Bad stick of TWINX1024-3200XLPRO?

[Jabbah]

Hi all, having some problems with one of my sticks of ram, any advice would be aprieciated. TIA, Jabbah.

 

System:

 

MSI Neo Platinum

Athlon64 3400+

TWINX1024-3200XLPRO

GF4 4600

2 x Maxtor HDD

Sony DVDRW

 

Problem:

 

I experienced a couple of crashes and managed to track the problem down to the memory. With everything set to auto the memory is set to 2-2-2-5 (1T) @2.7v. SuperPi and prime95 displayed errors quite quickly. Running memtest gave many errors. I tried both sticks seperately, one ran perfectly at 2-2-2-5 (1T) @ 2.7v the other gave many errors under memtest. Upping the voltage to 2.75/2.8v did not solve the problem and the timings had to be raised to 2-3-2-11 (2T) @ 2.8v before the ram would run without error. All other performance options were disabled.

 

Now happy as I am to get the machine running at stable settings, the performance hit in SuperPi and prime95 is close to 10% :bigeyes:

 

These are meant to be matched pairs so I would have thought they should be of similar quality and performance. Having to run relaxed settings and 2.8v at ddr400 does not bode well for any overclocking I may wish to do in the future either.

 

Is there anything else to try or should I request an RMA?

[Yellowbeard]

It sounds as if you have been thorough. I'd suggest an RMA. Post in the warranty section with a link to this post or just call the number and get it by phone if you choose to RMA with Corsair. Or go thru your vendor, whatever floats yer boat. Also, since it was a TwinX set, RMA both sticks so that you get a matched pair in return.

 

Mike.

[Jabbah]

Thanks Mike, any idea how long an RMA round trip would take from the UK? Vendors return time limit of 28 days has been exceeded unfortunately :(

[Yellowbeard]

Absolutely no idea although I imagine it will be primarily determined on how much you are willing to spend on shipping. Continental US east coast to west coast for me was 8 days total using normal US Mail. So, apparently the internal process at Corsair is pretty quick.

 

Since you are in the UK, you "might" have better/faster service with your vendor there if that is an option. If not, you might want to check with Corsair to get all of the particulars.

 

Good luck, Mike.

[RAM GUY]

Please make sure you have the latest BIOS installed in your MB and load optimized/optimal default settings, and try the following BIOS settings;

Advanced Chipset:

Memclock Mode: Manual (400)

Bank Interleaving: 4/Enabled

Burst Length: 4

SDRAM CAS Latency: 2T

SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T

SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 5T

SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 2T

Frequency Voltage Control:

Spread Spectrum: Enabled

CPU FSB Clock: 200

DDR Voltage: 2.75 Volts

AGP Voltage: Default *unless you have ATI (9200 or 9600) or NVIDIA (5200 or 5700) then 1.6 Volts suggested!*

All other settings should be set to default settings!

Then please test them one at a time with http://www.memtest.org and let’s make sure it's not some other issue! I would run the test for at least 2-3 passes to be sure!

[Jabbah]

Thanks for the input RAM Guy.

 

I have tried BIOS versions 1.1 & 1.3 release and 1.5b6 beta. With all BIOS versions I get the same problems. As I said in my first post both dimms have been tried seperately, 1 stick runs at 2-2-2-5-1T @ 2.7v DDR400 with no errors, the other will only run error free at 2-3-2-11-2T @ 2.8v DDR400. Memtest was run for aprx 25 passes (overnight) at each setting to test for errors.

 

I suppose the real question is, as one stick is capable of the 2-2-2-5 timings and the other is not, can I RMA the memory pair and have it replaced with two sticks capable of the 2-2-2-5 timmings?

 

Cheers

 

Jabbah

[RAM GUY]

Please follow the link in my signature “I think I have a bad part!” and we will be happy to replace them or it!