Could both RAM sticks be bad?

[gotpawa]

I just built a new computer, it's freezing up usually within seconds (there have been a few times where it works for hours). It is most likely a RAM or Motherboard issue, I have two sticks of 4gb. Even with trying individual sticks the issue still happens. Well I found someone to let me borrow their ram and the issue seems to be resolved (haven't had enough time to test it but it hasn't froze on me yet). I ran memtest on the original failing sticks with no errors.

Seems kind of weird to me that both sticks fail while used individually. Could they both be faulty? Could I have a faulty motherboard that ruins RAM and my buddies RAM will soon be cooked too?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

Can you give your PC specs and show exactly what brand and model of RAM you have?

 

[gotpawa]

Can you give your PC specs and show exactly what brand and model of RAM you have?

GA-970A-UD3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR
GV-N75TOC-2GI G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Video Card
Crucial MX100 CT128MX100SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE
CORSAIR CXM series CX750M 750W ATX12V

 

[Brillis Wuce]

When your PC freezes/crashes, does it log anything in the Event Viewer?

 

[gotpawa]

When your PC freezes/crashes, does it log anything in the Event Viewer?

just the standard kernal power issue. I've swapped out PSU, GFX, ran stress tests, re-seated re-built, did about everything I could other than swap motherboard or CPU.

it just seems weird that both sticks would be faulty, i have read a lot of people having single faulty sticks.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

That is a chance in a million, I've got to say...

If they're new, RMA or return them, just to be safe. What kind of RAM did your friend lend to you?

 

[gotpawa]

the ram he let me borrow is two sticks of 4gb gskill ripsaw 1833

the issue could still be mobo/cpu, but if i make it a few more days with no issues on the borrowed ram i'd say the problem is solved.

the sniper ram that i originally bought is 9-9-9-24 latency, i manually configured that in bios and it ran for a few hours until i re-booted and then froze within seconds of getting to the desktop.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

I think the best thing to do is continue testing with the borrowed RAM, like you said. If no problems arise, return it.

Wish I could give you more definitive answers, but sometimes troubleshooting takes time.

 

[gotpawa]

i hear ya... i was just wondering if both sticks could be bad, or if there's a chance my motherboard could be eating the ram.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

Check the voltages in your BIOS, if it can.

 

[gotpawa]

voltages are all good. the memory says 9-9-9-24 and 1.50v

im assuming it should work fine at defaults which are higher, like 11-11-11-28 i think. but i have read on newegg reviews that gskill reps tell people with issues to make sure the timing is set. thats why i set to what was listed and it appeared to work but that was short lived.

could it be the ram is fine but it is "high performance ram" and my motherboard doesnt like it, hence the ripsaw regular speed stuff works better?

im wondering if i do RMA the sniper sticks the new ones will have the same problem, maybe i should just buy return the sniper and purchase the same ripsaw that appears to be stable.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

That's what I would suggest, but there shouldn't be any problem with 1600MHz RAM. That's pretty basic for modern day PC's. What speed was the Ripjaws?

 

[gotpawa]

the ripjaw was actually 1866

 

[Brillis Wuce]

Huh. Well better performance with better stability, I'd return the Sniper Series and get the Ripjaws. Should be around the same price, but give it some time and see if anything happens first.