Extremely strange RAM compatibility issue.

jaha · January 8, 2024

Hello All,

I am posting as I am unsure how to begin to troubleshoot / resolve an issue with a kit of ram in which when both sticks are used, half of the ram is "hardware reserved", yet all is recognised in the bios. I have attempted to run either stick of ram in single channel to attempt to find the faulty item, but either one alone will not prompt the computer to post. The confusing part, however, is that once I am using an entirely different kit of ram, both sticks are recognised completely fine, and when I use any stick of the "faulty ram" in conjunction with a stick from the working batch, 8gb is still reserved.

After checking inside of the bios when the faulty kit is running together, the timings on either stick are identical but the speed is differing, one at 2133mhz and the other at 3000mhz (rated speed). This lead me to consider the motherboard as the issue, as the working kit did not allow for XMP and was also running at 2133mhz, however the same issue reappeared on another motherboard.

Not exactly sure how to troubleshoot this from here, although ideally I would like to hope the ram is still working as I am giving it to a friend who recently got into PC building.

I have no more hardware to continue testing, unfortunately

"Faulty" kit in question: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/ntYWGX/corsair-vengeance-rgb-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr4-3000-memory-cmr16gx4m2c3000c15

Thanks.

Edited January 8, 2024 by jaha
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