Rivergoat Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 OK, new to this forum. Here's the scoop. Last April I had to build a new box as my old ASUS board simply gave out. I got some new components, including a new ASUS board (don't ask me to remember the model now...bear with me), and the above mentioned DDR3. I had multiple issues with ASUS causing 5 mobos over 4 separate RMAs. When I went through the last debacle (one DIMM slot failed, and on-board sound failed) I gave up (forever) on ASUS, selling the returned RMA board cheaply to a local party, and went with the Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H (that board just had to be RMA'ed as well due to a failing PCIe x16 slot, but the replacement board has been fine so far). With the Gigabyte board I could never make the DDR3 run stable at 1600MHz; if I set XMP profile, the system would recognize 1600, but whether 5 minutes or 5 hours it would most certainly freeze up and eventually restart itself. I tried various timing tweaks (OK, I may not know them all...), but nothing helped. It ran OK at a standard 1.5v and 1333MHz, although after I changed mobos due to the above mentioned PCIe failure, I had a couple of immediate shut downs on boot (I know CPU had sufficient thermal stuff on it), and then started working OK...so it seemed. After 2.5 hours the system rebooted itself (this was with no XMP profile enabled). Having become overly tired of all this mess (for months) and various RMAs, I opted to put in Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1333C9 instead. I've an i5 2500/Sandy Bridge. Corsair says this RAM was designed for the Sandy, so what the heck. So far, rock stable. Hoping it stays that way. I'm not gaming, overclocking is not a major concern to me, I doubt I could see the 1600 difference anyway on such RAM. So......despite running MemTest with no errors, could the original 1600 have been unstable, or just didn't get the right set of tweaks? I'm more curious than anything, as with the 1333 installed, if everything remains stable, I'm good with it. Just thought I'd throw it out there. My full system config is in my profile, but you're welcome to ask about any specific configs (it is running Win7/64 bit). Sorry for a long winded first post...I see a lot of folks with varying stability errors, thought I'd jump in the pool..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 28, 2013 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 28, 2013 Not sure what is going on here as it is a bit hard to follow or debug with out all the details. However, if the new system is not stable and we have not replaced the modules previously please use the link on the left and request an RMA and we will be happy to replace them. If you have a previous RMA please post it and I will get our customer service to take care of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivergoat Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Not surprised it got confusing! No, I had not done an RMA on the 1600. I could consider that, although with the 1333 running stable the last 48 hours I am hoping to not have to rip the box open again. I could RMA the suspect chips and hold new ones for my next project. If you want any clarification on what I tried to describe in the first post, fire away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 28, 2013 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 28, 2013 Well you know it would not really help to try and fix something that you no longer have so lets forget about the previous system and start with this one... Please get a CD Version http://www.memtest.org and then install our modules and with the latest MB BIOS installed load setup defaults and then enable XMP then set the memory Voltage to 1.55 Voltage and test with http://www.memtest.org then try it in Windows and see if its stable. DO NOT just set the memory frequency to DDR1600... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivergoat Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Well, yes, good idea; and I have the latest BIOS and also a MemTest CD. Here, however is the concern on the 1600 chips: After I had to replace the Gigabyte mobo due to a questionable PCIe x16 slot, I had the 1600 chips installed (BIOS was current on the replaced board). I did not have XMP enabled, so was running at 1.5v 1333 MHz. After about 2.5 hours I heard the system reboot itself, I had not been in front of it at the time. Checking the Event Log it seems the system had likely locked up about 20 minutes prior to finally rebooting, a condition virtually identical to the unstable condition when I had tried settings to run at 1600 MHz (and I don't recall if I ran 1.55v at that time, I am sure I was testing 1.65v). Anyway, that's when I decided to try new chips altogether; an RMA would take down my machine longer than I'd like, I locally found the Vengeance 1333 and did the swap no problem. The system so far (hate to repeat myself, but having good results, why not?) is stable thus far. Oh, and let me add, that I do not recall ever seeing the 1600 chips cause a freeze/reboot when XMP disabled and them running at 1333/1.5v until this instance mentioned above. That's where I really began wondering about their integrity, and pushed me to try a new set of RAM altogether. Since it's not critical with the 1600 chips to rush a replacement, I could RMA those if Corsair wanted to pound them on the bench with tests and tell me if they are unstable. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivergoat Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 OK....an RMA created for these chips. No rush as the active machine has been very stable thus far with the Vengeance 1333. Thanks for the help/tips, Ram Guy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted January 29, 2013 Corsair Employees Share Posted January 29, 2013 Whats your case number? I'll get it approved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivergoat Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 I'll check it when I get home this evening, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivergoat Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 Hey Ram Guy, I think I'm set. I received an email with the RMA (5560921) on it. The chips will go out on Friday. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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