Memory Testing - What's good?

[Ethereal_Dragon]

So, I have been building my girlfriend a computer for MONTHS now. Everything is all set to go, except the stupid memory. I ordered Patriot Memory kit PVS24G6400LLK (2x2Gig sticks of DDR2 800), and I am currently on my FIFTH set (after RMA #4).... 3 RMA's went through Newegg, and EACH time, I got a stick of memory so bad, that I couldn't boot into Windows.

With kits previous, I would take MASSIVE errors in a windows memory tester I downloaded from microsoft's page last month. This set has 1 completely clean stick, and 1 stick with dribbling errors. The computer stayed booted up and logged into windows for 48+ hours without errors, which is the longest of any set so far. After 48 hours, I ran Prime95, and it is still running. Prime95 hit the 1 hour mark at about 1AM this morning, and no errors. I can accept a kit of memory that runs fine in realworld, and only has a few errors in tests.

Does anyone have suggestions for more tests I can run before I hand the computer over to her? I REALLY REALLY want to iron out the bugs BEFORE I give it to her, so I can essentiall 'set it & forget it'.

Thanks guys

 

[Hefemeister]

memtest
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
ram only

full system ibt.
IntelBurnTest v2.1 download from Guru3D.com

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Thank Hefemeister, I will have to run those when I get home tonight. What is a good duration for running the tests to ensure that the memory shouldn't give any issues during day to day use? Computer will be used for light work, MS Office stuff, internet, IM, and playing various Sims games.

 

[Hefemeister]

just run memtest overnight to ensure the ram is good.

IBT is more of an overclocking stability test. 2 hours should be fine if needed.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Thanks man again for those links. I had Prime '95 run clean for OVER 7 days. Then I ran the Intel Burn-in test. It would only allow me to test 2048 Meg of RAM, since it is running on 32bit OS. I ran 1000 iterations, each lasting between 165-170 seconds. It took roughly 1.9 days to do that. I THINK that was clean, I didn't see anything about errors, and no errors in the log it made. I now have Memtest running. It ran clean for me for 90 minutes before I went to sleep. I will likely run it until Saturday. I never go in my office anymore, because it's like a furnace in there with the PC's running.

I'm so happy this build is JUST ABOUT DONE!!! I just have these tests to do, check for updates, transfer media files to it, and then install The Sims 3 which I am picking up on my lunch break today. My girl is going to LOVE it.

 

[Hefemeister]

7 days of Prime.
Yep you are stable.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Yeah.... I sorta.... started running it, and then would get home so late I would just crawl into bed and pass out. I went into the office on Tuesday 06/02, and was like "oh, cool, Prime is STILL running, and STILL clean." And this thing runs SOOOOOO quite too, it's nice. At that point, I decieded to run the other tests.

When & if I upgrade to i7, I guess she will be getting my Q9550 to replace the E6750.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Prime doesn't ALWAYS show that you are truely stable. IMO, a few passes of memtest86+ will show if your ram it self is stable, I think 6 passes should be enough when the PC is at it's maximum temp, so try to run it at the normal ambient temp that it operates in during the day.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

It's been running 24x7 about 2 feet away from the rig in my sig, which combined have raised room temps about 5-10*C... So it's beyond what it will 'normally' operate at, which is good. I KNOW her room is cooler than my office. I think in the 90 minutes I had it running last night, it finished 2 passes, so we are probably at about pass 10 or so by now...

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Then I am sure it is stable.