Adding another set of RAM causes instability: Solved (deleted page file).

[L33T BEANS]

I built a system a while ago:

CPU: i7-4770k
MOBO: GA-Z87M-D3H rev 1.0
OLD RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB @ 1600 MHz / 9-9-9-24 (slot 2 and 4)
NEW RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB @ 1600 MHz / 9-9-9-24 (slot 1 and 3)

I wanted to upgrade to 16 GB (4x4GB) from 8 GB (2x4GB) and I tried to buy the most identical sticks I could find to avoid compatibility issues.

 

Both pairs seem to operate just fine independently but they do not play nice together which causes my system to BSOD with a KERNEL_SECURITY_ERROR after a while. I can boot into Windows and load applications but it crashes unpredictably. I've tried shuffling around the sticks and turning on memory interleaving in bios but to no avail. I'm thinking about buying another set of the new sticks but I'm worried it might be a waste of money.

 

Below is an image of the two pairs I have with the top pair being the newer sticks and the bottom being the older sticks.

**

** SOLVED **
Turns out, the paging file that windows creates was giving me issues, so I had to delete it (maybe just had to reset it but I disabled it just to be sure). Follow these steps here and hopefully it works for anyone else with this problem.

[1van]

12 hours ago, L33T BEANS said:

 

Did you make sure that all 4 of the slots work. Try to check it by installing just 1 stick, and moving it from the slot 1 to slot 4, one at a time.

If all the slots work, there is another thing: part numbers of the new and old kit are different. Secondary and tertiary timings may be different, too, which can cause instability.

Install one kit, boot into BIOS, take note of the memory timings. Then install the other kit (alone, just 2 sticks), boot into BIOS, take note of the timings. See which timings are more loose, and set it manually. Then try to boot with all 4 sticks.

[L33T BEANS]

5 hours ago, 1van said:

Did you make sure that all 4 of the slots work. Try to check it by installing just 1 stick, and moving it from the slot 1 to slot 4, one at a time.

If all the slots work, there is another thing: part numbers of the new and old kit are different. Secondary and tertiary timings may be different, too, which can cause instability.

Install one kit, boot into BIOS, take note of the memory timings. Then install the other kit (alone, just 2 sticks), boot into BIOS, take note of the timings. See which timings are more loose, and set it manually. Then try to boot with all 4 sticks.

I did try that yes, and as far as I know, all the timings were indeed similar. I'm not 100% sure if I understand what you mean by 'tertiary timings' are they simply the 3rd digit of 9-9-9-24, or is there some other configuration of timings?

Anyways, I have solved the issue and edited my post to include it for anyone else who encounters the issue.