Hardware Can I mix two brands of sodimm?

eriol33 · Aug 28, 2019

hi guys, I just bought a new laptop, and I am trying to upgrade the sodimm. Apparently the laptop is equipped with samsung's sodimm with the serial number of M471A1K43dB1 (8 gb/21300/2666 mhz) I have been trying to find an identical model in the market, but apparently this product is quite rare to find. Would it be safe if I mix a different brand with the same spec? Or should I just remove this sodimm and replace it with two new sodimm of same brand altogether?

ThoD · Aug 28, 2019

As long as they have the same timings, voltage and speeds, then it's perfectly fine to use two different brands as even if there are tiny performance drops, it won't be more than ~0.5% if it's dual channel, which is negligible, or no drops at all if two single channels.

eriol33 · Aug 28, 2019

ThoD said:
As long as they have the same timings, voltage and speeds, then it's perfectly fine to use two different brands as even if there are tiny performance drops, it won't be more than ~0.5% if it's dual channel, which is negligible, or no drops at all if two single channels.

thank you, but could you explain in a layman term, what is dual channel vs two single channels?

ThoD · Aug 28, 2019

eriol33 said:
thank you, but could you explain in a layman term, what is dual channel vs two single channels?

Here, for educational purposes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-channel_memory_architecture

Basically having two sticks of RAM instead of just one can theoretically (and mostly practically) double throughput. Anyways, it's not that important, just check the timings, voltage and speed for the SODIMMs and you are good to go even if different brands, don't sweat the complicated stuff if it's too much, no biggie.

rustinrj · Oct 3, 2019

I agree. The brand should not be a big issue as long as they have the same specs.

Kerii · Nov 12, 2019

I service a lot of laptops and have mixed brand SODIMMs all the time with zero problems. Brand usually isn't the problem, rather the individual modules and density will sometimes prevent booting depending on how picky the laptop is.