Will Memory Issues Affect Prime95???

[rpr]

Is Prime95 solely dependant on CPU stability, or will memory instability also cause Prime95 errors?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Both CPU and memory instability can cause P95 errors.

 

[cowdog]

I'm fairly confident that prime95 is very sensitive to memory issues.

 

[edmundoab]

YES it would affect prime

 

[jhites]

Originally posted by: rpr
Is Prime95 solely dependant on CPU stability, or will memory instability also cause Prime95 errors?

Memory will most definately cause prime errors. If you are getting errors in prime and suspect the ram, you might use MemTest86 to test your memory.

 

[Sid59]

you can run prime95 with little memory usage.

 

[Duvie]

Here is the thing...Older pre version 23's were not as sensitive to memory errors. In a version like 22.12 that I run I could have a prime95 stable system for 24 hours to have it error in memtest within 5-10 passes and even an occasional encoding or rendering error. So I started to use the combination of prime95/memtest86 to really test the overall system.

In the newer version 23 they have 3 diff test...I suppose you could still pick the test that test little or no ram and therefore may not find some instabilities in the memory unless it was extremely flaky. IMO the test that test a lot of ram does not test as well the cpu with stress and heat with large FFTs to fill the cache. So unless you are going to run both test I still think it is better to run the more cpu and heat intensive test for the cpu and run memtest86 for the memory, memory subsystem, and cache....

 

[jhites]

Originally posted by: Duvie
So unless you are going to run both test I still think it is better to run the more cpu and heat intensive test for the cpu and run memtest86 for the memory, memory subsystem, and cache....

There is also an updated MemTest86 program. It is based on the original MemTest86 v3.0 that has not been updated since May 2002. This newer MemTest86+ ,as it is called, has added support for newer technology, chipsets and more.

 

[Shimmishim]

Yes prime will like duvie said depending on the version of prime you use...

and yes, memtest86+ is better for testing your memory anyway imo...

 

[Diogenes2]

I have found it interesting in my overclocking endeavors, where Memtest86 would
pass just fine but Prime95 torture test would crash.. In this case, the RAM would
not be my suspect, but through process of substitution it would turn out to be the RAM
that kept Prime95 from running..

I have also experienced some Memtest86 errors ( usually test 5 in dual mode ) but
Prime95 torture test would run for hours...


I feel pretty good about a stable overclock when Prime 95-TT will run for 12 hours or so..

 

[StageLeft]

One of the P95 tests is heavy on memory. I have 512 and it was leaving me with about 15 working megs left after. It just pummeled the CPU and memory. P95 is such a bastard (in a good way) for testing a CPU. I had mine stable last night at a pretty high MHZ running 3dmark2001 like a champ, and then a a lower mhz with more voltage p95 would kill it immediately. If you can get P95 to run for a while you're golden IMO!