Ram Question

[Supergoal]

Hello,

I've currently got 2 x 2gb ram in my system but I bought some extra 2 x 4gb ram as it was on sale.

Will adding the new 2 x 4gb ram sticks somehow interfere with the older ram modules?
They have a different size and clock frequency. Though how relevant that is I'm not sure.

I think what I'm asking is, would it be better to remove the old ram or would it be better to combine all of it to total 12gb system ram?

Thank you

[smouty]

Will your system and OS support that amount of RAM? They will work at the lowest setting of each but the side effect of slow RAM is negligible compared to not enough.

[Supergoal]

Yeah got 64bit windows and a motherboard that does up to 16gb.

[sj33]

They shouldn't interfere as such, but the faster RAM will be forced to run at the speed of the slower RAM.

Unless you really need 12GB RAM, you might benefit more by removing the slower RAM and running 8GB RAM at faster speeds.

[speedlolita]

Not that RAM speeds matter THAT much.

[sj33]

True, but 8GB is plenty really. If a game isn't even fully utilising 8GB, then adding an extra 4GB isn't going to improve the framerate. In fact, it might even reduce the framerate due to the slower RAM speed. I can only see using the old RAM causing a detrimental effect.

[Supergoal]

Update:

After checking my current ram modules it's looks like they carry the same timings, voltage and speed as the new ram. Does that mean I should for sure just keep the old ram and combine to 12gb?

With that in mind it shouldn't decrease performance by having 12gb over 8gb?

[speedlolita]

Honestly I wouldn't bother unless 8GB is too little for you. But yes, you can do it. You won't notice a performance difference.

[sj33]

If the timing and speed are literally the same, then go for it. There would be no disadvantage to doing so.