Help on build

[ubuysa]

I suspect you may have a flaky RAM stick. One pass is very far from conclusive, flaky RAM can take many passes to locate.

Memtest86 free will do four passes only but you really do need to let it run for all four on each stick at a time. Ideally you need 8 or more passes for really obscure problems but even one single failure is confirmation of flaky RAM.

 

[woodyus]

I suspect you may have a flaky RAM stick. One pass is very far from conclusive, flaky RAM can take many passes to locate.

Memtest86 free will do four passes only but you really do need to let it run for all four on each stick at a time. Ideally you need 8 or more passes for really obscure problems but even one single failure is confirmation of flaky RAM.

OK I’ll wait for PCS to reply before doing anything further but you don’t think reseating could have fixed the problem then. Should I retest both sticks individually for the 8 runs?

If I ran it for that many runs and it still passed what would that mean?

In my initial testing at the weekend it failed consistently on each pass there was 61 errors in total.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Should I retest both sticks individually for the 8 runs?

Yes, definitely.

 

[woodyus]

The only thing I can think is that one or both of the DIMMS wasn't properly inserted and moving it put it in properly.

They wouldn't pass at all if there was a defect on the memory so once it's working it's very unlikely it would suddenly revert back to being a problem.

Yes the weird thing was it was showing the right amount of RAM in windows and on the original test can a stick be recognised but still not be in the Finn slot correctly?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yes the weird thing was it was showing the right amount of RAM in windows and on the original test can a stick be recognised but still not be in the Finn slot correctly?

I guess if only a couple of Pins aren't located properly, perhaps it would still read it.

 

[woodyus]

Thanks guys considering both your replies I will do the tests now and not wait for PCS’s response

 

[ubuysa]

OK I’ll wait for PCS to reply before doing anything further but you don’t think reseating could have fixed the problem then. Should I retest both sticks individually for the 8 runs?

If I ran it for that many runs and it still passed what would that mean?

In my initial testing at the weekend it failed consistently on each pass there was 61 errors in total.

If you're using the free version of Memtest86 it only does 4 iterations if the tests, the paid for version will do up to 15. You need as many iterations as you can get, so run it for as many iterations as you can on each stick individually.

If you get even a single error the stick is faulty but passing all tests doesn't prove its OK though it probably is.

It might be the connector but I doubt it.

 

[woodyus]

Thanks again, I’ve started the test going again on the first stick. I will let you know how I go.

 

[woodyus]

Just thought I'd give a quick update on this as I have thoroughly tested the first stick now running it through 3 full cycles (ie 12 passes)

This showed that on each cycle there was a growing number of errors.

Cycle 1 - 1 Error
Cycle 2 - 3 Errors
Cycle 3 - 5 Errors

All the errors were reported in the 'Hammer test'

Is this sufficient to say that stick is faulty? I have just started the same process with the second stick now (only 11 hours ish for that one to go!)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just thought I'd give a quick update on this as I have thoroughly tested the first stick now running it through 3 full cycles (ie 12 passes)

This showed that on each cycle there was a growing number of errors.

Cycle 1 - 1 Error
Cycle 2 - 3 Errors
Cycle 3 - 5 Errors

All the errors were reported in the 'Hammer test'

Is this sufficient to say that stick is faulty? I have just started the same process with the second stick now (only 11 hours ish for that one to go!)

I would say that’s conclusively faulty.

 

[ubuysa]

I would say that’s conclusively faulty.

I agree, that is a definite and unambiguous fail. Print or photograph the results screen if it's not too late and show it to PCS. You might want to point them to this thread too.

Do let us know how the other stick goes.

 

[woodyus]

Thanks both, I have just finished testing the second stick. I did the same tests which thankfully all 12 gave 0 errors so I am pretty sure that one is OK.

I will call PCS in the morning to try and get a replacement for the faulty stick.

I saved the html files at the end of each test so I have the output for both the original tests that failed when both sticks were in the machine and the second lot earlier so I can send these over if they require them hopefully that wont be needed though.

Thank you both for all your help with this.

Last question if they do agree to send a replacement should I be mega paranoid and test that before using it or are the chances of getting another faulty stick sufficiently low I should just start using it?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks both, I have just finished testing the second stick. I did the same tests which thankfully all 12 gave 0 errors so I am pretty sure that one is OK.

I will call PCS in the morning to try and get a replacement for the faulty stick.

I saved the html files at the end of each test so I have the output for both the original tests that failed when both sticks were in the machine and the second lot earlier so I can send these over if they require them hopefully that wont be needed though.

Thank you both for all your help with this.

Last question if they do agree to send a replacement should I be mega paranoid and test that before using it or are the chances of getting another faulty stick sufficiently low I should just start using it?

RAM will usually come in a matched pair, and you definitely want a matched pair rather than 2 singles. I would ask for them both to be replaced with a pair.

 

[woodyus]

RAM will usually come in a matched pair, and you definitely want a matched pair rather than 2 singles. I would ask for them both to be replaced with a pair.

Do you think they will do that though if one is working? If that was an option wouldn't it have been easier to replace them both without me doing this testing to see which was faulty?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Do you think they will do that though if one is working? If that was an option wouldn't it have been easier to replace them both without me doing this testing to see which was faulty?

Like I say, you can buy single sticks of RAM, but as it’s dual channel RAM, it actually has better performance when it’s a matched pair, so for most enthusiast builds, you’d always buy matched.

 

[woodyus]

Like I say, you can buy single sticks of RAM, but as it’s dual channel RAM, it actually has better performance when it’s a matched pair, so for most enthusiast builds, you’d always buy matched.

OK, I will ask them. I am a little perplexed about the testing I've done in the past 2 days though to be honest as the initial test showed that there was a memory error this additional stuff was just to specify which stick was at fault and I was asked to do it by PCS. If I had known it's preferable to swap both I could have just asked that at the time

Thanks for your help on this again but I am a complete novice when it comes to hardware so I am just going on the advice given by here and PCS. I just want a fully working system. Hopefully they are happy to send out a pair. My question from before still stands though regardless of what is sent out should I just start using it or be paranoid and test any replacements that are sent before using them?

 

[SpyderTracks]

OK, I will ask them. I am a little perplexed about the testing I've done in the past 2 days though to be honest as the initial test showed that there was a memory error this additional stuff was just to specify which stick was at fault and I was asked to do it by PCS. If I had known it's preferable to swap both I could have just asked that at the time

Thanks for your help on this again but I am a complete novice when it comes to hardware so I am just going on the advice given by here and PCS. I just want a fully working system. Hopefully they are happy to send out a pair. My question from before still stands though regardless of what is sent out should I just start using it or be paranoid and test any replacements that are sent before using them?

It’s always worth doing a pass with memtest on new RAM, just to be sure.

 

[ubuysa]

I don't know what PCS's policy is when replacing a faulty RAM stick. They know as well as we do that they need to be matched pairs, however given their stock levels they may well have a matched stick they can ship to you.

CPU-Z will show you at top right on the memory tab whether your RAM is running dual channel. If it says 'dual' you're fine, if it says 'single' then the sticks are not matched.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[woodyus]

I don't know what PCS's policy is when replacing a faulty RAM stick. They know as well as we do that they need to be matched pairs, however given their stock levels they may well have a matched stick they can ship to you.

CPU-Z will show you at top right on the memory tab whether your RAM is running dual channel. If it says 'dual' you're fine, if it says 'single' then the sticks are not matched.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

What sort of performance impact is there from not running in dual channel mode?

Thanks again for the help, I'm phoning as soon as they open. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[SpyderTracks]

What sort of performance impact is there from not running in dual channel mode?

Thanks again for the help, I'm phoning as soon as they open. I'll let you know how I get on.

RAM Performance Benchmark: Single-Channel vs. Dual-Channel - Does It Matter?

In this benchmark, we'll look at dual-channel vs. single-channel platform performance for Adobe Premiere, gaming, video encoding, transcoding, number crunching, and daily use. The aim is to debunk or confirm a few myths about computer memory. - P3: RAM Performance Single- vs. Dual-Channel...

www.gamersnexus.net

It’s actually not such a major concern, it’s only in some quite niche usage it makes a big difference.