The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    mixed brand ram modules

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by semperfi, Oct 12, 2005.

  1. semperfi

    semperfi Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    For us newbies, is it ok to have different brand ram modules in the same machine? My Dell 9300 has 1 512K module and I would like to upgrade to 1 gig. Is it better to buy another Dell 512k module, or is it ok to use one of the other brands mentioned frequently in our forums to fill the other slot? The savings is $20-30 if I can....
     
    semperfi, Oct 12, 2005
    #1
  2. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    22,339
    Messages:
    36,639
    Likes Received:
    5,080
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Yes, you can mix manufacturers. However, there are a few things to consider. Since your notebook has dual-channel RAM, it will run in that mode when configured with two RAM modules with the same capacity (ex: 2x 512MB modules).

    Check out the timings on the module you have. CPU-Z is a good little program you can use to find out what they are. Get a module of RAM that is closest to the timings of the module already in your notebook. That ensures maximum system stability.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Oct 12, 2005
    #2