can i use different ram in the same system?

[anixon]

Is it bad to mix and match ram in a system? Ie using different brands/speeds? I know that for dual channel you need identical brands/speeds for each pair but can different pairs be unmatching? i was thinking of doing something like this.

channel one
1x256mb 3200blue mushkin
1x256mb 3000 OCZ

channel two
1x256mb 3200blue mushkin
1x256mb 3000 OCZ

As you can see the mushkin ram and the OCZ both have different speeds also they have different CAS, can i do this or will i be messed up? will i have a performance hit? (note: i'm only using a p42.53 533fsb, so dual channel 3000 is still enough bandwidth to cover the fsb)

Just wondering what the rules/tips for ram setups are. If someone could also outline suggestions for single channel setups regarding mix and match it would be much appreciated. Also, are there any adverse affects to running one set of dual channel, and then one stick single channel in the same system? whoa so much to consider when planning a ram stategy. :-s

 

[Monster00]

right now im using 2 different brands. My old setup used to be 3 sticks of PNY 256 each. 2 were PC2100 and 1 was 2700. It worked fine. Now i have a stick of kingston 2700 512 and a stick of PNY 2700 256. It works fine. When i had a problem once with my motherboard, ASUS wanted to know what brand of ram do u have. I said kingston and PNY. They said you should not mix the different brands becuase it may cause a problem in the future. But i think thats BS but i dunno. As for the channels, i dont know. I just use single channels.