[SOLVED] How to detect and replace bad RAM

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
Hi there, first of all let me clarify I'm an animator with above-average knowledge of computers but never an expert. I've had a few power problems in my house which have led to damaged components in my PC. I ran Mem Test to check my memory and it showed one of the modules was bad. I took the PC to the shop for maintenance and the guy told me those tests weren't accurate and they marked good memory as bad. Flash forward to today, working in After Effects I have to close the animation program and reopen it after one hour or so because it stops performing the RAM preview. Also it's been lagging more and more after simple tasks like moving the playhead in the timeline -it's not a complex animation, it shouldn't lag like that-. This got me doubting about the health of my memory so I ran the windows test which also showed a memory problem. My question goes in two parts, one is, is there a way to single out bad memory modules beside Mem Test? and the other, given the pickiness of motherboards on mixing RAM modules, what should I bear in mind when replacing the bad modules and adding new ones to my current set up? My intention is to replace -hopefuly- one bad module and fill my last two empty slots.

My MB is Asus X-99 Deluxe with 6x 8GB modules. They're all Crucial, not all same frequency. I ran the Asus auto overclocking program and it applied an XMP profile to all my modules in the BIOS.

That profile is: DDR4 2400mhz 16-16-16-39-1.2v

Sorry for the long post. It was longer, I edited trying to be as concise as possible. Thanks for any help on this.
 
Solution
I took the PC to the shop for maintenance and the guy told me those tests weren't accurate and they marked good memory as bad.

thats odd as failing memtest is normally all it takes to get a replacement set. Shop might be different to manufacturer though.

have you any idea which stick memtest marked as bad? One way to see if its correct would be remove stick and run with the others

is there a way to single out bad memory modules beside Mem Test?
not that I am aware of. there are a few different versions of memtest - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/how-to-test-your-ram.3691373/

Intel better at mixing ram compared to AMD, so I would get another set with similar timings to what you have now and see if that...

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I took the PC to the shop for maintenance and the guy told me those tests weren't accurate and they marked good memory as bad.

thats odd as failing memtest is normally all it takes to get a replacement set. Shop might be different to manufacturer though.

have you any idea which stick memtest marked as bad? One way to see if its correct would be remove stick and run with the others

is there a way to single out bad memory modules beside Mem Test?
not that I am aware of. there are a few different versions of memtest - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/how-to-test-your-ram.3691373/

Intel better at mixing ram compared to AMD, so I would get another set with similar timings to what you have now and see if that is all you need. Ideally replacing all the ram with 1 set is best option but I can see that being expensive with 6 sticks.

i can find 15-16-16 but its not 2400 ram
This is only crucial showing - https://www.crucial.com/compatible-...DR4-2400(--)total-capacity(-)16GB Kit (8GBx2)
 
Solution

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
Thanks for your prompt response Colif, sorry for the confusion. I meant the workshop, not the shop where I bought the PC. In fact, a friend built it for me with the parts I bought. I had singled out the module but since they have been moved around a lot from that time I may have lost track of it. I didn't want to stick something into it to mark it for fear of damaging it or the system. I'll try to identify it again maybe using another version -hopefully faster- of Mem Test. I do have an Intel processor so that's good news. I was aware of putting all modules at once with the same specs but as you mentioned it was something I was adding progressively to the system. I remember when there wasn't much trouble doing that but nowadays it seems inadvisable.

So to make sure I got it correctly, the timings of the RAM modules is the '16-16-16' part, right?
 
Last edited:

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
Thanks again. I'm looking for replacements online considering your suggestions. Looks like 2400 is hard to find these days. What do you think of buying a pair of these to replace the bad one and its pair? I guess that if I only replace the bad one I'd be mixing a module from years ago with a more modern one in the same channel which could turn out problematic.

technology - DDR4
Speed - DDR4-3200
PC speed - PC4-25600
Density - 8GB
Module type - UDIMM
DIMM type - Unbuffered
CAS latency - 16
Extended timings - 16-18-18-36
Voltage - 1.35V


Oh, by the way, I live in Chile so the market here is different. Maybe being a little late compared to other markets works in my favor since I'm looking for old models.
 

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
i think you best off trying to get ram that has similar latency to the sticks in PC now.



As bigger the difference the more chance you get errors you didn't have before.

Mmmm I haven't been able to find those. Maybe I'm better off buying the whole kit or at least 4 new identical modules.
In such case, what would be your recommendation? I know the i7 5930k supports ram frequencies up to 2333mhz but those are really hard to find now too. Would 2600 or 3200 work well?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Probably need 64gb set. Finding a 64gb set is another story.
i can't find any where I am... if i include your motherboard anyway.
You probably need to buy 3 to 4 sets, 2 x 8gb each, and if they all same speed it should work out.

If I don't include the motherbaord... there are plenty in my country.
I knew that already as I am only using 3200 myself. 64gb costs me $AUD 409... I don't even use the 32gb I have now.
 
Hi there, first of all let me clarify I'm an animator with above-average knowledge of computers but never an expert. I've had a few power problems in my house which have led to damaged components in my PC. I ran Mem Test to check my memory and it showed one of the modules was bad. I took the PC to the shop for maintenance and the guy told me those tests weren't accurate and they marked good memory as bad. Flash forward to today, working in After Effects I have to close the animation program and reopen it after one hour or so because it stops performing the RAM preview. Also it's been lagging more and more after simple tasks like moving the playhead in the timeline -it's not a complex animation, it shouldn't lag like that-. This got me doubting about the health of my memory so I ran the windows test which also showed a memory problem. My question goes in two parts, one is, is there a way to single out bad memory modules beside Mem Test? and the other, given the pickiness of motherboards on mixing RAM modules, what should I bear in mind when replacing the bad modules and adding new ones to my current set up? My intention is to replace -hopefuly- one bad module and fill my last two empty slots.

My MB is Asus X-99 Deluxe with 6x 8GB modules. They're all Crucial, not all same frequency. I ran the Asus auto overclocking program and it applied an XMP profile to all my modules in the BIOS.

That profile is: DDR4 2400mhz 16-16-16-39-1.2v

Sorry for the long post. It was longer, I edited trying to be as concise as possible. Thanks for any help on this.
Did you install the ram in the proper slots?

https://www.pugetsystems.com/files/...4/e9504_x99-deluxe_series_ug_for_web_only.pdf

Does memtest fail if you turn off xmp?
 

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
Did you install the ram in the proper slots?

https://www.pugetsystems.com/files/...4/e9504_x99-deluxe_series_ug_for_web_only.pdf

Does memtest fail if you turn off xmp?
Hello Bob.b, thanks for your answer. I did install the RAM in the proper slots. The motherboard is so picky with the RAM that there's only one configuration where it recognizes every module. By configuration I mean the location of every module in each slot. I've spent hours finding one where all the modules are recognized. The XMP profile was applied after I ran the Mem Test.
 

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
Probably need 64gb set. Finding a 64gb set is another story.
i can't find any where I am... if i include your motherboard anyway.
You probably need to buy 3 to 4 sets, 2 x 8gb each, and if they all same speed it should work out.

If I don't include the motherbaord... there are plenty in my country.
I knew that already as I am only using 3200 myself. 64gb costs me $AUD 409... I don't even use the 32gb I have now.
So if I'm looking for sets of RAM I should only care about is the speed? What about latency?
 

sergiopol

Commendable
Apr 17, 2021
19
0
1,510
One final update, I bought the 8 modules of the same kind this afternoon. Even with 8 identical RAM sticks this MB went picky and made me switch a pair of modules before it could detect them. Everything's Ok so far. I thank you both for your help, especially Colif.