My Experience With G.Skill RMA

[runit3]

Thought it would be worthwhile now that the search function is back on the forum to post my experience with G.Skill RMA's.

 

I had significant issues getting my X99 build running the G.Skill DDR4 3000MHz kit ( F4-3000C15Q-16GRR ) when I initially built it. The BIOS wouldn't load the correct XMP timings regardless of board dipswitches, XMP profiles, etc. I finally found a happy medium with manually keying in all the primary and secondary timings, it was fully stable, including with my OC, once I had made it to the OS. My problem was only experienced on cold boots. My X99 Deluxe runs a series of pre-POST memory tests on all installed DIMM's. Initially I wouldn't make it to post once every 4-5 cold starts, resulting in the ever annoying "MemOK!" light illuminating on the board. The only way to get to the OS was power on/off until the AMI Megatrends message for "Overclock failed!" showed up. Then I could get into the BIOS and force-boot onto my OS drive. This resulted in the RAM running in 2133 JEDEC. The problem only got worse over time no matter if the CPU as at stock, OC'd, or if the RAM was at various JEDEC or XMP-ish settings.

 

Once I had narrowed down a fairly specific set of complaints to go to G.Skill with I emailed their tech support. They provided an extensive list of software, links, and trouble shooting guides to try and remedy it -ultimately resulting in them saying it would be best to RMA the RAM since nothing I tried would fix the cold boot issue. I only had this rig up and running at the time so I soldiered through a month or two of forcing OS boots. Once I had my secondary gaming rig operational I requested the RMA from their online form.

 

I requested the RMA on 1/31/15 (Sat.) and received my RMA# on 2/3/15 (Mon.). I shipped out the RAM USPS priority, they received it 2/5/15 (Thur.). I opened my mailbox on 2/14/15 (Sat.) to a brand new kit of DDR4 6 business days from them receiving it and 14 calendar days from when my request was initially sent for full turn around. New kit is in and functions 100% @ the rated timings/speed.

 

Overall I was completely shocked at how well the entire RMA experience went, especially with something as finicky as RAM where a great deal of problems can be attributed to user error, manufacturer incompatibility, and a host of other issues that are hard to nail down. Rather than run me around for weeks on end before coughing up an RMA G.Skill spent 2 days working with me and then insisted it would be best for an RMA. Every staff member I spoke with was knowledgeable and had a great deal of experience; Which is more than I can say for ASUS customer support when I went to them with this issue. They recommended I increase my CPU multiplier to fix the issue  :lol:.

 

TL;DR

G.Skill is pretty god damn amazing, and RMAing is stupid easy if you have to.

[Speedyv]

Nice to know. 

Never had to RMA RAM before...

[Syntaxvgm]

I buy Gskill memory almost exclusively. 

[Speedyv]

I buy Gskill memory almost exclusively. 

 

I usually just don't like the looks.

The Sniper series looks good, but I love the look of my Corsair Vengeance LP's in Black.

[runit3]

Nice to know. 

Never had to RMA RAM before...

I've never had to RMA anything before either. I've had components fail but nearly all of them were outside of warranty (LG monitor died 4 days after warranty ended,  :wub:  planned obsolescence).

For all my Z87/Z97 builds I've gone with G.Skill, mostly as a function of having the highest speed kits on the QVL for roughly the same price of 1600 kits.

I usually just don't like the looks.

The Sniper series looks good, but I love the look of my Corsair Vengeance LP's in Black.

The Trident X's I usually get have cooling fins that are easy to remove and repaint, just don't peel off the stickers unless you have a nifty way to put them back on if SHTF...wish they wouldn't count that as voiding the warranty.

[Antistatic12]

Good read.

Is 3000mhz  your max or have you tried to go higher?

[runit3]

Good read.

Is 3000mhz  your max or have you tried to go higher?

I've been slammed with work and building a retro Z77 build so I haven't had any time to play around with it. I attempted 4.5 on the CPU on the extreme off-chance it was the RAM causing the instability above 4.375, but it insta-BSOD'd on me.

 

With this new kit I would be surprised if I couldn't overvolt it and squeeze 3133 out of it, or at least tighten down the primaries a bit.

[Dredgy]

@runit3 what was the error code on the motherboard? I've had the same issue, but G Skill said it was not the RAM and my motherboard is currently RMA and I'm not sure that will fix it.

[QuadCore]

Good to know. I need to RMA some DDR2 ram, I wonder if they can replace it(the kit is spensive).

[runit3]

@runit3 what was the error code on the motherboard? I've had the same issue, but G Skill said it was not the RAM and my motherboard is currently RMA and I'm not sure that will fix it.

I'd have to go look at the manual Q-Codes, give me a few. The clear indication of it being the RAM was that the XMP timings would not load correctly, the MemOK light, and the fact that it was 100% stable in OS but couldn't pass cold boot pre-POST memory tests. I initially thought it was the MOBO because it was such an insanely odd problem, but G.Skill had me DL MemTweaker and key in their values, then run XTU, then restart, and finally shut it down for cold booting -it would clear everything except the cold boot.

 

edit: I believe it had to be within the 2B-2F codes, which is memory initialization. I know there was one other code (might have been my SLI issues), but as soon as I saw the MemOK light on I knew it could only be one thing, which is memory. I've thrown the MemOK light on other ASUS boards from RAM not on the QVL, but my kit was, really process of elimination. If you're not getting a MemOK light and the RAM is on the QVL I'd say it has to be down to the board.

 

Now that I think about it, it had to be 2B, because I distinctly remember spending 20 minutes reading the Q-Code list saying "WTF is 28!?"

[Dredgy]

@runit3 thanks! Not the same error I got, though the symptoms are similar (couldn't pass a cold boot, ansmy success rate was more 1 in 100 than 1 in 5) and MemOk light. My profiles loaded correctly though. Just praying the motherboard fix works, though I don't have huge hopes thanks to the dullards at Asus support.