Did I get bad RAM

[lunarnoah]

Hi all,

I just got some RAM from New Egg, and have been having some weird problems with it.

Here are the specs:

--Motherboard: MSI KT4 Ultra
--CPU: AMD 2200+
--New Ram: 2xRosewill 3200 512MB RAM

Here are the symptoms:

1. With the two new sticks (and the old stick removed), my BIOS recognizes my computer as either having 512MB, 768MB, or 1024MB...this seems to be random.

2. With the two new sticks, I can only get a CAS rating of 3.

3. If I put in the old stick and one new stick (doesn't matter which one), the system recognizes all of the memory (1024MB), and gives me a CAS rating of 2.5.

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So, my questions are: Is the new RAM any good? Should I send one stick back and pair the other with my old stick (which is 2700)?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks a lot!
LunarNoah

 

[MaluMan]

maybe try out memtest86 first? try each stick individually and see if you get any errors

 

[lunarnoah]

Good idea!

I'll do that as soon as I get home.

Thanks!

 

[montag451]

AND also make sure that your DDRAM Voltage in the BIOS is set to between 2.6v to 2.8v [maybe the new sticks need a bit more juice] Up it a bit at a time

 

[Fern]

Hi lunarnoah and Welcome to the Forums!

Yeah, I've been noticing wierd stuff with new ram lately. I've been thinking of starting a post about, but will mention it here.

I've recently gotten two sets of 512MB PC3200. One was advertised at Cas 2.5, the other at Cas 2.0. These sticks all "SPD"'d at 3-3-3-8. I'm thinking WTF.

The first set failed test#5 of memtest, so I sent it back.

The second set passed memtest for 24hrs at 2-3-3-11 (prolly s/b 2-2-3-8, or 2-3-2-8). I couldn't remember where the second "2" went, so I set 'em to "3". I set the last value to "11" cuz the NF2 boards like it better than quicker settings.

So, for some reason recent sticks aren't reflecting the correct SPD/timings. Perhaps it has something to do with a manufacturing change for 64bit?

I dunno, but if they work at the the proper timings (i.e., pass memtest) I say keep 'em.

BTW: This was Corsair Value Select and XMS.

Fern