RAM problems ..

[MorbidAngel]

Hey guys, I just bought new RAM sticks for my computer and I'm having some problems, I am using 4 sticks in my dual channel mobo, which shouldn't be a problem, right? Or am I wrong? it's 4 GB on each stick with a total of 16GB memory with a speed of 2133MHz (that my mobo supports.)

But for some reason I'm getting bluescreens and my games are crashing, why could this be?

Some of the BSOD that I can remember are:

 

REFERENCE_BY_POINTER
KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (I think, it was something with kmode at least)
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (Fixed after increasing voltage to 1.500)

NOTE: I was playing GTA V when I got these BSOD's, haven't had any crashes in any other games, I had some problems when running XMP but when I disabled it and just manually set the speed to 2133 it worked fine, except for the BSOD's that is.

I think I had 1 or 2 more BSOD's that I can't remember right now .. Will edit the post if I can remember them.

Why does this happen? I really want to use the full capacity of my BRAND NEW RAM that I literally bought 2 days ago, I just set them back to 1600MHz that my old RAM was and it seem to work atm but it feels unnecessary to use 4 sticks of 2133MHz @ CL11 RAM running at 1600MHz in a dual memory mobo when my old ram was just 2 sticks of 1600MHz @ CL10..

Do you have any sugesstions? I really want to use these sticks!

Motherboard: http://www.inet.se/produkt/1902526/msi-z87-s02-inet-edition-atx
Old RAM: http://www.inet.se/produkt/5315301/corsair-16gb-2x8gb-cl10-1600mhz-vengeance-lp-rod
New RAM: http://www.netonnet.se/art/dator/komponenter/internminne/ddr3/corsair-vengeanceproblack8gb/203962.7060/ (I am using TWO kits of these, so 4x4 Vengeance Pro 8GB @ 2133MHz)

(Sorry for Swedish sites)

Thanks for your help guys! I hope I can fix this without buying anymore stuff ... If it matters I'm installing my new CPU tomorrow, upgrading from i5 4670k to i7 4790k!

[desertcomputer]

There seem to be different frequency... 

[MorbidAngel]

There seem to be different frequency... 

 

What do you mean? That the sticks currently installed are running in different frequencies? If so, how do I fix it?

[Chickenator]

The only thing two things I can think of are: Make sure you have all the right drivers installed, and make sure that you have the RAM running in Dual channel instead of accidentally running Quad-channel.

[MorbidAngel]

The only thing two things I can think of are: Make sure you have all the right drivers installed, and make sure that you have the RAM running in Dual channel instead of accidentally running Quad-channel.

How can I see if I have the right drivers installed? And when I check on CPU-Z it says "Channel #: Dual" but this is when I run it on 1600MHz but I don't think it should make a difference since the MHz would change the channel? I'll change to 2133MHz next time but first, where can I see if I need to update the drivers?

[MorbidAngel]

I just went into my BIOS and I changed everything to factory settings, my CPU over clock and everything is straight back to default settings, don't have a USB or CD so can't run Memtest, gonna restart now and do a memory check (did that before with no errors and still BSOD) and hope for the best, gonna install my new CPU tomorrow anyways so I don't need to OC my CPU.

[-rascal-]

The only thing two things I can think of are: Make sure you have all the right drivers installed, and make sure that you have the RAM running in Dual channel instead of accidentally running Quad-channel.

 

There are no drivers required for DRAM to operate. They are essentially a large group of MOSFET devices, that store one bit of data each ('0' or '1').

Whether it is Dual-Channel or Quad-Channel depends on the CPU, and how operations are handled by the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) on the Processor.

 

 

When DRAM is advertised as "Dual-Channel", "Triple-Channel", or "Quad-Channel", it simply means they have been tested and verified, at the factory, that those memory modules in that kit will work together without issues.

 

@MorbidAngel, a part of your issue is because your two RAM kits are not compatible with one another. They are too different from each other.

The quote, "you are only as strong as your weakest link" comes into effect here.

 

Your old DRAM kit is:

• 1600 MHz
• 10-10-10-27 timings
• 1.5V

Your new kit is:

• 2133 MHz
• 11-11-11-27
• 1.5V

 

Your 1600 MHz DRAM is not verified to run at 2133 MHz (which is much faster). It is only guaranteed to work up to 1600 MHz; anything beyond is all luck.

Your 2133 MHz kit uses slower timings (more delay) with 11-11-11-27, versus your 1600 MHz kit with 10-10-10-27.

 

This is why it is recommended to buy IDENTICAL DRAM kits, or DRAM with similar frequency and timings to avoid the issue you are having.

 

Remember "you are only as strong as your weakest link", I will suggest you give these settings a try:

• Set ALL your RAM to run at 1600 MHz
• Set ALL your timings to 11-11-11-27
• Set ALL the voltage to 1.5V

If those settings work, and your system no longer crashes, then you can try experimenting. You are NOT guaranteed these will work.

• Slowly increase the DRAM speed from 1600MHz and see if 1866 MHz is stable. If it is stable, try 2133 MHz.
• Gradually decrease the timings (i.e. start at 11-11-11-27, then try and see if 10-11-11-27 works. If it is stable and your system doesn't crash, try 10-10-11-27....etc).

[FruitBasketSilex]

The only thing two things I can think of are: Make sure you have all the right drivers installed, and make sure that you have the RAM running in Dual channel instead of accidentally running Quad-channel.

You can't run quad channel mode on a dual channel board.....that's physically impossible.

[MorbidAngel]

 

There are no drivers required for DRAM to operate. They are essentially a large group of MOSFET devices, that store one bit of data each ('0' or '1').

Whether it is Dual-Channel or Quad-Channel depends on the CPU, and how operations are handled by the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) on the Processor.

 

 

When DRAM is advertised as "Dual-Channel", "Triple-Channel", or "Quad-Channel", it simply means they have been tested and verified, at the factory, that those memory modules in that kit will work together without issues.

 

@MorbidAngel, a part of your issue is because your two RAM kits are not compatible with one another. They are too different from each other.

The quote, "you are only as strong as your weakest link" comes into effect here.

 

Your old DRAM kit is:

• 1600 MHz
• 10-10-10-27 timings
• 1.5V

Your new kit is:

• 2133 MHz
• 11-11-11-27
• 1.5V

 

Your 1600 MHz is not verified to run at 2133 MHz (which is much faster). It is only guaranteed to work up to 1600 MHz; anything beyond is all luck.

Your 2133 MHz kit uses slower timings (more delay) with 11-11-11-27, versus your 1600 MHz kit with 10-10-10-27.

 

This is why it is recommended to buy IDENTICAL DRAM kits, or DRAM with similar frequency and timings to avoid the issue you are having.

 

Remember "you are only as strong as your weakest link", I will suggest you give these settings a try:

• Set ALL your RAM to run at 1600 MHz
• Set ALL your timings to 11-11-11-27
• Set ALL the voltage to 1.5V

If those settings work, and your system no longer crashes, then you can try experimenting. You are NOT guaranteed these will work.

• Slowly increase the DRAM speed from 1600MHz and see if 1866 MHz is stable. If it is stable, try 2133 MHz.
• Gradually decrease the timings (i.e. start at 11-11-11-27, then try and see if 10-11-11-27 works. If it is stable and your system doesn't crash, try 10-10-11-27....etc).

 

@-rascal- Thank you so much for the answer!

But I am not sure if I misunderstood, or if you did, I bought 2 x Vengeance pro @ 2133Mhz so the old RAM sticks are removed and I only use the new ones. 

So either you misunderstood me and you thought that I used the old AND the new ones, or I misunderstood you and knew that I wasn't using the old and the new ones combined..

Either way as I said in the post before I put all the settings back to stock in BIOS and it booted up fine and I played some GTA V for about 40 minutes without any problems and I've had my computer running for almost 2 and a half hours no with no problems, so hopefully it worked when I set it back to default settings!

If I should run into any problems I will do what you wrote, thank you for taking your time and answering me, really appreciate it!

[-rascal-]

@-rascal- Thank you so much for the answer!

But I am not sure if I misunderstood, or if you did, I bought 2 x Vengeance pro @ 2133Mhz so the old RAM sticks are removed and I only use the new ones. 

So either you misunderstood me and you thought that I used the old AND the new ones, or I misunderstood you and knew that I wasn't using the old and the new ones combined..

Either way as I said in the post before I put all the settings back to stock in BIOS and it booted up fine and I played some GTA V for about 40 minutes without any problems and I've had my computer running for almost 2 and a half hours no with no problems, so hopefully it worked when I set it back to default settings!

If I should run into any problems I will do what you wrote, thank you for taking your time and answering me, really appreciate it!

 

Sorry, I thought you were running BOTH kits at the same time, since I saw both kits are 4GB X 2, and you mentioned 16GB.

 

If you are just running one kit at a time, then just set the timings to whatever they are advertised as (or enable XMP in the BIOS).

If you just have the 2133 MHz kit in the computer, then use the 2133 MHz 11-11-11-27 settings. Similarly, if you just have the 1600 MHz kit in the computer, then use the 1600 MHz 10-10-10-27 settings.

 

If you are constantly swapping the two DRAM kits in and out, you need to change the settings in the BIOS appropriately every time you swap them out.

[MorbidAngel]

Sorry, I thought you were running BOTH kits at the same time, since I saw both kits are 4GB X 2, and you mentioned 16GB.

 

If you are just running one kit at a time, then just set the timings to whatever they are advertised as (or enable XMP in the BIOS).

If you just have the 2133 MHz kit in the computer, then use the 2133 MHz 11-11-11-27 settings. Similarly, if you just have the 1600 MHz kit in the computer, then use the 1600 MHz 10-10-10-27 settings.

 

If you are constantly swapping the two DRAM kits in and out, you need to change the settings in the BIOS appropriately every time you swap them out.

Yeah it was totally my fault for not mentioning that, sorry! ^.^

And yeah when I first plugged them in it said "Error change in CPU or memory" (Or something like that) and it sent me into bios and I enabled XMP and then the problems began to appear, and I started to change the values back and forth, but I never touched any of the timings because that's way above my knowledge so everything I did was to enable/disable XMP and change the MHz, but it seems okay now so let's hope it stays this way so I don't need to change anything more in BIOS (with the memory settings at least)

Thanks again!

[Chickenator]

 

There are no drivers required for DRAM to operate. They are essentially a large group of MOSFET devices, that store one bit of data each ('0' or '1').

Whether it is Dual-Channel or Quad-Channel depends on the CPU, and how operations are handled by the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) on the Processor.

 

 

When DRAM is advertised as "Dual-Channel", "Triple-Channel", or "Quad-Channel", it simply means they have been tested and verified, at the factory, that those memory modules in that kit will work together without issues.

 

@MorbidAngel, a part of your issue is because your two RAM kits are not compatible with one another. They are too different from each other.

The quote, "you are only as strong as your weakest link" comes into effect here.

 

Your old DRAM kit is:

• 1600 MHz
• 10-10-10-27 timings
• 1.5V

Your new kit is:

• 2133 MHz
• 11-11-11-27
• 1.5V

 

Your 1600 MHz DRAM is not verified to run at 2133 MHz (which is much faster). It is only guaranteed to work up to 1600 MHz; anything beyond is all luck.

Your 2133 MHz kit uses slower timings (more delay) with 11-11-11-27, versus your 1600 MHz kit with 10-10-10-27.

 

This is why it is recommended to buy IDENTICAL DRAM kits, or DRAM with similar frequency and timings to avoid the issue you are having.

 

Remember "you are only as strong as your weakest link", I will suggest you give these settings a try:

• Set ALL your RAM to run at 1600 MHz
• Set ALL your timings to 11-11-11-27
• Set ALL the voltage to 1.5V

If those settings work, and your system no longer crashes, then you can try experimenting. You are NOT guaranteed these will work.

• Slowly increase the DRAM speed from 1600MHz and see if 1866 MHz is stable. If it is stable, try 2133 MHz.
• Gradually decrease the timings (i.e. start at 11-11-11-27, then try and see if 10-11-11-27 works. If it is stable and your system doesn't crash, try 10-10-11-27....etc).

 

Thank you for teaching me the ways of the RAM .  Really though, thanks.  I don't have a lot of expertise (as my title suggests) so learning is always useful.

[-rascal-]

Thank you for teaching me the ways of the RAM .  Really though, thanks.  I don't have a lot of expertise (as my title suggests) so learning is always useful.

 

Everybody has their "newb" phase; I still remember my first time upgrading the RAM in a PC.

That's why the LTT community exists -- plus, Mr. TechTips' very own "Tech Quickie" videos.

[MorbidAngel]

Ofcourse, I reinstalled windows, so it's a factory new computer, BIOS is factory settings, and 10 seconds into the first boot I get a BSOD, 2 min into the next boot one of my monitors is flickering purple and blue, so RAM is set to 1600MHz for now, just got the new chassi so I'm beginning my water cooling installation now, c ya later!