Memory Compatibility

Here are the CPU-Z screenshots:

You can mix brands of RAM so long as they have identical specifications and they are both supported by your motherboard (definitely do check the motherboard’s compatibility list). And what I mean by identical specifications is that they have the same voltage, CAS latency and timings. As long as all of those things are true, you should not encounter problems mixing RAM brands (although, unfortunately, it is a fact that some RAM does not like each other - not unlike how some motherboards just doesn't like certain RAM - and so there are no guarantees that even if the specifications both match, that they will work well or at all together). And as previously mentioned, this is also providing that these are in fact two kits of RAM as in dual-channel and not single-channel DIMMs (which would be the stick sold by itself and which is not a dual-channel DIMM, even if it is paired with another). People do this all of the time without encountering problems, but that is again providing the aforementioned is true.

Generally, kits with different speeds are a non-issue as the faster kit will most often be downclocked to match the slower automatically (occasionally you have to do that manually). That is the only specification of two different kits which does not have to match for them to work together (although apparently capacities can also be mixed sometimes as well). But then, of course, there's always OC. Theoretically, you could OC the slower to match the faster.

Ultimately it really is best and far less of a hassle to just get the exact same and brand dual-channel kits and call it a day.

Thanks all for your help - I'll try setting the RAM settings later on when I'm back home and I'll report back to you the results :)

I couldn't get it working - I swapped out the Corsair RAM for 1 stick of 8GB from another machine, and so far no problems so think I'll just stick with that for the time being