Memtest86 or Memtest86+?

[Idontcare]

Which program do you guys find to be the most robust (and/or quickest) in terms of determining if your ram is stable or not?

If you prefer a program other than Memtest86 or Memtest86+ for ram stability testing, what is it?

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I always have used memtest86+ purely because I thought it was newer initially.

 

[bryanl]

I use both since they've usually given different results, despite sharing the same testing algorithms.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I only use Memtest86+. It seems to be more well-written and more compatible with systems.

My friend tried out Memtest86, and when it attempted to start, it would continuously reboot.

 

[jvroig]

Memtest86+.

Been using it since it was bundled with Ubuntu & Fedora CD / DVD installers, never seemed to have failed me yet.

I've also had good success with MemtestHCI. I usually use that when testing the overclock and I have all test suites lined up and don't want to reboot and find my linux discs just to do a memtest.

It's never failed me, too. But I've only really ever had a single RAM stick fail on me, and it was on a laptop, 5 years ago, so take this free advice for what it is worth.

 

[Idontcare]

I use memtest86+ because I like the idea that if my ram is unstable then the only thing it is crapping out is memtest86+ and not the rest of the OS install that might be trying to do something in the background with ram that could potentially be faulty.

I was just curious though if there were other programs out there or if people find testing in windows itself with memtest to be faster or any more reliable.

Thanks for mentioning MemtestHCI jvroig. I'm going to check it out!

edit: Hey, have you used this feature to speed up your memcheck speed?

Does MemTest support Hyperthreading or dual CPU machines?

Yes. Just run two (ore more) copies of the program, and divide the amount of RAM tested between the two of them.​

Sounds like they are saying I can run 8 instances of MemtestHCI simultaneously, each set to test 2GB, and I'll be able to test all 16GB much much faster than otherwise...hmmm, gonna have to check this out!

 

[Idontcare]

I usually use that when testing the overclock and I have all test suites lined up and don't want to reboot and find my linux discs just to do a memtest.

FWIW, Memtest86+ now has an exe installer that will automagickally create a bootable thumbdrive with memtest86+ on it.

No need for fumbling around with bootable CD's or linux install discs. They've really streamlined their program.

For whatever reason it doesn't recognize the cache sizes for my 2600K (see them all as 0KB) but it does see all 16GB of ram and tests it accordingly.

Takes about 3hrs to do one full pass thru the 16GB at DDR3-2133 speeds.

 

[jvroig]

edit: Hey, have you used this feature to speed up your memcheck speed?

Yep, It's a pretty spiffy feature, validated the RAM stability all the same. I always end up using that feature, actually. Since I found it, I never bothered using only a single instance.

For the first few times, I remember I went up to about 800% on all instances before deciding it was ok (didn't really take that long, on 4GB RAM back then), but then I would still do an overnight memtest86+ "just to be sure".

Nothing ever went wrong though, so eventually, I started decreasing the length of time. Last time I decreased the time, I believe I only went a little above 200% before being sure it was "ok" as verified by memtest86+ also. After that, I sometimes don't memtest86+ anymore if it's just OC testing.

New RAM testing still goes through Memtest86+ though, for "scope" reasons.

FWIW, Memtest86+ now has an exe installer that will automagickally create a bootable thumbdrive with memtest86+ on it.

Well, that's pretty cool, might just try that sometime, especially now that my optical drive is external, and I hate having to plug the thing to do stuff (but in this day and age, I go by several months before even needing the thing, which is how I decided an external slim drive is better for me than an internal one that ruins the front aesthetics of my case)

 

[kmmatney]

Microsoft memory diagnostic is a very good test program. One time it found memory problems that memtest86 missed, so I tend to use that more now