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What will happen if i use DDR3 and DDR2 RAM simultaneously on a single motherboard that suports both? Will the motherboard and Ram get damaged? Also, what will be the result of using DDR2 Ram in DDR3 slot and vice versa. Won't try such things though. Asking out of curiosity

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  • Please post your motherboard make/model. It totally depends on whether it supports mixed mode, populating DDR2 and DDR3 memory modules simultaneously. I doubt it would fry your ram as I would hope the mobo manufacturer would implement safeguards against this.
    – JohnyD
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 11:39
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    Your computer loses its mind.
    – Josh K
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 12:24
  • I do not believe this can be done. If someone thinks it can work then please post that MB's make & model. I looked at two boards from two different manufacturers and both contained warnings similiar to this: "You can only install either DDR2 module(s) or DDR3 module(s) on the motherboard; otherwise, the system will not boot up."
    – irrational John
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 13:25
  • @JoshK is that a real picture of the aftermath of installed mis-matched memory?
    – Paul C
    Commented Mar 9, 2012 at 16:41
  • @CodeBlend No. I have seen it with the following caption (reproduced verbatim): This is what happn when the soni battery go boom. It causes fire and computtttu goes in smoke. IT is bad thing. All batterio are affected. (picture here) Tat is teh end results on an apple microsft dell idell pro editon.
    – kinokijuf
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 8:39

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Its Simple - You cant.

The motherboard will refuse to power on at best, or fry the ram at worst.

What mobo supports both anyway ?

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    Not true. While they are rare, I have seen µATX boards that support mixed mode memory pairing.
    – JohnyD
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 11:42
  • Frankly, I agree with c10k you can't do this. If you think you know of board which will use DDR2 & DDR3 simultaneously then please post the make and model number so this can be verified.
    – irrational John
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 12:54
  • @irrationalJohn Asus P5KC and MSI P35 Platinum Combo among others. Both're P35 boards which had support for both ram types in the chipset. They were never common since only a handful of upgraders would have any use for them.
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    Commented Oct 10, 2011 at 3:30
  • The P5KC's specification says "Dual-channel DDR2 1066/800/667 MHz or DDR3 1333/1066/800". The manual says, "You can only install either DDR2 module(s) or DDR3 module(s) on the motherboard, otherwise, the system will not boot up." (Page 2-14)
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 7:28
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The slots are incompatible, so you can't put DDR2 Memory in a DDR3 Slot, or vice versa. If your MB support both, as some do, then you'll have to consult the MB Documentation to know if you can use both at the same time (most do, not all).

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I wouldn't recommend it, even if you have an uber special motherboard that will support mixed ram.

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  • These MBs aren't all that rare, but most people will want to just stick with one type anyway.
    – Chris S
    Commented Jun 2, 2010 at 12:29
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P5KC Asus motherboard has 6 ports (ram ports) and I have two DDR2 kingston 1GB and DDR3 kingston 1333btz 2GB :)) and its working exelent ,

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    Page 2-14 of the manual specifically says, "You can only install either DDR2 module(s) or DDR3 module(s) on the motherboard, otherwise, the system will not boot up."
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 7:31

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