Gigabyte AX370-GAMING K7 and mismatched RAM speeds

MortyA

I refreshed my desktop setup a few years ago to the following:
Motherboard: Gigabyte AX370-GAMING K7 $150
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1300X $120
RAM: 32GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x16GB DDR4-2400 $265

I'm looking to add another 32GB of RAM.  But I can't find DDR4-2400 in the inventory of my local Microcenters, only faster speeds.  I could really use more RAM, and would rather not have to upgrade the older 32GB unless it's necessary.  The motherboard manual "recommends" that the RAM all match.  Does this really matter, or will I just not see the speed benefits of the faster RAM?

I've violated these sorts of recommendations before, and the system usually works fine anyway.  But not always.  So it would be nice to know ahead of time if this is a bad idea.

Also looking to upgrade my video card.  But that seems more straightforward.

FYI, my local Microcenters are Parkville, MD and Rockville, MD.

JS_MC

Hello @MortyA

I can't say that I'd recommend mismatching speeds, however, should you add a higher speed RAM set to your system, it will typically downclock to match the lowest speed in the system. The system will always be capped to the lowest RAM clock in the system.

However, if they all match in speed and timings, you'll typically have better performance. Mismatched RAM can lead to other system errors that would harm the performance of your system. In some cases causing your system to crash or hard reset.

You're mostly correct about the GPU! Just make sure that you've uninstalled the old GPU drivers before you add the new card. A fresh GPU install with cleanly installed drivers is always recommended.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns!