks match and the ONLY REASON RAM is sold in dual (or quad) channel "kits" is because it is cheaper logistically in terms of packaging, retailing, inventorying, transportation, warehousing etc. to control 1 package of 2 instead of 2 packages AND selling in "kits" makes for good marketing hype/fodder.

Are there exceptions? Of course! Until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be exceptions. But to suggest using 4 sticks from different "manufacturers" (not "vendors") will almost guarantee problems is simply false - these days.

I will concede one point. If mixing manufacturers, it would be best to stick to known brands, and avoid no-name, generic, or off brand names. But then I would advise that in all cases anyway.


"Always" Like all blanket statements, that one is wrong. I'll take 4 x 8GB over 2 x 4GB, thank you.


This is just another OT opportunistic bashing of MS that has absolutely nothing to do with the OP's topic. Why not name the other 99 things that might cause instability?

I was on AM4. I had 2 sticks of Crucial Ballistix. I then added 2 sticks of Team Group. It worked fine for about 6 months until a Windows update made them not like each other. You are not incorrect in your statements as those are what you have experienced. We know that there are RAM focused boards that come with 2 slots. for stability and speed. Then there is the density of DDR5 you can get 32GB on 1 stick making 64GB not too expensive to acquire. If all the vendors have the same process what you are saying would be true but the fact that Corsair uses all vendors and uses the same part number is anecdotal that it is not a good idea.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The truth is that 4 sticks from 2 different vendors will almost guarantee problems if not on day one then some time down the road. 2 Sticks is always best.

Absolute moose muffins! Please stop. You're not giving good info, you're just embarrassing yourself.

I have Corsair ram that doesn't play nice with other Corsair ram.. luck of the draw I would say. I ran 4 sticks on AM4 for 4 years no problem, big problem on AM5 though

Ok, but are you talking about XMP settings or the JEDEC based SPD defaults? I'd bet real money that the SPD settings worked perfectly.

Again folks, we're not talking about XMP profile stuff, we're talking about RAM sticks running at JEDEC baseline settings. The OP is going to be fine.

@matsp
Before installing the new sticks, go into your bios and make sure the RAM settings are on auto detect. If they're not, set them for auto, save & exit. Then install the extra sticks and power up. Remember that Ryzen CPUs always do the RAM "training" thing, so it'll boot cycle a few times before posting. As long as the RAM is not defective(the system will beep at you if it fails), when it posts it'll be running at the 2400 speeds of the slower set, but also remember, that's 2400 out of the 2667 of your existing kit.

 

[freeagent]

Ok, but are you talking about XMP settings or the JEDEC based SPD defaults? I'd bet real money that the SPD settings worked perfectly.

It is DDR2 haha.. that ram pissed me off so much that I swore I would never buy their ram again.. but I was looking at some of their lineup not long ago..

20 year grudge should be lifted.. but I killed a TX850 and ran an H100 dry.. so I am a bit bitter lol

Was also looking at their PSU lineup for both my AM4 and AM5 build.. but went with Seasonic instead.. it was close though..

 

[lexluthermiester]

It is DDR2 haha.. that ram pissed me off so much that I swore I would never buy their ram again..

Ok, I thought you were talking about something recent. DDR1 & 2 did have a few minors.