Mixing and matching hardware

I've been in the process of slowly but surely upgrading my computer, which is a Dell I got about 4 years ago (read- "outdated"). Being a student with little to no money, and no job at the moment, I have limited funds and opportunities to upgrade.

Just recently, I upgraded the 256mb RAM up to a 512mb stick. I also upgraded my shitty GeForce MX400 to a more recent and affordable ATI Radeon 9200. To my horror, it didn't work with BF2, which I bought with the card. So, a newer video card upgrade has returned to my checklist. (The horrors of misinformed buying)

And now, I've got an old Windows ME that barely works. I figure I can strip it of parts and use them.

So, let's get down to the question at hand. Can I take parts from one brand, say a 512mb RAM stick from Kingston, and put it alongside a stick from Corsair? (This is of course, hypothetical, I'm not exactly sure which brand of memory is in my ME, just that it is 256.)

The general question, for hardware, is can I take one brand, and hook it up along with another, and have it all operate fine?

If so, I should be able to increase my RAM to about 750mb or so, and with the two hard drives combined, I should have about 60gb of space.

 

Yes you CAN run 2 sticks of different ram together.. BUT. If you run say.. high performance corsair with the value line of kingston, your ram is going to run at value speed, because the kingston cant run as fast as your corsair can.. Unless both corsair and kingston modules are the same timings... IE CAS 2 or 2-2-2-4

 

Alright, thanks. I'll be sure to let everyone know what I actually find under that case. I don't think I've peeked at it the entire time I've had it. (*gasp*)

 

Yea, then u might consider buying a can of compressed air or 2 and spray all the dust out of the inside... if it is dusty.