5 Things to Know About Mixing RAM Stick Sizes

Flex mode works with mixed capacities If your motherboard has four slots and supports it, you can use 4GB and 8GB sticks together. Each channel gets one 4GB and one 8GB stick for 12GB per channel total.

Dual-channel only applies to the matched portion The first 8GB per channel (the matched 4+4 pairs) runs in dual-channel mode. The remaining 4GB from each 8GB stick runs single-channel.

Performance is fine for most people The minor speed penalty from the single-channel portion is not worth losing sleep over. Most users won’t notice a difference.

Check your motherboard manual first Some budget boards or older CPUs do not support mixing capacities. Verify compatibility before installing.

A matched kit is cleaner but not required For the price of two 8GB sticks, you could buy a 2x8GB kit and sell your old 2x4GB for true dual-channel. But if you already have the sticks, plug them in and see.