I've recently bought a new laptop with 8GB of RAM in it. It has 4 slots inside so I want to put the RAM from my old laptop in it as well. However, they have different frequencies. So if I put the old RAM in there as well, would it have any adverse effects on the system?
asked Aug 7, 2015 at 13:17
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It used to be that different sticks could be incompatible - but that was a long time ago. Nowadays, you can mix RAM modules pretty much however you want - from my experience, if they're from a good brand and work fine individually, they will work together 99.9% of the time. Of course, it's even safer to get a module from the same company, and more importantly, with the same chip configuration.– zain.aliAug 7, 2015 at 13:20
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1 Answer
Theoretically it's fine. Just make sure it has the same configuration (i.e. number of pins, size/design). This is very important for laptops.
Generally the faster RAM will be automatically 'underclocked' to achieve effectively the same speeds. You could attempt to overclock the slower RAM, but I honestly can't see there being much of an increase in performance.
It is recommended to have a pair of identical RAM sticks just for 100% compatibility, but as long as they are compatible, with specifications being mostly the same, it shouldn't be a big deal.
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1May be worth noting that you'll end up running the RAM at the speed of the slowest stick. Aug 7, 2015 at 13:24
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So as long as they're DDR3 they'll work, but might be slower overall? Aug 7, 2015 at 13:26
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Your system won't be slower. It's just that the faster RAM will slow itself down at times to match the speed of the other RAM stick. And yes if they're both DDR3 they'll work.– zain.aliAug 7, 2015 at 13:28