Need 2nd opinion on RAM problem

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

CYB_3-1327822

Honorable
May 27, 2013
25
0
10,530
Hi all,

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Bought the above sticks real cheap used, and strongly considering one of the two has problems, to the point where I am thinking I should return them both.

Would really like an experts opinion here in this community since I am a PC novice here.


So the quick question is - if one of the two sticks causes the motherboard power to cycle on and off regularly in single RAM use without ever reaching the os desktop, and the other stick boots thru to desktop just fine by itself, then the RAM is obviously the problem here right, not any other pc part right??

Just would like a confirmation here is all

Also, is there any way to salvage/repair the RAM stick in question, or better just to return it for a refund and move on?

Thanks all for all time and help!
 
Solution
D
Sort by date Sort by votes
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest
If it will not boot with the stick in the slot you are not going to get far enough to run Memtest. Have you tried a different RAM slot? If it does the same thing with the same stick in any slot then it's a bad stick for sure.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

firemedictj

Honorable
Jun 18, 2013
52
0
10,630
Recommendation buy a new set of ram, comes with a lifetime warranty.... Yes RMA is a hassle but its effectively free. Corsairs is non transferable so you should return yours to the person you got them from. BTW I think G.skill's warranty is transferable meaning buying used RAM is no big deal.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CYB_3-1327822

Honorable
May 27, 2013
25
0
10,530


Apologies - been out of town. Just no tried the bad RAM stick, by itself, in all four mem slots in turn and no dice at all. Tried the working RAM stick, again same exact brand, and works in all four slots. Sounds pretty sure I need to refund these bad boys eh?

Thanks for all the help guys.

Motherboard is a Asrock z87 Extreme7 running Haswell i5 4670k. But as mentioned here, if one stick works on all four DIMM slots, and the other does not, does sound like I need to get replacements. And though I had considered updating BIOS as an immediate option, but was told if updating BIOS for this reason could potentially bring other problems into mix, considering its most likely hardware related here not software.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest
Yep I would say that's pretty sure evidence you have a bad stick. Now updating BIOS is not a bad idea to try before you RMA the RAM. Many BIOS updates do nothing but add memory support and this is especially true with new chipsets like the Z87 is. BIOS updates are for hardware not software. BIOS is just the hardware interface without needing an OS. So make your you have the latest BIOS and then try the sticks again in each slot. If it still will not work the RMA the RAM.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
Don't know who told that about BIOS updates, but the BIOS is ALL about hardware, not software...The OS is all about software...it does sound like a bad stick, I'll admit, but a BIOS update won't hurt anything, ESPECIALLY HERE if they have an update out already, thi is a brand new socket, the mobos obviously had problems at the release....this is why I alwasys wait a couple months or so before building a personal rig on new sockets and chipsets - remember the P67/1155/Sandy Bridge those came out and all sales were cut off when the found a problem with the SATA controller that REQUIRED replacement of the chip
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CYB_3-1327822

Honorable
May 27, 2013
25
0
10,530


New question, along the same lines as the first one in the post,

So you or anyone else here recommmend I buy one more stick of Crucial Ballistix Sport 8gb (seems overkill), to go along with the one I have and or sell it and get G.Skill 2x4gb sticks for dual channel?

ballistix specs:
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 9-9-9-24
Cas Latency 9
Voltage 1.35V <--- does this matter that its not 1.5v if I may slightly overclock CPU in the future?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CYB_3-1327822

Honorable
May 27, 2013
25
0
10,530



Got it, so I should update BIOS then regardless. Novice system builder here... thanks for the helpful advice.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
Yep GSkill is the life of the stick...period, if it goes bad, it's replaced. The one option of just getting a 2x 4GB set sounds interesting, which would result in 8GB....but... put those two sticks in A1 and A2 and the 8GB in B1 - results in 8GB per channel and could run in dual channel, not what I'd call ideal, but works fine if they'll play together, have done it a number of times, if for no other reason than to get a client through until a stick is RMAed
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest


^ That is incorrect. You need matched sticks in each channel for dual channel to work. 2 x 4GB and 1 x 8GB will not result in dual channel mode. 2x 4GB and 2 x8GB would. The loss in performance between single channel and dual channel is relatively small but 5-7% is still 5-7%.

Even though the GSkill warranty is transferable you still need a copy of the original receipt.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
Maybe with DDR, DDR2 and early DDR3 and mobos. But I'd have to say you are incorrect, I've done this many times, and it is in many mobo manuals the MC's in 2nd Gen 3rd and 4th CPUS look to each channel if one has 4 GB in the two slots and the other has 8GB in the 2 slots it will run the matching 4 as dual channel and the odd 4 as single channel, so populate A1-A2 with 8GB and B1 with 8GB the MC sees 8 in both and runs all 16GB in dual.

I work the forums over at GSkill as a Volunteer Admin and am touch with their techs and FEs every week, I have never seen them turn down a RMA for a failed stick, nor demand a receipt and I know many go to them saying I bought this from a friend or I got this second hand....So please don't talk unless you know what yopu are talking about
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CYB_3-1327822

Honorable
May 27, 2013
25
0
10,530


So just to be clear, and so I am educated, I should NOT just run the single 8gb ballistix RM by itself for long, while gaming a little now? If I return the 2x4gb sticks, I still have to buy and wait for new RAM to be sent.

Asking cuz PC seems to be working so far just one stick, and dont fully understand dual channel yet. Have even read dual channel same brand and model is best...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
Your rig will run fine on a single stick, it runs in single channel mode which can be up to 10-15% slower than it would in dual channel, but some are perfectly happy in single channel...Real short here

Single channel operates the single stick here as a 64bit device, when another stick goes in th other channel the the CPU looks at both sticks as a single entity and operates the two together as a single 128 bit device (which sounds like it should run twice as fast, but the reality of the overhead and other factors provide up to a 15% increase performance wise ( about half that in an AMD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest


If you work as a volunteer on a memory forum then it's you who should learn the basics. Dual channel mode works in pairs ( hence the "dual" ). Those pairs do not need to be the same size so 2 x 4GB and 2 x 1GB is fine or 2 x 2GB and even 2 x 8GB. But there must be matched pairs populating each channel. This is true for LGA 1366 and triple channel needing 3 sticks per channel and true as well for quad channel in LGA 2011 needing 4 matched sticks per channel.

This is nothing new and has been true since dual channel architecture as first introduced. I suggest you do some research before telling someone else they don't know what they are talking about. It just makes you look like a fool. A 10 second google search will confirm who is correct and who is not. :vip:

As to needing the original receipt I found that information on the GSkill forums.

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=5019

I assume here you know more than that administrator.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest


Dual channel doubles potential bandwidth. In the real world that translates to a 5-7% performance gain. As I stated before to run in dual channel you need matched sticks in each channel to enable dual channel. Now if you need more RAM more than the small performance boost given by dual channel then it's fine to run an odd stick. All you lose is 5-7%. So if you only had 2 x 1GB sticks in a modern system where 4GB should be the minimum it would be more advantageous to your system to add a single 2GB stick to get up to 4GB than to worry about a small performance loss.

As a modern gaming computer is at the sweet spot with 8GB there is no need to add an oddball stick and lose performance. Now if Photoshop or video encoding or rendering were your main uses and all you had was 2 x 4GB and a single 8GB stick them you are better off adding all the RAM and taking the small performance hit.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
D

Deleted member 217926

Guest


Once again the performance hit is no where near 10-15%. It is 5-7% and generally closer to 5%. Once again a 10 second google search......

but some are perfectly happy in single channel
Click to expand...

Yes some very cheap laptops only include single channel architecture. This does not apply to the OP.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
40
126,960
And the performance is based on all the articles and BMs you've read about, I deal in real world and have been for a long time, you ought to really read articles by some of these people, you'll pick up on all kinds of interest things, some of them critisize sets of DRAM for 'loading the wrong XMP settings into the BIOS' the DRAM supplies the info and does so correctly, the BIOS has to implement that info and in many cases does so very poorly - about 50-75% or more of most all BIOS updates are dealing with DRAM, Or people talking about testing part of a set of DRAM say half of a 64GB set or 32GB of the set and saying the tested under XMP, XMP is programmed by the set, so a 64GB set's XMP settings will have a higher tRFC in the advance timings than a 32 GB set, which with the higher tRFC and not a full set of 64 reduces performance, I could go on and on, all not to mention it's a benchmark and won't take full advantage of the bandwidth that a multi tasker will take with multiple apps, windows etc. the more you have flowing, the more cores that are running, the better the DRAM performs...

also I was referring to users running in single channel mode, many are perfectly happy
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom