[puglet]

I have a Dell Studio XPS (i7, 860) with 8gb ram (4x2gb) upgradable to 16. I tried to upgrade by adding 8gb of this new ram (2x4gb) to 4gb of the stock ram (2x2gb).

I matched the type (DDR3, 8500) but my system is clearly not happy with the change. Twitchy, stalls, seems generally unstable. Remove the new RAM, things return to normal.

Hate to just dump the 8gb I already have... is mixing + matching a bad idea? Is there anything I can do (besides send the new RAM back)?

Sorry if this is a dumb Q, but this is my first attempt at anything hardware-related.

[Advertisements]

is mixing + matching a bad idea?

May be. It depends on what your motherboard supports. You need to determine your exact and full model number, or use the service tag number and visit the Dell website for your computer. There you should find a list of compatible RAM.

Note too that many factory built computers come supplied with a power supply that is barely adequate to support the hardware it came with. Adding more hardware may require a bigger PSU.

[Digerati]

is mixing + matching a bad idea?

May be. It depends on what your motherboard supports. You need to determine your exact and full model number, or use the service tag number and visit the Dell website for your computer. There you should find a list of compatible RAM.

Note too that many factory built computers come supplied with a power supply that is barely adequate to support the hardware it came with. Adding more hardware may require a bigger PSU.

[puglet]

Thanks -- the Dell site "couldn't complete my request" using the service tag, but kindly suggested I try again later. Of course.

I'll see if I can figure out the motherboard/PSU somehow. Never again am I buying off the shelf. What a pain!