Bad memory? Inconsistant memtest errors...

[Jhatfie]

So I am doing a quick emergency new build for my mother in law as her old computer died and she wants a new one asap and cheap.

To speed up the built and ship out process, I went with some of Fry's Friday deals I built the following.

Athlon II X3 440 (using OEM cooler)
BIOSTAR TA785GE 128M - $89 combo
4GB Patriot Extreme Performance Gaming Series DDR2-800 - $69 AR
Thermaltake TR2 600w (TR2 series is something I would normally buy, but I got what I had to work with and it was only $40 AR)
1TB Hitachi - $60
CoolerMaster Elite 341 case -$40
Phillips DVD-RW - $20
Windows 7 OEM 64bit - $109
Total - $427 AR

Build went fine, windows installed without issues. OCCT and Prime95 both passed after 6+ hours each. However Memtest86 will fail randomly with 1-5 errors on each pass. Test it fails on will vary between tests 4, 5 and 7 and some passes (10%) will go through without an error. Switching to different ram slots still results in errors. However running each stick individually will have no errors. Errors seem to come only while in dual channel

Tested the ram on my Windows Home server since it uses DDR2 and Memtest86 offered the same behavior with similar errors except instead of 1-5 there were around 20 errors per pass.

Used the known good DDR2 (Patriot as well, but Viper II branded) from my WHS and placed them in the new build, and Memtest86 passed without issues after multiple passes.

Has anyone seem behavior like this before, one or two errors in memtest, but only when in dual channel? You might think that it would maybe be a mobo issue, but different ram passes without issues. I verified that the voltage and timings were correct in bios, updated the bios and even tried adding voltage and relaxing timings with no improvement.

I suppose I should just take them back at this point unless anyone has any advice?

 

[Spikesoldier]

im pointing fingers at the CPU

 

[RebateMonger]

Has anyone seem behavior like this before, one or two errors in memtest, but only when in dual channel?

I have four sticks of 512 MB Rosewill DDR 3200, purchased a few years ago. It would occasionally fail Memtest 86+, only in dual-channel mode, on an Intel motherboard. Later, I tried to put it in a Dell 400SC server (which will accept non-ECC memory), but the Dell hated it and gave memory errors. Recently, I tried putting it into a brand-new Shuttle motherboard and it, too, wouldn't function with the Rosewill DDR.

It's not unheard of for memory to only fail in dual-channel mode. And, based on this one experience, I'd be concerned about the memory. I've LOTS of memory that passes Memtest 86+ over and over. Any failures in this test are a big reason for concern.

 

[Jhatfie]

Decided to replace the memory with the same brand/model at Fry's. Seems to have been the culprit. 5 full passes on memtest so far have all been successful with no errors.