DrNip's RAM Blues

[DrNip]

So far sets that have died on me are 1 of the 3 Kingston HyperX's and 1 of the 3 OCZ Blade's. The Kingston's lasted 1 month and the Blade's lasted 1 day. My Mushkin's lasted a week no prob but I RMA'ed them for some better. My HyperX's I had anywhere from 800MHZ(1600MHZ) to 1100MHZ(2200MHz) with various volts, timings and benches. The Blade's I didn't have much time to play with but had them from 1000MHz(2000MHz) to 1050MHZ(2100MHz) with timings of only 7-8-7-20 1T with only 1.65v DIMM and vtt of 1.325v - 1.45v. The HyperX's I wasn't so much bothered by when they crapped their pants but the Blade's I was as that was a good chunk of change dropped on them. I started this thread so I can get thoughts of what might be goin on. Hellcamino brought it to my attention that it might be my PSU and I will be goin home tonight to do some testing on it.

[Buckeye]

I dont think it's a problem with your system or what you are doing. I have heard of many people that have had the Hypers die on them, as far as the Blades go I have no clue as they are so new but I think it's the same story.

Sorry to hear about the RAM sticks dieing on you and it sucks to pay top dollar for these and then more for shipping RMA parts.

So far tho my Reapers are holding up pretty well but not getting the tops speeds you are seeing, but I have yet to push them real hard.

[DrNip]

I never had any probs with my PSU on my 790 platform but not to say they don't go out at anytime. I do know these hypers are prone to give out at anytime. My Mushkins weren't hypers they were just plain o elpida's. I will feel better about myself when I get home from work and know its not my PSU, thanx again hellcamino. Either way it goes, PSU or RAM I was out waaay too much money for one of them to go out. Both are OCZ products.

[hellcamino]

It's definitely worth it to test the 3.3v rail under load when having ram problems.

[Neuromancer]

Is the death happening in differing slots, or the same slot each time?

[DrNip]

Same slots 2, 4 & 6. One set died in the DFI the other in the Classy.

[DrNip]

OK, checked pins 1, 2, 12, & 13 on my PSU and readings were all 3.6v-3.7v. No off the wall readings there so I don't think my PSU is to blame. I checked during a Memtest run to insure my RAM was stressed.

[hellcamino]

Did you do this under load or with the 24 pin out in your hand? If under load then that is great but if it was fluctuating that much with the plug in your hand it sucks.

[Afterburner]

Hmmmm. Seems to still be happening..... I wonder if the tolerance level in Quality Control was changed for these Chips?

I hope I am wrong, but you cannot produce these chips for addicts like us, distribute them to all the manufacturers of the name brands we like. And then have them be crap like this.... Otherwise most of us will shy away until it is proven beyond doubt the new batch is good!

I just installed my Corsair c8's this week (2k's)... They seem rock solid so far and run all over the place just fine.... Now I am worried!

[DrNip]

Did you do this under load or with the 24 pin out in your hand? If under load then that is great but if it was fluctuating that much with the plug in your hand it sucks.

No it was plugged in while running memtest. I am sure it was fluctuating barely as it is hard to get the pins of the multimeter in there good. Only two of the four did this and it was barely at that.

Unfortunately I just found out they don't offer their Advanced RMA for this product like they do their others. They also require you to send in all three sticks unlike Kingston's RMA. So I will be without RAM until either my Kingston's or this get back in. Sux because I have those 4890's going to be winking at me in the corner when they get in. Hell I might miss out on competin in the 01 contest again! :(

[Neuromancer]

Hmm sure that they are Elpedia chips? LOL sounding liking they might be microns...

[hellcamino]

No it was plugged in while running memtest. I am sure it was fluctuating barely as it is hard to get the pins of the multimeter in there good. Only two of the four did this and it was barely at that.

Unfortunately I just found out they don't offer their Advanced RMA for this product like they do their others. They also require you to send in all three sticks unlike Kingston's RMA. So I will be without RAM until either my Kingston's or this get back in. Sux because I have those 4890's going to be winking at me in the corner when they get in. Hell I might miss out on competin in the 01 contest again! :(

Well it sounds like your PSU is in good shape, did the voltage fluctuate at all if you wiggled the connector?

[Chuchnit]

Nip, it sounds like they just didn't really have the process ready to mass produce, but did anyways. It seems like Hypers are dropping like flys everywhere.

[DrNip]

Well it sounds like your PSU is in good shape, did the voltage fluctuate at all if you wiggled the connector?

Nope.

[DrNip]

I think that from now on I am going to use a setting of at least 1.65v BIOS no matter what. If I go beyond 1000MHZ I will use more. True the multimeter will show 1.71v but raja said that when he uses LinX it is more close to his setting in BIOS than anything. So my conclusion is that I might be undervolting my RAM. I have tested with the multimeter during Memtest but LinX is a lil heavier of a test and haven't tested with my multimeter with it. The reason my HyperX's lasted longer on my DFI is because the difference between your setting in BIOS and Multimeter in windows isn't as much as with my Classy. I wanna say the DFI was BIOS setting to multimeter difference was .03 v while my Classy is .07 v. That's the only thing I can think of.

[spfoam1]

Damnit - I hope the Kinsgton HyperX aren't too fragile, as I am using them right now.

[hellcamino]

I think that from now on I am going to use a setting of at least 1.65v BIOS no matter what. If I go beyond 1000MHZ I will use more. True the multimeter will show 1.71v but raja said that when he uses LinX it is more close to his setting in BIOS than anything. So my conclusion is that I might be undervolting my RAM. I have tested with the multimeter during Memtest but LinX is a lil heavier of a test and haven't tested with my multimeter with it. The reason my HyperX's lasted longer on my DFI is because the difference between your setting in BIOS and Multimeter in windows isn't as much as with my Classy. I wanna say the DFI was BIOS setting to multimeter difference was .03 v while my Classy is .07 v. That's the only thing I can think of.

That was going to be my next curiosity, I have mine at 1.6v (bios) and they seem to run anywhere up to 2000mhz at that voltage. I initially set it there to get it through stability testing as it seemed to work better there than at 1.65v and showed slightly better performance in everest memory bench. The sticks would pass memtest at lower voltage but not Linpack so you might be on to something Nip.

[DrNip]

Well just got back from the movies and thought I would throw the FUBARED stick in and bump it up to 1.65v in BIOS. It still throws errors right away. But I can't help but think the reason the sticks are dying are because people under volting them. Think on my new sticks I am going to stick with my 1.65v BIOS theory. Of course with VTT within the .5 specs.

[hellcamino]

Well just got back from the movies and thought I would throw the FUBARED stick in and bump it up to 1.65v in BIOS. It still throws errors right away. But I can't help but think the reason the sticks are dying are because people under volting them. Think on my new sticks I am going to stick with my 1.65v BIOS theory. Of course with VTT within the .5 specs.

How much vtt are you giving them? I'm at about 1.5v.

[DrNip]

1.4 which is or was LinX stable at 1000MHz with the HyperX's.

[hellcamino]

1.4 which is or was LinX stable at 1000MHz with the HyperX's.

At 1.4 vtt I was stable at 1.65 vdimm, at 1.5 vtt only 1.6v was neccesary. In practice these oc much like an AMD north bridge.

[DrNip]

Well I have been puttin the remaining two sticks thru hell and they have been taking it lke champs. Been runnin LinX and the difference between BIOS/Eleet and multimeter deep into the run is .05v. Not as much as others have reported. Thinkin I just had a bummed stick. Just wish I could only RMA the one bad stick as the other two rock.

[hellcamino]

Well I have been puttin the remaining two sticks thru hell and they have been taking it lke champs. Been runnin LinX and the difference between BIOS/Eleet and multimeter deep into the run is .05v. Not as much as others have reported. Thinkin I just had a bummed stick. Just wish I could only RMA the one bad stick as the other two rock.

The main thing you are looking for there is that it be consistent Nip, as long as the range it covers is acceptable you should be fine. If you are wondering if you are really seeing the issue I was describing to you then I am pretty sure you are not. I said rapid fluctuation and that is exactly what I meant, .5 - 1v or greater fluctuation across that range on the 3.3v rail 20x a second or more which requires a pretty good meter to catch.

If anything you might want to look at the 24 pin connector to make sure it's tight and clean. I've had some issues there when using a splitter adapter for using a pair of PSU's.

[DrNip]

Great, just contacted OCZ and they tell me the RAM is on back order. I ask for a refund and they acted as though they didn't know anything of what is goin on now. I sent them a link to the statement on the OCZ forums. They are suppose to contact me back. So I am at least going to be without RAM for another week!!! :argh::argh::argh::argh:

My HyperX's are also on back order with Kingston!!! :argh::argh::argh::argh:

[Kal-EL]

ohcrap Bummer dude,

[DrNip]

I just want my $400 back and will go get me some other RAM. I am tired of rockin the HP.

[DrNip]

Well they got back with me and started the refund process as there is no telling when they would get more in stock. Ordered me some more Mushkin's as it was great RAM, not Hyper based and should have never got rid of it in the 1st place. You live you learn. Count me in on the SuperPi contest supes!

[Bones]

Good luck with the refund Dr. Nip - I can promise you're not alone.

I've had my share of RAM dying on me like the rest of us and right now it looks like my PNY PC4800 RAM is about to take a dump. One stick died awhile back and now getting random reboots, lockups, ect like I had when that stick croaked.

Using this in my 754 DFI since 754's don't have dual channel support and the single was useable that way. I'll do some testing but with the way it's acting, seems I can already hear the funeral bells for it.

If it's truly dying, oh well.... At least it's dying a warrior's death.

[DrNip]

Well they are sending me a check via snail mail for the full amount plus shipping! Never heard of any company refunding your shipping for ya unless you ordered it directly thru the company you are RMAing thru.

[DrNip]

WOW. I am amazed. I just received my refund check in the mail today from OCZ. Took them one week. I was prepared for it to take 4-6 weeks. Way to go OCZ.

[Kal-EL]

Good show OCZ.

[eva2000]

Well they are sending me a check via snail mail for the full amount plus shipping! Never heard of any company refunding your shipping for ya unless you ordered it directly thru the company you are RMAing thru.

WOW. I am amazed. I just received my refund check in the mail today from OCZ. Took them one week. I was prepared for it to take 4-6 weeks. Way to go OCZ.

Glad to hear you got your refunds.. OCZ always has top notch support :)

[DrNip]

Well I'll be ding dang. My HyperX's showed back up from RMA today. Always feels good having a back up plan. :D

[eva2000]

haha nice...

[DrNip]

I wonder what IC's they will be? Can't wait to see.

[MaadDaawg]

Sent my DomGT 2000mhx in for rma almost two weeks ago and they can't say when new "revised" stock will be available. They offered me three options, 1 was they'd send me some temporary replacement ram. 2 was they'd refund my money, and 3 was I could just wait. The temp replacement they offered me was 1800mhz ram :(

I had already received some OCZ 2133 PC3-17000 ram so I told them I'd wait lol

Hopefully this OCZ stuff works out. Supposed to hit 2133 at 1.65v, they call it low voltage. Wonder what it'll hit at 1.67v ???? lol

[Bones]

Good to see they are doing something at least. Maybe what you'll get will be worth the wait.

I'm wondering what chips are in my set (OCZ3P2000EB2GK) and haven't really found any info but believe these could be D9 sticks. They seem to be good so far and I'm happy since these were to get the ball rolling here anyway due to a really tight budget with the wife not having a job.
We all know how that is.