Is my RAM dead already?

[Doshino]

Hey everyone, first post here. Hopefully this is in the right place. I was playing Battlefield 2 (or attempting to), and while loading the map "Kubra Dam" my game crashed to the desktop at about 61%. I found the following error waiting for me: http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7717/error0sb.jpg.

This is the first time I have encountered any error of this kind, and BF2 has worked many times beforehand. When I first purchased BF2, I had 1GB of RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=20-146-299&depa=1) and the game ran so-so, so I purchased another 1GB of RAM.

For awhile (about two weeks) BF2 ran great, much better than before. I just encountered this problem today. Is my RAM faulty? I ran MemTest86 but I don't know enough to understand what I'm looking at. I ran into a ton of errors.

As a final note, MemTest read my RAM as DDR333, not 400.

My specs:

2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB DDR400 RAM (further details above)
Radeon 9800 Non-pro
Creative Audigy 2 ZS
MSI K8T Neo2 Motherboard, Socket 939
160GB HDD
XP Pro

I built this computer in December of last year.

EDIT: Thanks in advance for your help I'll be checking this thread often in case any more information is needed.

EDIT2: Ok, it appears I bookmarked the wrong product and actually did buy the correct RAM the second time around. So I have 2GB of RAM in FOUR 512MB sticks - I bought them in sets of two.

 

[Doshino]

Well, here's an update.

I tried Memtest-ing each individual stick, and found that only one stick is faulty. Also of interest is the fact that the new sticks of RAM are labeled SP3200 unlike the first two - SP3200 showed up on the product page of the RAM that I DIDN'T buy according to Newegg.

So, the problem now: My *newest* GB of RAM is labeled SP3200. On Newegg.com, there's two seperate RAM products that I'm dealing with. I believe now that I accidently bought this "SP3200" RAM instead of my old RAM, which is linked in my above post. ONE of the TWO 512MB sticks (designed for dual channel) is completely faulty and won't even let me boot the computer when used alone. When ALL FOUR sticks are used together Windows tells me I have 2GB of RAM, but MemTest gives me thousands of errors.

My questions, new and old:

- Why is the faulty stick of RAM still recognized by Windows? Is it doing anything, or just taking up space?

- How much of a performance hit am I taking by using the "SP3200" RAM in conjuction with the other RAM? Apparently, it's lower quality than my original RAM. Also, the CAS timings are different - the original is 2.5-3-3-8 and the newer RAM is 2.5-3-3-7. I don't know anything about CAS timings, but I figured that was important info.

- Would it make sense to use the THREE working sticks for now, for a total of 1.5GB of RAM, or just the two originals? Would using three negate Dual Channel benefits? Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?

- I can't RMA the faulty RAM because I can't find the original packaging. This leaves me, I believe, with two options.

1. Buy ONE 512MB stick of the "SP3200" RAM to complement the working stick (would it work with the working stick for dual channel?)

2. Buy TWO 512MB sticks (1GB in 2x512MB sticks) of my original RAM so that I have a total of FOUR sticks of identical RAM.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Kaiser__Sose]

- the stick is stilll recognized because that part of the memeory is not being used yet.. when it is needed it will crash.

- don't worry about the performance diff.. not really all that much i don't think..

- Try you system with 1.5ram (the three good sticks) and see how it "feels" you probably won't notice a diff between 2g and 1.5 gig.. maybe just a little in BF2 but not in windows.

 

[Doshino]

I see. I was scouring the internet and the forums for more RAM information while I waited for replies, and it looks like while Dual Channel provides a nice little performance boost, it won't make or break my computer's ability to run well. I suppose I'll use the 1.5GBs while Newegg informs me of my RMA options (probably none!). Then I can get the 2GB back.

Thanks for the help.