Is it the RAM?

[boojum]

Hi

I have the following rig

M\Board: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
CPU: E6600 2.4Ghz (reciently found the Speedstepping "off" Switch)
RAM: 2x1024GB Geil PC2-5300 (333Mhz)
Graphics: Nvidia 6800GT 256Mb.

Now clearly some components are getting a bit older in the years than others (such as the graphic's card) I decided to do a small upgrade as I was beginining to get memory low errors with some apps etc. I found som low mid range cost RAM (Super Talent DDR2800 PC6400 - 2x2GB) thinking that this would improve the system and with the extra ram capacity I'd remove the memory low errors. Mission accomplish Memory errors gone. Unfortunately I also play a few FPS and stratagy type games, now with the new RAM the games are unplayable - low Frame rates, jerky responses - I have had to resort to returning to the old RAM - resolving my problems.

I am not sure how to diagnose the problem. Is it the new RAM causing the issue? Or is it the tiring Graphic's card that is now unable to handle the data thrown at it from the CPU\RAM. Have I infact bought the wrong speed of ram (even though the M\Board says it takes it) thinking faster ram would be better?

Please help. I need to explain to the "financial controller" why "our" new purchase isn't being used ;-)

Cheers

 

[mindless728]

did you try using just the new memory and not mixing them

 

[boojum]

Hi

thanks for your reply. Yeah I should have siad that I never actually mixed them. Took out the old and only replace with the new.

Thanks

 

[xxbatman94xx]

Have you been getting the Blue screen?

Same thing happend to me :/ i had bought 2x2gb of ram from corsair and one of them happend to be defective :/ And it would seem normal till i startd playin games and all the colors would be distorted and then it would crash.

Along with random crashes

I suggest tryin to boot with one stick in and if it does the same thing try with the other stick.

If it still continues, then you can rule out one of the sticks being defective.

 

[boojum]

Great idea batman...never thought of that. Will give it ago tis evening and let you know how I get on.

 

[xxbatman94xx]

Ha i thought you were bein sarcastic I was likk mann that was harsh :O

Good luckk!

 

[boojum]

Situation update

Tried the RAM sticks individually and hey both work as expected without, no games lowing down etc. then thought I'd try again with both and strangly they work!

Following day, still ok, but left the PC runnign all day and cam back after a few hours and now the problem is there again, games have slowed and any video I play is at 2 fps

Reboot PC, all works again, but after watching some video, the next video starts the slow frame rate again...reboot pc, this time with a single stick and retest games, and multiple vid and all fine.

So...how to diagnose this one? Games and Vid slow up badly after a fashion....

Thoughts?

 

[xxbatman94xx]

Wow thats some strange behavior :/ Perhaps there overheating?

Try watching ur rig temps for a little bit.

If you have a little money lying around might i suggest tryin some memory fans or heatsinks
Haa it cools and displayss stuff :b
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835126004

More realistic :b
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119016

 

[boojum]

Thanks for the reply, appreciated.

I had thought about heat impacting on the RAM and it still could be a consideration. But to have the fault clear after a reboot sort of makes me think twice on this solution as the RAM doesn't get a cahnce to cool down. The RAM also comes with heat sinks included ( but I do like that Geil Cyclone )

Not sure if this theory makes any sense (a bit like the fault) but it is almost as if the RAM gets fulled up with data but never clears that data out when the tasks change.

The pondering continues.....

PS: While newegg have some fantastic products...I unfortunately live out of the US and have no US address.

 

[boojum]

Hi Guys

Thought I would provide an update to my post. the good news is that it all works!!

the bad news is that I had to fork out for a more upto date video card. It turns out that the 6900GT that I had didn't like 4GB or more of ram on board and even after GPU updates and attempting every tweak I could find I still had no joy. So I borrowed a newer model card, and tested that. Teh card was lower spec'd yet it performed no worse than the 6800GT and more to the point it worked!. I found myself a bit of cash for a low end gaming card (9600GT) and since then I have not had any issues.

Thanks for everybodys help.