DDR2 Memory Failure Rate?

[Thor]

Hey all,
All 4GB of my Crucial DDR2-800 Memory died last week (currently being RMA'd), had to buy another 2GB Kit from Overclockers UK as they could deliver on a Saturday where Crucial Direct couldn’t, now this 2GB Kit seems to be faulty, I’ve had 3 BSODS today and after running memtest I get the following error message ‘cannot accurately store data in ram’ so this now makes it the 4th Crucial DDR2 Memory kit that has died on me, I’ve only had this kit for 1 week, WTF?

The first 2GB Memory kit was a set of Corsair PC8500 Dominatior Modules that died within 30 days. Is this normal for DDR-2 Memory cos I never had this problem with DDR3200 Memory, it was bullet-proof imho, never once failed in the 3+ years I owned it.

Am I doing something wrong to the memory do you think?
I have set at their right timings and am not currently overclocking them, I have them set at the right voltages too. The modules are cooled by a Dominator fan so they shouldn't be overheating.

What's the most Reliable DDR2 Memory out there?

TIA.

[staffsMike]

Geil is actually the most reliable i've got but then lots of people have had problems with them to.

It stays cool and has been overclocked from 800mhz to 950mhz since day one..really recommend it especially as it's only £40 from overclockers (this week) bargain if you ask me.

[danroyle]

i use geil ultra also and had mine over 960mhz and never had any issues before these i had geil golden dragons and they were also fine

i also have a memory cooler over my ram and have for a couple of years makes a hell of a difference to temps

have you googled to see if anyone else is having memory death issues with your board could be an over voltage issue alot of people complained about the nf680i reference boards overvolting by .1-.2 of a volt and killing memory on early bios revisions

[excalibur2]

Another thumbs up for Geil............ doing everything I want with a good overclock and no crashes.................and haven't increased the volts from 1.9v.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by staffsMike

Geil is actually the most reliable i've got but then lots of people have had problems with them to.

It stays cool and has been overclocked from 800mhz to 950mhz since day one..really recommend it especially as it's only £40 from overclockers (this week) bargain if you ask me.

Not bad. How reliable are OCZ DDR2 Modules, anyone??? TIA

Originally Posted by danroyle

i use geil ultra also and had mine over 960mhz and never had any issues before these i had geil golden dragons and they were also fine

i also have a memory cooler over my ram and have for a couple of years makes a hell of a difference to temps

have you googled to see if anyone else is having memory death issues with your board could be an over voltage issue alot of people complained about the nf680i reference boards overvolting by .1-.2 of a volt and killing memory on early bios revisions

I don't think it's down to the mobo as it's happened on 3 different mobo's now with 3 different chipsets, first set died on the ASUS P5B Deluxe, then a set died on the Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6, now on my third mobo the ASUS Blitz Formula (P35 Chipset, BIOS 0903) it's happened again.

[badass]

Originally Posted by Thor

Not bad. How reliable are OCZ DDR2 Modules, anyone??? TIA

I don't think it's down to the mobo as it's happened on 3 different mobo's now with 3 different chipsets, first set died on the ASUS P5B Deluxe, then a set died on the Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6, now on my third mobo the ASUS Blitz Formula (P35 Chipset, BIOS 0903) it's happened again.

Do you make sure the computer is both turned off and completely unplugged when working on it?
Do you use proper ESD precautions when doing anything with your computer?

[Thor]

Originally Posted by badass

Do you make sure the computer is both turned off and completely unplugged when working on it?
Do you use proper ESD precautions when doing anything with your computer?

That I do, many a mobo's fried in my early days of pc building down to that, live n learn, heh.

[Clunk]

The problem is D9xxx modules and insufficient cooling - its not brand specific, it is a widespread problem, but not one that anoyne will admit to.

Another can of worms is that you have an Asus ROG board

[V|per]

All the ballistix i have had have been absolutely fine, and i don't think any of the 8 2gig kits i have used have ever been run at stock (not all the ram is mine btw.. customers etc...)

Have one kit that ran at 1400mhz for 3 months and that passed memtest last night without fail...

Maybe im just lucky..

[Lucio]

Originally Posted by badass

Do you make sure the computer is both turned off and completely unplugged when working on it?
Do you use proper ESD precautions when doing anything with your computer?

Actually, proper ESD precautions will have you keep you case earthed by having it plugged into a wall socket that's turned off (and not into a surge protector).

That said, to the OP's question what are you actually doing to your RAM? Are you adjusting the voltage, if so to what settings? Are you overclocking things? As Clunk said, are you cooling your seriously powerful RAM chips approriately?

RAM in of itself isn't that delicate, it's one of the more robust parts of a computer, what tends to kill it is when people set things outside the range in which it's designed to work, or a faulty motherboard.

[Mad-Max]

With that much memory going faulty are you sure that it's not something else that is failing ?

I've got Corsair PC8500 and I'm sorry to see that yours has gone.

Just checked and Corsair PC8500 on scan have a life time warranty !

[badass]

Originally Posted by Lucio

Actually, proper ESD precautions will have you keep you case earthed by having it plugged into a wall socket that's turned off (and not into a surge protector).

Compaq trained engineer here. When I was as a compaq engineer, not using proper ESD precautions would get you blocked from all Compaq contracts - effectively sacked. We were also not allowed to have the kit plugged in that we worked on. Either we used anti static mats that were properly earthed or did not earth the kit at all. We zeroed ourselves on the chassis and made sure all of the kit was on the same Anti static mat, effectively making sire everything was at the same potential meaning no zapping of kit.

[V|per]

Originally Posted by badass

Compaq trained engineer here. When I was as a compaq engineer, not using proper ESD precautions would get you blocked from all Compaq contracts - effectively sacked. We were also not allowed to have the kit plugged in that we worked on. Either we used anti static mats that were properly earthed or did not earth the kit at all. We zeroed ourselves on the chassis and made sure all of the kit was on the same Anti static mat, effectively making sire everything was at the same potential meaning no zapping of kit.

I used to be an IBM engineer, and the exact same rules were applied to us. Alot of people don't deem it nesesary to do this, and 99% of the time, you would probably be fine, still, it doesn't mean it isn't going to happen...

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Lucio

Actually, proper ESD precautions will have you keep you case earthed by having it plugged into a wall socket that's turned off (and not into a surge protector).

That said, to the OP's question what are you actually doing to your RAM? Are you adjusting the voltage, if so to what settings? Are you overclocking things? As Clunk said, are you cooling your seriously powerful RAM chips approriately?

RAM in of itself isn't that delicate, it's one of the more robust parts of a computer, what tends to kill it is when people set things outside the range in which it's designed to work, or a faulty motherboard.

Running the Memory at stock settings:
DDR2-800 - 4:4:4:12 @ 2.2V
>No Overclocking. Cooled via a Corsair Dominator 3fan cooling module.

Think I might get a OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 / 1150 MHz / FlexXLC Edition 2GB Kit this time and watercool the memory this time.

[Clunk]

I had 3 of those kits, and they were D9, and all of them died within a few days.

The thing there is, I can only imagine the swearing that would have occured if I had to remove the watercooling each time one of the sticks went bad

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Clunk

I had 3 of those kits, and they were D9, and all of them died within a few days.

The thing there is, I can only imagine the swearing that would have occured if I had to remove the watercooling each time one of the sticks went bad

Yeah there is that annoying factor, how do you cool your memory modules?