Memory Errors - a lot of them - OCUK system build

Hi all,

Got a bit of a problem here - back in March 2015 I ordered a bundle from OverClockers - an i5-4440 CPU, 8GB PC3-12800 RAM and an Asus H81M-K motherboard.

I recall it came with the CPU and memory already attached to the board, although I may be wrong about this?? Can anyone confirm whether this is the case with system bundles from OC as I honestly cannot remember.

Anyway, as it all seemed to work perfectly well (and still does seem to I might add!) I never did something that I usually always do - a MemTest.

I rarely use the system to be honest as I use my laptop more, but I have been using it more lately and today I decided to run a Windows Memory Diagnostic. This is a tool I have never seen throw up any errors any time and on any system I have used it on. But as soon as the test started it said there were errors. So after it was done, I downloaded MemTest86 and ran it and it is finding a lot of errors - it's currently in its 2nd pass after running for 2 hours and still finding errors:



I have to say, the system has never once crashed or been slow when I have used it - in fact it is super fast and, seemingly, super stable. So what is going on here? Is there anything further I need to check? And also what if the memory has been like this the whole time? I take it I can't get a replacement?

Many thanks for any advice.

Memtest results could be wrong, or your usage is not triggering the memory faults present.

Given that you have no issues with it, and since memory has lifetime warranty, I'd just keep going with it. You could always receive a memory kit that passes Memtest but gives you issues, so stick with what works.

Thanks very much for the response, Danny75.

I think that's good advice, in that I don't seem to be having any issues with the system. However, this is on the surface - are there any further checks or things to look out for? Anything in Event Viewer I should be wary of? Seems like a fair few errors with the RAM. Is there anyway I can stress test the RAM in Windows, or fill the RAM so that it is all utilised?

Thanks

Just to update the thread, I had the side off the PC earlier and re-seated both sticks of RAM. Now on a pass 3 (2hrs 22mins) with no errors detected at all. A contrast from errors being found in the first few seconds yesterday.

I find it odd that with so many errors, the system wasn't unstable. Does erroring RAM just cause system instability or can it affect performance too?

Edit: Spoke that up - got an error during pass 3 at 2hrs 25 mins! Just the one though...

Memtest86 is a very weak test of stability outside of detecting faulty memory unless the system stability is very much conditional. If you haven't done so already - run the test at optimised defaults.That includes no XMP profile, as this is still overclocking. If you still receive errors, you likely have a faulty module. Simple

Silent_Scone said:

Memtest86 is a very weak test of stability outside of detecting faulty memory unless the system stability is very much conditional. If you haven't done so already - run the test at optimised defaults.That includes no XMP profile, as this is still overclocking. If you still receive errors, you likely have a faulty module. Simple

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.

When you say run the tests at optimal defaults, do you mean UEFI BIOS settings or is there an option in MemTest for this? I ran the old MemTest86 v4.x yesterday for 8 hours and that found 0 errors.

UEFI, optimised defaults in BIOS. I would still consider running a more comprehensive test such as Google Stress App under Linux distro

i would be sending it right back,

memtest does not show up errors for no reason. it might a very small amount of memory that you have not used yet in windows.

unless you have maxed out your ram in Windows (8GB) then you might not see any issues

run the test again with 1 stick at a time to find the culprit