Graphical issues after upgrading to 8GB RAM

[Astralpulse]

Hello there,

I'll start off with system information:

OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit, Service Pack 1
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9550
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D 750i
Graphics Card: EVGA Nvidia 8800 GTS 320MB



I recently upgraded to 8 GB of RAM, and have begun having some strange issues with the installed 8 GB of RAM. I originally ran 2x2 GB of VS2GB800D2 dual channel, Corsair Value Select RAM, and had a 5.9 windows experience rating across the board. With the black friday deals, I managed to pick up 4 sticks of CM2X2048-6400C5, and with all 4 sticks in I have a 5.8 rating. With two sticks, any two sticks, I jump back up to a 5.9 rating.

Now, if this was just a simple .1 experience difference, I would not care, though I would be puzzled as to why the rating drops; however, with all 4 sticks in, I notice graphical issues in some games, though rarely. The video will freeze up entirely, sounds still playing - I can fix it by ctrl-alt-del'ing to open up the Vista task manager window, then exiting it and returning to the game.

Since the issue only happens when I introduce two more sticks of RAM, I've never had this issue before with 2 sticks, I decided to run memtest86+ overnight with all 4 sticks in, and after 12 hours came up with no errors. Since that came up with no errors, I decided to try increasing the voltage, in case my motherboard was not properly supplying the 1.9v these sticks require, and still produced no changes.

I am out of ideas of what might be causing this issue. I would greatly prefer to stick with 8 GB of RAM, as I do notice performance increases in some of the programs I use, but if it continues to cause these issues when I game, I'm afraid I will have to downgrade to 4 GB in order to make sure I don't freeze up. (Graphics freezing in Left 4 Dead mid zombie rush sucks )

Absolutely any assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated, and if I need to post any more information please tell me and I will reply as quickly as possible.

 

[geofelt]

My guess is that the timings are slightly different between 4gb and 8gb. Run cpu-z to see what they are in each case. I think more ram is more beneficial to performance than timings for a core 2 cpu.

Are your nvidia drivers up to date? Would a beta driver fix the problem? Would backing off to a previous driver help?

You might ask about this in the Corsair forum also.

 

[rochin]

What volts are you running the ram at, with 8GB you may have to up the volts. Also alot of times the default voltage is not what your ram needs. Check on that, i had that issue as well with my 8GB.

 

[Astralpulse]

What volts are you running the ram at, with 8GB you may have to up the volts. Also alot of times the default voltage is not what your ram needs. Check on that, i had that issue as well with my 8GB.

The voltage is currently set to 2.010, I also tried 1.950 and 1.970, the recommended voltage is 1.9v; I upped it slightly over recommended voltage just as a test, as I'm told that going slightly over cannot hurt the RAM. I did not feel safe about going more than 1v over the recommended, unless someone on this forum might suggest that it may fix the issue.

My guess is that the timings are slightly different between 4gb and 8gb. Run cpu-z to see what they are in each case. I think more ram is more beneficial to performance than timings for a core 2 cpu.

The timings are the same between every single stick, as they are all the exact same sticks of RAM, 4 sticks of CM2X2048-6400C5. All 5-5-5-18, which I have my BIOS currently set at, and all 1.9v. I have the latest NVIDIA drivers, but as stated in my post, I have never had these issues before, and I was running the drivers for a few weeks before getting in this new RAM. EDIT: These are the latest nvidia drivers, v180.48 released Nov. 19, I see no beta drivers beyond this on the Nvidia page.

Thank you for the quick responses nonetheless.

 

[geofelt]

I am thinking that the motherboard might be changing the timings to allow the 8gb to run. It is harder for a mobo to run 4 sticks than 2. I had limited ability to overclock that same ram with 8gb vs 4gb. I picked running 8gb vs. 4gb with overclock on an E8400. Cpu-z will show you exactly what is running.
I don't see the reduced index as a problem.

You might try prime95 which will exercise the ram in a different way, along with the cpu. turn on error checking, and monitor the temps.
See if this can generate a failure.


Is there any possibility that your PSU is marginal?

 

[Astralpulse]

I am thinking that the motherboard might be changing the timings to allow the 8gb to run. It is harder for a mobo to run 4 sticks than 2. I had limited ability to overclock that same ram with 8gb vs 4gb. I picked running 8gb vs. 4gb with overclock on an E8400. Cpu-z will show you exactly what is running.
I don't see the reduced index as a problem.

You might try prime95 which will exercise the ram in a different way, along with the cpu. turn on error checking, and monitor the temps.
See if this can generate a failure.


Is there any possibility that your PSU is marginal?

Not entirely sure what you mean in that bolded part. As for the rest, CPU-Z reports the RAM running at 5-5-5-18 in both the memory and SPD areas, for all 4 sticks.

I'll run prime95 right now to test that out, I had forgotten about running it. As far as PSU, if I read what you're saying right, I'm running a 650w PSU, which is more than adequate for my comp setup, to my knowledge.

 

[MajesticJG]

This might not be helpful for you at all, but I had a phantom issue a little like yours where games would show unusual glitches for no known reason. I also use a P5N-D motherboard and I have Corsair ValueSelect RAM, too, though only 4gb. Mine would appear to hang, then come back to life (and resume the game) in about 15 - 30 seconds about three to five times an hour.

It turned out to be a version mismatch between a couple files that weren't installed properly in the nForce system management drivers. I had one file from an August driver and the rest from a November driver.

I fixed mine by going into Safe Mode and using Driver Cleaner to clean out the nForce drivers, then reinstalling them (still in Safe Mode.)

That cleared the problem up for me. I have no idea if that's viable for you, but I spent a LOT of time trying to track my issue so I thought I'd offer the suggestion just in case.

 

[geofelt]

Not entirely sure what you mean in that bolded part. As for the rest, CPU-Z reports the RAM running at 5-5-5-18 in both the memory and SPD areas, for all 4 sticks.

I'll run prime95 right now to test that out, I had forgotten about running it. As far as PSU, if I read what you're saying right, I'm running a 650w PSU, which is more than adequate for my comp setup, to my knowledge.

I was referring to the vista experience rating.