Problem with new RAM - Help needed.

Oat23

Hi lads,

I recently upgraded from OCZ Gold Low Voltage 2 x 2 GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 to Corsair 2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600 - PC3-12800. I started to have problems after about 2 weeks and I was getting the blue screen occasionally. I couldn't figure out if it was the RAM or the new graphics card I installed, but after putting in the old OCZ ram for a week and having no problems, it seems that it is the RAM causing the problem.

My motherboard is an MSI 770-C45 - AM3 Socket - 770 Chipset - ATX. I went into the BIOS and had a look, after a quick google I decided to try changing the DRAM frequency to 1600MHz from what it was. Then I ran the MemTest program but it reported an error after about 7 minutes.

It referred me to question 2 on the memtest FAQ which says this -

2) MemTest tells me "Memory error detected...", what does this mean?

This is not normal. Your RAM is bad, or your system is incorrectly configured. Even just 1 error means that you have a problem. If you have overclocked your machine, or selected aggressive RAM timings in your BIOS you should try more conservative settings before judging the RAM fully bad. If you can't get MemTest to run without errors even with conservative BIOS settings, however, your RAM is bad. Replace it, or you will experience stability and corruption problems. Correctly functioning RAM has no errors, even if you run MemTest for days.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this. I'll be honest, when it comes to the BIOS and ram specs I have not got a clue what I am doing! Do I have it configured wrong in the BIOS or could the RAM just be bad?

One last thing - I updated the BIOS a few months ago and I am on the latest one, everything in there is default. I haven't messed with any setting other than changing the DRAM Frequency earlier. For now I will just put the DRAM Frequency back to default and use my OCZ ram!

Thanks

dyer

the AMD memory controller only supports ddr3 1600 if you overclock the system. unless the ram is genuinely faulty, the errors you're getting could be due to incorrect configuration in the bios (timings/voltage etc). you might have to configure those manually. i'd try running memtest on one stick at a time running at lower speeds with relaxed timings to rule out the possibility of faulty hardware. if everything is okay you can either choose to leave the comp alone or continue overclocking until you find a stable configuration.

Main Memory

• Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600* (OC) DRAM, 16GB Max

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/770-C45.html#/?div=Detail

you can read more here about the memory controller and its limitations : http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=130042.0

For AM3 systems using DDR3 memory

AMD Sempron and Athlon II X2 CPUs support a maximum 1066mhz memory speed.
AMD Athlon II X3 & X4 and Phenom II CPUs support a maximum 1333mhz memory speed.

So can I use faster memory?

If you buy memory rated to run faster than these speeds (listed earlier), then you will have to overclock your system in order to use your memory at its rated speed.

Remember though, when you overclock, you are exceeding specifications of your memory controller inside the CPU. An overclock is never guaranteed to work...

Of course, these sticks will happily run at lower speeds.