Stability testing 4gb of RAM on 32 bit OS

jak731 · 7 Dec 2008 at 23:49

I was wondering if stress testing 4gb of ram on a 32bit OS using orthos will show up errors as readily as on a 64bit OS? Especially when overclocking to the cusp of stability, will the fact 700mb odd of the RAM never gets loaded mean the that the RAM cannot be accurately stability tested around its limit?

Cob · 8 Dec 2008 at 00:33

Logic would say that it's not as accurate on a 32bit system. But then logic and computers rarely go hand-in-hand.

I would certainly run a few loops of Memtest86+ too.

jak731 · 10 Dec 2008 at 21:51

Yeah i'll have a go with memtest as well, sure i've got a floppy disk somewhere.

Do you think it would be worth updating the BIOS on my IP35 pro? I updated it in the summer to BIOS 16 but noticed 17 is out now. Running an E8400 at the moment and getting some new 1066MHz RAM this friday, i think the 800MHz stuff has been holding it back so far.

JeffyB · 11 Dec 2008 at 00:41

If you use memtest86 would it test all 4gb on a 32bit os as its not tested in the os?

jak731 · 11 Dec 2008 at 01:08

I was thinking of just using orthos in windows originally, forgot about memtest.

Liquidfox · 11 Dec 2008 at 09:46

Not sure on the limit of RAM in Memtest, but i'd be tempted to say it's most likely a 32-bit based program, and hence has the usual limitations. You could always test the sticks individually, it may not show true results, but if one of the sticks is faulty, it'll find it. Usually

pastymuncher · 11 Dec 2008 at 13:41

JeffyB said:
If you use memtest86 would it test all 4gb on a 32bit os as its not tested in the os?

Yes. I just ran it overnight on 4x1GB sticks of ram i got from the bay (£23

) and it appears to have tested the lot. All of it was shown on the screen under memory tested. This was with XP Pro 32bit but as you say, the OS does'nt load when running Memtest.