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My motherboard has 4 slots (dual channel). I currently have 2x4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM and I want to add another 2x4GB sticks, also DDR3-1600 in order to get 16GB of RAM. The thing is, my current RAM has a CAS Latency of 8, with timing 8-8-8-24, and to get a similar kit with CAS Latency of 9, timing 9-9-9-24 would be significantly (almost twice) cheaper than getting the exact same RAM that I have now. Will I lose performance/stability with the CAS 9 RAM, or should I stick with another CAS 8 RAM? I'm also looking at a third kit, which has CAS Latency 7, timing 7-8-8-24, is that an option too? I don't understand how RAM works internally so I don't know what I can mix and match.

user2510822
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  • Typically memory timings will be always match the slowest module, so if you have a CAS 9 module, all modules will run at CAS 9. You should use the ones recommended for your motherboard though. You generally won't be able to notice much of a difference in RAM timings, if you are at CAS 8 now and it drops to CAS 9 with slower RAM you would probably not notice the difference and only benchmarks would actually see it. Note that if you mismatch RAM you could potentially cause the system to no longer run in Dual Channel mode, depending on your usage that might be slightly noticeable. – acejavelin Nov 27 '15 at 02:43
  • I've had a motherboard that would take the speed off the first chip--totally unstable if you had a slower chip in another slot. – Loren Pechtel Nov 27 '15 at 03:27

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