Mixed DDR4 Setup: 1333mhz and 1600mhz 1.2v and 1.35

[rainless]

So... I used to be the God King of Ram... back in the day. I would say from the beginning of purchasable... non-soldered-on RAM until the DDR3 era.

But I never had DDR4 until now. Maybe I'm just rusty... my latest build was a long time coming. Maybe I've forgotten a few things.

Anywho... Around the time of my latest Intel 9th Generation build... there was a sale on 16GB of Crucial Ballistix. 1.2v... CL16. XMP 1333mhz. I figured "WHY NOT??" (I believe it was the ONLY RAM available in the early days of the pandemic due to hoarding.)

Got the ram and was happy to have it.

I use DaVinci resolve and 32GB is supposedly required for Fusion. So I found another sale: CL16 16GB Ram 1.35v 1600mhz.

I was a bit worried about the 1.35 and 1.2 voltage difference... but I figured my motherboard would sort it out: Which it did by lowering the speed to 1067 on both sets of RAM... 1.2v CL15 I believe.

So... curious still... The Crucials (1333mhz) can do XMP at the first five highest settings. The Gskills (1600mhz) can ONLY do XMP at 1600mhz.

I really have no idea what a good set of ram even is anymore... and I somehow remember RAM costing... WAAAAY more than 50 or 60 bucks for 16GB...

So what the hell is XMP? How could I have gotten around this voltage difference problem without buying the exact same RAM again? (and paying a lot more than for a better set). Is there something better than this 1067 thing? (Overvoling the RAM perhaps? Or trying to get the 1600mhz ram to match the other one at 1333mhz?)

 

[bigtallanddopey]

First of all the advice is always use matched sticks of ram, as you have already found it it can cause problems. Because the sticks are not matched you are more than likely/definitely not running the ram in duel channel mode which is not ideal.

XMP is a factory Overclock setting to have the ram run at the speed it is stated on the box. So if you bought 3200Mhz ram when you plug it in at first it will run at the stock settings the motherboard decides to use. If you enable XMP it will auto change the settings to match the 3200 ram you bought. The problem you have is that you have two different types of ram with different speeds. I doubt enabling XMP will work as it will be confused as to what to do. To my knowledge you cannot apply ram settings separately to each ram stick (maybe on some very very high end motherboards but I have never come across it).

That is your other problem, I doubt you can manually tune each stick to run at a common speed. You may find a speed and set of timings that works for both types of ram but that could take a long time of experimenting and over locking/underclocking to find the sweet spot.

TLDR: use the same types of ram, same speed, brand and timings. Ideally buy a matched set for the amount you want.

 

[rainless]

First of all the advice is always use matched sticks of ram, as you have already found it it can cause problems. Because the sticks are not matched you are more than likely/definitely not running the ram in duel channel mode which is not ideal.

That is your other problem, I doubt you can manually tune each stick to run at a common speed. You may find a speed and set of timings that works for both types of ram but that could take a long time of experimenting and over locking/underclocking to find the sweet spot.

On both of these points you are wrong:



It was actually QUITE easy to match up both sticks of RAM... in fact... I didn't have to do anything. The motherboard automatically set them both for 1066mhz at 1.2v and they are definitely running in Dual Channel mode. I agree it is not optimal... but it is quite functional.

TLDR: use the same types of ram, same speed, brand and timings. Ideally buy a matched set for the amount you want.

This is correct. But the rate, speed, and timing of the 1600mhz RAM was an offer that I couldn't refuse. (Given the price.) I don't actually *need* 32GB of RAM all the time either. Only when I'm running Fusion. So now... when speed is an absolute priority... I can just remove the 1333mhz sticks and have 3200mhz running in dual-channel mode instead of 2666mhz.

(Though I think... for everyday use... 1066mhz should be fine for me.)

Ideally I would've gotten the fastest possible RAM in the first place... but the beginning of the pandemic... with literally every store on lockdown... was not an ideal circumstance. Just happy the RAM could easily find some common ground and that my work could continue.

Thanks for explaining the XMP thing!

 

[EarthDog]

TLDR: use the same types of ram, same speed, brand and timings. Ideally buy a matched set for the amount you want.

Good advice. This has been well known over the years. Good to hear every once and again.

Anyone else get confused because you(OP) went back and forth between MHz and DDR when describing speeds?

 

[bigtallanddopey]

Anyone else get confused because you went back and forth between MHz and DDR when describing speeds? [emoji38]

Yeh I did a little, lol

To add, I meant to say earlier (was 6am when I wrote my first post) that you can get both working together at the same speed etc. But you may not be able to hit as high a frequency or as good timings unlike you would with a matched kit. Most of the times when I have done this I have ended up having to open up the timings slightly to get things running. If you have had a better experience than me then you have been lucky. I have had times at work where we have stuck an extra 4GB of the same speed and voltage but a different brand in a machine and we have had compatibility issues.

 

[rainless]

Yeh I did a little, lol

To add, I meant to say earlier (was 6am when I wrote my first post) that you can get both working together at the same speed etc. But you may not be able to hit as high a frequency or as good timings unlike you would with a matched kit. Most of the times when I have done this I have ended up having to open up the timings slightly to get things running. If you have had a better experience than me then you have been lucky. I have had times at work where we have stuck an extra 4GB of the same speed and voltage but a different brand in a machine and we have had compatibility issues.

Beginners luck I guess... Never thought I could've gotten away so many years before having to get DDR4. I seriously hadn't looked that deep into it before I started buying the RAM. Around the time I started asking about 9th generation motherboards... both the CPUs and the RAM were selling out faster than I could click the checkout button. I really just went with the first (what I remembered being) decent brand of RAM i could remember. Probably a miracle that it all worked out with the timings and different voltages, like you said. It certainly wasn't because of any heavy research on my part...

Anyone else get confused because you(OP) went back and forth between MHz and DDR when describing speeds?

Mission accomplished!