Ram slots question

I bought RAM for my computer and as far as I was aware the slots are dual slots so two cards are needed and they are set up so the two cards that are identical go in the two slots next to each other, like the two under the keyboard or the two under the bottom panel. I had my computer shiped into Dell for a motherboard replacement and I just noticed that the two Ram cards I placed have been switched to one in the bottom panel and one under the Keyboard along with the two cards that came with the laptop upon purchase. My computer still recognizes all 12gb's of RAM but I'm just wondering if this is hurting my RAM speeds and should I switch them back to having identical cards in the same slots.

 

As far as I know, someone correct me if I'm wrong, regardless of the placement of the RAM modules, if you have different speeds, you computer will default to the lowest speed. So if you have 2 sticks of 4GB at 1600MHz and 2 sticks of 2GB at 1333MHz, you RAM will be running at 1333MHz.

 

Hmm, that's weird. You said you have 12gb, but from what I can tell, to achieve that you either need 3x4GB or double 2gb+4gb. It could just be that the new ones aren't dual channel. Are all of the cards the same brand?

 

I have the basic 2x2gb plus I added on my own 2x4gb to give a total of 12gb, I just have the base speed of 1333 so i'm not worried about loosing speed because all 4 sticks are that speed. I'm just curious if It might cause issues with the cards malfunctioning and being completely wiped out meaning zero RAM thus a shutdown.

 

Sounds like you mixed brands. But as long as the speed is the same it should be fine. Personaly, I would get rid of the basic 2x2GB and get another set of 2x4GB matching the 2x4GB you bought. Have all the RAM the same brand and same speed totaling 16GB. This way there is no confusion.

 

I would suggest that you just make sure that the larger modules are installed in the slots under the keyboard and the smaller 2gb modules go in the other slots, that way, you dont have mis-matched pairs (4+2) in both compartments...memory should always be installed in matching pairs for stability and best performance.

If all your ram is running at the same speed as per the spec, then you should be perfectly fine...having it set up as above also makes upgrading the 2gb modules later on (if you wanted to) alot easier to do as you wont have to teardown the machine anywhere near as much to do it.

 

Yeah thats the way I had it when I first installed them, I was just making sure because I thought it was very odd that Dell had switched them too 4+2 in each dual dimm slots. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else, I don't plan to upgrade 12 was a bit excessive as is I don't ever get above half that even running 3 games at a time.