AN515-52 RAM upgrade

Hello everyone. I have nitro 5 laptop which came with an 8gb RAM with frequency 2666Mhz and CL timings of 19-19-19-43. I know this question is pretty common and has been answered a lot of times. But i still want to know whether mixing and matching RAMs of different brands is still something to not be considered at all. I'm thinking of purchasing a new RAM and i have 2 options: https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Single-PC4-21300-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B06XC5BVJV/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1542878807&sr=8-7&keywords=ddr4%2Bsodimm%2B2666&th=1 or https//www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-21300-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B071KNKBQ1/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542885924&sr=8-3&keywords=ddr4%2Bsodimm%2B2666&th=1 Ballistix has cl value of 16 while crucial has 19 which matches with my current RAM. Can you guys please suggest which one is less susceptible to errors? Also, does the BIOS automatically match the timings and make it run in a dual channel? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Accepted answers

Commodore_1995#

You can add brands of different rams memories, as long as they both have similar characteristics, such as identical speed, size and CL for the dual channel to be activated! This model supports a maximum of 32GB of RAM, see:

Commodore_1995#

The crucial memory possesses casency latency 16, see: https://eu.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/pdf/product-flyer/ballistix-sport-lt-ddr4-sodimm-productflyer-letter-region-na-en.pdf

The crucial memory speed starts at 2400 mt / s with cl 18: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls8g4s26bfsdk

However the speed varies depending on the cas latency!

The micron memory has cas latency 19 and the speed starts at 1333 in cl 10 and goes up to 2666 in cl 20/19, see: https://br.mouser.com/datasheet/2/671/atf8c1gx64hz-1284579.pdf

As both have to work at the same speed and cas latency, and because the micron memory possesses casency latency 20 and 18 and the memory crucil have cas latency 16 and 18, both will have to work on cas latency from 18 to 2400 mhz!

I hope you have understood and confirm the information using aida64!

All comments

Commodore_1995#

You can add brands of different rams memories, as long as they both have similar characteristics, such as identical speed, size and CL for the dual channel to be activated! This model supports a maximum of 32GB of RAM, see:

magnetoeric

egydiocoelho said:

You can add brands of different rams memories, as long as they both have similar characteristics, such as identical speed, size and CL for the dual channel to be activated! This model supports a maximum of 32GB of RAM, see:

Thank you for the fast respone. Does that mean the RAM with CL 16 doesn't work on dual channel?

Commodore_1995#

I can not tell you if in this case the dual channel will work! What I know is that memories rams with different latency cas, will run at the slower speed! For example: cas latency 16, it takes 16 pulses per second to deliver a die while memory with cas latency 19, it takes 19 pulses per second to deliver a die and so is considered slower! When you connect memories rams with different latency cas, both will work at the lowest speed, which in your case would be the latency 19 cas! I hope you have understood!

magnetoeric

Thanks for the explanation. I guess i'll have to test it manually if i'm going for a different brand instead of buying a kit.

Commodore_1995#

Great! Post the result here:

magnetoeric

egydiocoelho said:

Great! Post the result here:

Hey there. Sorry for quoting you in an old post. I bought the ballistix RAM from the above link and i had no trouble running it in dual channel. But somehow, the CPU-Z software is reporting the current speed as 1200 instead of 1333 and the cl value as 18. But in task manager, it is showing the speed as 2667mhz. Can you please look at my screenshots and tell me at what speed and latency is my RAM currently running at? I was under the impression that the system should run at the highest speed and the highest latency between two RAMs in a dual channel

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Commodore_1995#

The crucial memory possesses casency latency 16, see: https://eu.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/pdf/product-flyer/ballistix-sport-lt-ddr4-sodimm-productflyer-letter-region-na-en.pdf

The crucial memory speed starts at 2400 mt / s with cl 18: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls8g4s26bfsdk

However the speed varies depending on the cas latency!

The micron memory has cas latency 19 and the speed starts at 1333 in cl 10 and goes up to 2666 in cl 20/19, see: https://br.mouser.com/datasheet/2/671/atf8c1gx64hz-1284579.pdf

As both have to work at the same speed and cas latency, and because the micron memory possesses casency latency 20 and 18 and the memory crucil have cas latency 16 and 18, both will have to work on cas latency from 18 to 2400 mhz!

I hope you have understood and confirm the information using aida64!

magnetoeric

egydiocoelho said:

The crucial memory possesses casency latency 16, see: https://eu.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/pdf/product-flyer/ballistix-sport-lt-ddr4-sodimm-productflyer-letter-region-na-en.pdf
The crucial memory speed starts at 2400 mt / s with cl 18: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls8g4s26bfsdk
However the speed varies depending on the cas latency!

The micron memory has cas latency 19 and the speed starts at 1333 in cl 10 and goes up to 2666 in cl 20/19, see: https://br.mouser.com/datasheet/2/671/atf8c1gx64hz-1284579.pdf
As both have to work at the same speed and cas latency, and because the micron memory possesses casency latency 20 and 18 and the memory crucil have cas latency 16 and 18, both will have to work on cas latency from 18 to 2400 mhz!
I hope you have understood and confirm the information using aida64!

Thank you for the detailed information. I have just now installed aida64 and took some screencaps of the timings. Can you please check them?
I thought since the new RAM supports XMP profile, it would run at the maximum speed and with the latency similar to the old RAM. I didn't know that the frequency and the latency of both the RAMs must match inorder to run in dual channel

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Commodore_1995#

Exactly! The memory you bought has the cl = 16 and therefore takes 16 pulses per second to transmit one die to 2666 mhz while the other memory that has cl = 19 transmits one die every 19 pulses per second to 2666mhz!

magnetoeric

egydiocoelho said:

Exactly! The memory you bought has the cl = 16 and therefore takes 16 pulses per second to transmit one die to 2666 mhz while the other memory that has cl = 19 transmits one die every 19 pulses per second to 2666mhz!

I see. Well, atleast it is working fine in a dual channel as opposed to the common belief regarding mixmatching different RAMs and how they're not usually recommended

Thank you once again for your time

Commodore_1995#

Accept my other answers too if I have helped you

DARKSTAR

Hello, so pretty much if he decided to use another Ballistix RAM 2666mhz at the same CL speed instead of mixing different brands/CL speeds, he'll get the advertised speed and etc?

DARKSTAR

I know this is an old post but hopefully one of smart peeps will help. 😊

JordanB

DARKSTAR said:

Hello, so pretty much if he decided to use another Ballistix RAM 2666mhz at the same CL speed instead of mixing different brands/CL speeds, he'll get the advertised speed and etc?

The OP made the mistake of purchasing XMP 2666 ram. His computer doesn't support XMP profiles. The ram he purchased didn't support JEDEC 2666, so the memory clocked down to JEDEC 2400. The OP thought he would make his computer faster, but he ended up making it slower.

Don't try to over think it. Just use the Crucial system scanner. Or use the Kingston memory finder. To play it safe, don't buy anything that says "super" "ballistic" "hyper" "dominator" "vengeance" "nuclear" "destroyer" "obliterator" "viper" "ripper" "tactical" or any of those fancy marketing terms. Those fancy terms are often an indicator of XMP (which your computer doesn't support). Just get the plain jane stuff. The plain jane stuff is almost always JEDEC at the highest advertised speed....and it's usually less expensive (bonus!).

https://www.crucial.com/

https://www.kingston.com/us/memory/search/Options