Changing RAM memory stick, need input.

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Despot96

Despot96

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Sep 27, 2012
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I had RAM issue for about a month + now and i can't seem to understand it. I started having problems involving frequent BSOD when gaming. I have 1x4GB 1333Mhz ram stick which i used for 2 years now without any problems till the last month. When playing havier ram load games i get game crashes and some weird errors in games which then follow with BSOD and windows recovered from unexpected shutdown.

I then checked my system with BSOD viewer and i had two errors, both were kernel... and i knew something was serious so i reinstalled my system and deleted absolutely everything. New system worked the first day like charm, normal gaming feel was amazing once again.

The next day... same thing all over again but no errors in BSOD viewer this time. I talked with my friend and he told me how lucky i was that my ram lasted this long because i used single channel over 2x2GB dual channel. My build was mediocre since i didnt plan on playing on the highest setting in games. I bought 1x4GB so i could update in a future but i never did because i tought i was fine for a while now. Motherboard: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H61M-P20-G3.html#hero-specification

So now i have no idea if i should get 2x2GB or 1x4GB again. In my country there is no 2x2GB deals tho so i tought of getting x2 http://www.emmi.rs/ram-memorije-memorija-dimm-ddr3-2gb-1333mhz-corsair-value-cl9.11.html?productId=57043
or
http://www.emmi.rs/ram-memorije-memorija-dimm-ddr3-4gb-1600mhz-kingston-hyperx-fur.11.html?productId=42170 this one.

My question now is which option will work better for my system?(system is bellow the post).
I am mainly gaming on this system. If i get the 1x4GB stick i can upgrade in future but also i will not use its full 1600Mhz potential since my mobo only supports 1600Mhz for ivy bridge CPU's and mine is not. Also i have no idea when i will be upgrading again.. so thats that. Thanks for reading this long post.
 
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rhysiam

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I think you and your friend are confusing two different issues with RAM.

1) Not having enough RAM - 4GB is very tight for even light gaming -> this can cause significant performance issues, but is very unlikely to cause BSODs and shutdowns. Windows allocates a portion of your HDD or SSD to use as "virtual RAM", and will use it whenever your RAM needs exceed the amount of RAM you have. That slows thing down drastically, because your HDD is much, much slower than RAM, but generally speaking everything will keep working.
2) Having faulty RAM -> this absolutely can cause BSODs and all sorts of issues.

Adding a second 4GB DIMM would be a good upgrade option however, you need to figure out what's causing your BSODs first. OC reinstall makes a driver issue unlikely.

Here's two different ways to test the RAM you have: http://www.howtogeek.com/260813/how-to-test-your-computers-ram-for-problems/
I don't have experience with the Microsoft memory checker (option 1 in the how-to), but I can vouch for MemTest86 as being pretty reliable.

If that identifies memory issues then you need to throw the RAM you have in the bin and replace it.

If the RAM is fine, then we need to figure out what's causing the BSODs before you start spending money on additional RAM which is unlikely to solve the problem.
 
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Despot96

Despot96

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I was messing around with Windows Memory Diagnostic today, ran it few times and no errors. I am planning on putting my memory to test tonight with memtest86+. Once i check the results tomorrow i will report here.
Also should i be running more memtests or 1 is sufficient? Thanks for the quick reply, i was busy today so i didnt reply earlier.
 
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rhysiam

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Do you mean other types of memory tests? Or how many passes? One full pass will pick up most issues, but it's not a bad idea to let it run a few times just to be sure.

That memtest should pick up any issues, if it clears then you can be relatively confident that your RAM is okay. There are, of course, no guarantees, but at that point I'd be trusting your RAM and directing suspicion elsewhere.
 
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Despot96

Despot96

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Well i only ran Windows memory diagnostic 3 times and all of those times i had 0 errors. Also the memtest86+ results are here, and i am a bit shocked. Take a look Result
Now i have no damn clue what to expect anymore or even what to do. What should i test next, maybe hdd?
 
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rhysiam

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Maybe that's good because your RAM is okay... but frustrating because it means you haven't isolated the issue.

You haven't OC'd your graphics card have you?

So there's no clues whatsoever in your Event Viewer at the time of your BSOD? What's the error message on the BSOD? It should give you some suggestions about where to start looking.

Unless you have other components that you can swap in for a while, you need more information from the error message or BSOD pop-up, otherwise it's just guesswork.

Couple of other easy things to check are your HDD: a bunch of tools support this, I've had good success with HD Tune. Have a look at SMART data and then allow the full low-level drive scan to complete.
Always a good idea to monitor temperatures (HW monitor is a popular go-to for this). You would more likely see performance drops from throttling well before BSODs, but still worth checking.

But first step would be finding the BSOD errors in the event logs and start Googling your error messages.
 
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Despot96

Despot96

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I haven't OC'd anything in my system. Blue screen viewer had 2 errors and both were ntoskrnl.exe but i don't have those errors now just BSOD appears and i don't get any report back about what problem was. This ntoskrnl.exe appeared on my old windows but now i have reinstalled it. Also these were dump file reports i got https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxpxym1T9wcrS0dmc0d4bl93bWM

I have HW monitor and everything is stable, this is the report: http://textuploader.com/dsu6t

I will run HD Tune overnight to check it, and yea thats what usually happened "You would more likely see performance drops from throttling well before BSODs"
 
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