RAM Compatibility Issue

FrancisBD · April 27, 2021

Hi, my system is quite old. Here is the spec for reference.

i5-4460 with Gigabyte H81 chipset

500GB Samsung 860EVO SATA SSD

Asus Strix 1060 6GB

Team Elite 8 GB DDR3 1600 bus.

I have been using this setup for quite some time until I decided to upgrade my ram. I scrapped an used 8GB Team Elite module and installed it. It showed up fine. however, the pc started to shoot BSOD after a while. In most cases, it was stopcode: MEMORY MANAGEMENT. I knew something was wrong with the new RAM stick. After some digging, I found out that my preivous RAM has a tRFC value of 208 while the new one is at 240. Another difference was that my previous stick has chips only on one side. But the new one has chips on both sides marked D0, D1.......D15. And the other one is marked wth U0.....U7. Rest of the values are same. The timing, the bus speed, even the M/N on the modules.

The mistake I made is using both the sticks anyway. And a few days later, the crashes became more frequent and more random. So, installed a fresh copy of Windows 10. After a few hours, Alas! the same thing happened. So, I took out the new stick and running only with what I had. the PC is running at it's former glory. So, I've pinpointed that the RAM caused my OS files to courrupt.

Another difference was that my previous stick has chips only on one side. But the new one has chips on both sides marked D0, D1.......D15. And the other one is marked wth U0.....U7.

What I want to know is that is it possible use the RAM at all? Is there a way I can change the tRFC value to stop my OS from corrupting? Or do I get rid of the stick and start scrapping for another one? Or is it better to discard both and buy matching pairs?

Thanks in advance.

ajaxburger · April 27, 2021

It's possible that you ended up with faulty RAM modules. The tRFC being higher on your new set should increase stability, in theory, that's why I would assume the new sticks are potentially faulty.

In your current setup, are you running in dual-channel mode and if so, what slots? I would take some time to verify that it's not a motherboard slot issue in your case. Hopefully you can return those sticks.

The memory being dual-sided shouldn't make a difference. Do you have exact model numbers of your new and old memory for reference?

FrancisBD · April 27, 2021

10 minutes ago, ajaxburger said:

It's possible that you ended up with faulty RAM modules. The tRFC being higher on your new set should increase stability, in theory, that's why I would assume the new sticks are potentially faulty.

In your current setup, are you running in dual-channel mode and if so, what slots? I would take some time to verify that it's not a motherboard slot issue in your case. Hopefully you can return those sticks.

The memory being dual-sided shouldn't make a difference. Do you have exact model numbers of your new and old memory for reference?

Thanks for your reply. Mine is the cheapest motherboard for this generation and it has only 2 RAM slots. One thing I forgot to mention, both RAMs run fine individually. However, I've not used the new one individually long enough to claim that it's fine. I've my old kit in both slots and it works perfectly. So, the motherboard is find as far as I'm concerned.

Currently, the RAM is running in single-channel, the one with tRFC 208, as it has been for the past 6 years. And here are the information regarding both sticks below:

Old RAM:

8GB DDR3 1600

CL 11-11-11-28

TED28G1600C11BK 1.5v

W/N: 6150623079

New RAM:

8 GB DDR3 1600

CL 11-11-11-28

TED38G1600C11BK 1.5v

W/N: 6160420075

As you can see, I tried to match the pair as best as I could. really appreciate your feedbacks.

Edited April 27, 2021 by FrancisBD

ajaxburger · April 27, 2021

Yeah it looks like you've done well to match them. Is there a reason you'd upgrade then? A lower tRFC should get slightly higher speeds but sacrifice some stability. I'm honestly surprised the newer stick had issues, that's why I assume it's just a bad stick.

Is the issue you have when you attempt to run both of them at the same time for a total of 16GB? That tRFC value could make a difference then causing the other stick to run at a slower speed and become more instable but generally that shouldn't be an issue. If they run fine individually, I suspect this is the issue or there's a bad slot on your motherboard.

FrancisBD · April 27, 2021

It only occurs when I run them both at a total of 16GB. I've even managed to run them together for a week with no erros. But it stars again. Sometimes it's MEMORY MANAGEMENT, sometimes it's INTERRUPT_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, and all kinds of other BOSD codes that I've never seen in the past 6 years.

And to answer your question why I'd upgrade, I wanted to utilize the dual channel and get a headroom on modern titles. Otherwise, my workloads go fine with the 8GB stick. I also think the new stick is faulty. but I wanted to try one last time by tweaking the tRFC value if that's possible in this case.