Test #8 in memtest significance concerning system stability?

[sycr0n]

Test #8 has been getting on my nerves because it's the only test that I can't seem to pass without errors galore. I'm just trying to run everything at stock speeds atm.

 

My question:

 

Is test #8 really significant to proving whether a system is stable or unstable? Are the errors in test #8 insignificant if the system can withstand stress-testing programs like prime95 or superPI for over 8-12+ hours?

 

All in all, I feel my system is stable. I don't have blue screens or hard-locks and I'm prime95 stable for about 11hours when i stopped it.

 

Are these memtest errors worth worrying that much about if all else seems good?

[krylon]

In my opinion if any sort of test fails whether it be memtest86, prime, superpi, etc, the system cannot be considered stable. However, if you are happy with how it runs then that's all that really matters. Just don't be surprised if you run into a stability or data integrity problem down the road when you do something out of the norm.

[cpuz]

try entering your spec memory timings directly into bios instead of leaving at auto.

[sycr0n]

In my opinion if any sort of test fails whether it be memtest86, prime, superpi, etc, the system cannot be considered stable. However, if you are happy with how it runs then that's all that really matters. Just don't be surprised if you run into a stability or data integrity problem down the road when you do something out of the norm.

 

I agree, which is why the memtest errors bother me.

 

try entering your spec memory timings directly into bios instead of leaving at auto.

 

I have done that also. I'm using [email protected] 1T per my sig. The memory timings are entered manually. I've tried upping the cpu and dram voltage but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on anything.

 

This is the second set of corsair XMS 3200XL i've received. One of the modules in my first set would generate errors by itself in memtest and I had some stability problems with it.

 

I'll probably have to just get some new memory

[Smoken Joe]

Dont run with memtest errors ever. There are a liot of timings to play with have your tried them? You mgiht try bank interleave off and some diffrent drive strenths etc. Of course the first thing I would try would be a fan directly on the memory. What chips are on that memory I can never keep track of the corsair. Sounds crazy but you might visit the OCZ forum. They seem to have a little more knowledge over there than on the Corsair forum sadly enough.

[sycr0n]

Dont run with memtest errors ever. There are a liot of timings to play with have your tried them? You mgiht try bank interleave off and some diffrent drive strenths etc.

 

I've tried alot of the timings and I read through the OCZ stickied thread concerning the 3200 Plat Rev2's that had some solid timings that I thought might work with my corsair memory. I've tried disabling CPC and bank interleave and that didn't help at all. I do have success if i run at Dual channel DDR333 or DDR400. Running the LDT at 4x or 5x seems to have no effect either on the errors.

 

Of course the first thing I would try would be a fan directly on the memory. What chips are on that memory I can never keep track of the corsair.

 

I can't even make it through one pass of test 8 in dual-channel DDR400 @ 2.8v. I don't think the memory could overheat that quick.

 

Sounds crazy but you might visit the OCZ forum. They seem to have a little more knowledge over there than on the Corsair forum sadly enough.

 

I'll have to check out the forums there. I'm gonna end up returning this corsair memory and i don't believe it will take me where i want to go OC wise regardless. Gonna go with some OCZ EL PC3200 plat rev2 (2x512mb)

 

Thanks for the replies!

[Sage2050]

sorry to bump this back from the grave, but i'm having problems with test 8 as well. its the only test that gives me errors.

[RGone]

If you had read the the thread for undestanding you would have seen HIS last post and what he said and a quick glance showed HIS cure in his signature.

OCZ EL PC3200 Platinum Rev2 (2x512mb)

 

He did exactly what he said he was going to do in order to get away from problems with Corsair and swapped to the OCZ memory.

 

About power supply sizing...

 

That from a quick glance at your setup.

 

RGone...

 

sorry to bump this back from the grave, but i'm having problems with test 8 as well. its the only test that gives me errors.

[robowang]

After a couple of weeks of tweaking for several different ram kits, I have noticed a couple of things.

If I was having errors in test 8 only, tweaking Dram Drive Strength would help. If test 6 only, Vdimm would help. If the on die memory controller is especially flaky, and errors in just test 5, tweaking vcore and vcore special will help. In this case, the highest vcore settings that would get the memory stable is also the highest vcore that the CPU should run. This means that if the highest full memtest stable is vcore 1.275 and vcore special 123%, and the CPU speed is 2500MHz at this setting, then bumping it to vcore 1.300 and vcore special at 123% may allow CPU to go to 2600MHZ, but that will introduce memory errors and O'clock will be unstable. The on die memory controller can be very limiting in this case.

I adjust the vcore settings to get the highest HTT that the mem controller is stable, then set up the cpu multi to get the highest speed at those settings that the cpu will run stable with those vcore settings.

One scenario on my particular system (see sig). HTT 300, ram at 2.5-4-3-8, cpu multi at 8X, vcore 1.275 and vcore special at 123%, full memtest at 8 passes. Cpu at 2400MHz, Prime stable. Change nothing but vcore to 1.300, or to 1.250 now errors in test 5.

Also, if I have settings set for a stable HTT 300 and cpu multi 8X, changing cpu multi to 9X causes errors in test 5 again. but these can be fixed by tweaking the other settings. Point is tho, changing the cpu core speed and vcore settings, effects the memory controller. So always recheck memtest when you change cpu multi, or vcore settings.

Of course, when going for very high HTT, you will hit the wall, eventually.

This is just my observations on one DFI board and may not apply to you. But, worth a shot.

[Sage2050]

sorry bout that, RGone. must have just skimmed over it. dammit, i really wanna start OCing, but even if i return my Corsiar i need to raise another 90 bucks to afford the OCZ platinum (which seems to be highly rated). is there any kind of OCZ ram i can get for around 150 (and works well, of course).

 

anyway, thanks for the input, robowang. i'll try it out and hope it works.