Installed new RAM. Won't work properly. Help.

StarSolitude · 15 Sep 2012 at 01:03

Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65
CPU: Core i5

Current RAM: 2*2Gb (Geil)
Attempted RAM installation: 1*4Gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3

Aim: 8Gb of RAM

- When XMS3 RAM inserted, PC either: 1. Won't boot, 2. Continually reboots before entering BIOS or 3. Boots but only acknowledges 2Gb of RAM.
- The results differ depending on which slot I put the new 4Gb stick into
- When installing the 4Gb stick on its own, the system runs and acknowledged 4Gb.

Also.

After trying to install this RAM, I experienced monitor/display problems. Windows no longer recognized my monitor, and the resolution reverted back to 1074x768, with several-inch thick black borders along the sides that my mouse cursor could not enter. Interestingly, my graphics drivers were unaffected. I could not select 1920x1080 as a resolution.

1. How can I get my motherboard to run all three sticks of RAM simultaneously? I don't understand how RAM latencies work. Please explain clearly, if possible.

2. I don't understand how changing RAM could lead to aforementioned monitor/display problems.

Thanks.

Sasahara · 15 Sep 2012 at 01:18

Ram should run in dual channel mode so 3 sticks is a bad idea to start with and is unlikely to work, if they do you'll be in single channel mode.

If the ram sticks are different speeds they won't run or you'll need to set the ram speeds manually at a speed all the sticks support (not a good idea)

Really what you needed to do was get another 2 x 2 GB sticks of the same Geil ram or replace them with an 8 GB set.

StarSolitude · 15 Sep 2012 at 01:44

Hmm I see. I suppose I'll just have to go mad and buy another 4GB stick. Sounds like the easiest option.

Gogl · 15 Sep 2012 at 08:08

Sasahara said:
If the ram sticks are different speeds they won't run or you'll need to set the ram speeds manually at a speed all the sticks support (not a good idea)

I was looking to do this myself, so long as you can find compatible voltage, timings and frequency, why is doing this not a good idea?

bremen1874 · 15 Sep 2012 at 15:02

Assuming there isn't a massive voltage difference it's a perfectly sensible thing to do. You just need to configure things using the settings from the slower sticks.

Sasahara · 15 Sep 2012 at 18:48

bremen1874 said:
Assuming there isn't a massive voltage difference it's a perfectly sensible thing to do. You just need to configure things using the settings from the slower sticks.

Sorry the perfectly sensible thing to do is buy the correct ram in the first place.

Gogl · 16 Sep 2012 at 02:57

bremen1874 said:
Assuming there isn't a massive voltage difference it's a perfectly sensible thing to do. You just need to configure things using the settings from the slower sticks.

Thanks, it's for a DDR2 system so doing this rather than paying out a premium for a matched pair when there is a good deal of various modules available second hand is indeed the perfectly sensible thing to do in my case.