I just received my framework laptop today. I got the i5 non-DIY edition in the base configuration.
It came with 1x8 GB of ram, an SK Hynix stick. Is it okay to mismatch ram manufacturers to add a second 8 gb stick? The specific ram it came with is: SK Hynix HMA81GS6DJR8N-XN
My local store has: G. Skill F4-3200C22S-8GRS
It appears the speed and CAS latency are the same between these modules, will they work together?
While you certainly can, you really shouldn’t, especially between manufacturers. It can be alright in a pinch if you have extra ram sticks lying around that may be mismatched… but if you’re going out and buying ram anyways you should really just bite the bullet and get matching ram sticks
LTT has a pretty good video about mixing RAM (though ignore everything about overclocking, as this is not applicable):
If you do decide to mix and match, just be sure to download CPU-Z or HWINFO and double check that it’s running with the correct frequency and subtimings.
Edit: I just learned that you can also check this on Linux with decode-dimms. On Ubuntu, you can install it with sudo apt install i2c-tools.
Question along the lines…
How much of a performance downgrade there is when using 1 stick of 32GB RAM versus using 2x16GB?
And would more than 32GB be necessary in a long run (5+ years)?
Trying to think ahead if should be running 1x32GB from the beginning, with the option to add another stick later for 64. OR needing to get rid of the the 2x16GB sticks in order to upgrade to 2x32GB.
You’d only expect a decrease in performance while memory bandwidth is bottlenecking the system. Gaming generally doesn’t saturate the memory bus, but other workloads might, like heavy rendering. This depends on a variety of factors, so you may want to search for benchmarks. Keep in mind that, for a laptop with integrated graphics, RAM is being shared by the CPU and GPU, so memory bandwidth is more valuable.
It’s hard to say what any person might need in 5 years. Who knows what you’ll be doing, and some folks use 64GB today.
By the time you actually need >32 GB, is it possible that you’ll also want to upgrade to a newer generation of CPU? If so, you will likely be upgrading your memory to DDR5.