RAM sticks

[CaptainMattJ.]

Can buying the wrong one screw things up?
as in say you have DDR3 4GB Ram sticks already and you buy a DDr2 RAM stick or a RAM stick that runs at different Hertz speeds, would that screw up the computer?

[the_tyrant]

you cant plug ddr2 ram into a ddr3 slot

as for weather using slots with different speeds for ddr3
I'm pretty sure it a better idea to use the same speed for all your slots

[Sailor Steve]

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 all have different slots. If you have DDR3 in your computer a DDR2 stick won't even fit.

[JSLTIGER]

See the above posts. Also note that if you buy a stick of RAM that is slower than the others (which have to be of the same type) and put it in the machine, it will slow down the other RAM in the system so that they all run at the same (slower) speed.

[Gargamel]

Having used ot work in a computer shop many many years ago... I can attest that you CAN put the wrong thing in a slot. So yes, putting DDR3 in a DDR2 slot would be very very bad for the board and the stick.

Watched a kid plug in a 9 (15?) pin monitor cable upside down once. Fried the graphics card. I once plugged in a floppy drive the wrong way once (Slid the power cable one pin to the left), detonated the Power supply.

[CaptainMattJ.]

See the above posts. Also note that if you buy a stick of RAM that is slower than the others (which have to be of the same type) and put it in the machine, it will slow down the other RAM in the system so that they all run at the same (slower) speed.

so if i were to put in a 1600 Mhz 2 Gb RAM stick into a system using 2 1200 Mhz 2 Gb sticks, it wouldnt slow it down? only if i put a slower one then what i already have?

[Feuer Frei!]

Can buying the wrong one screw things up?
as in say you have DDR3 4GB Ram sticks already and you buy a DDr2 RAM stick or a RAM stick that runs at different Hertz speeds, would that screw up the computer?
Yes it would.
In general you want to get two identical sticks. Anything else and you are putting yourself at risk of system instability.



so if i were to put in a 1600 Mhz 2 Gb RAM stick into a system using 2 1200 Mhz 2 Gb sticks, it wouldnt slow it down? only if i put a slower one then what i already have?

If your original RAM is slow then the new RAM you add will run at the same speed as the original - if the motherboard supports significantly faster RAM it would almost certainly be worth replacing the old RAM. If you have a limited number of RAM slots you may have to bump the original RAM just to get the quantity of RAM you want in the PC. If the PC is dual-channel capable but you only have one RAM stick in there then a pair of upgrade sticks (one for each bank) would be best - do NOT put the original RAM back in a spare slot because then the system will revert to single channel mode.