memtest86+ question with new board and memory...

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:00 pm

Wayne Redpath wrote:I won't tell you what to do. I will educate and recommend and help to clarify. Things to consider are that the Intel board is certified for the E3200 CPU and what are your return privileges, shipping costs and restocking fees.

Well, thanks for all your suggestions anyway.

- Tim

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:06 pm

lm wrote:Well, I'd just keep the old one.

Benefits:

- Don't need to reinstall windows, which you might have to do with a new mobo. I'm not sure on this.

- Don't have to take the old mobo out of the case and put the new one in, which is a lot of work.

- The old mobo likely uses considerably less power. See viewtopic.php?p=295510&highlight=x38+p45+x58#295510 for reference.

And some memory-mobo combos just aren't compatible. So the other one is less picky, but basically you found the kind of memory that your old one accepts so there shouldn't be any problem.

Functionally, you shouldn't be able to notice which board is in the PC during everyday use, anyway.

Luckily, I'm only intending it to run Linux, which makes things a lot easier.

But in any case, I'll have to reinstall Linux, because the original memory problem existed when I initially installed it, which makes anything written to disk at that time potentially messed up.

Mobo switching - yeah, lots of work; on the positive side, I've never used a Gigabyte mobo, so I'm curious how they behave.

It does look like the Q45 chipset on the Intel board draws a bit less power, not taking into account the necessary add-in video board for the P45 board.

Thanks for your suggestions... if I had endless time and endless money, I'd try them both for awhile, then pick one to use. Since I don't, I'll probably return the new board I haven't even opened yet.

- Tim

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:07 pm

Klusu wrote:
tbessie wrote: ..a board that works with memory X and Y...
You don't know that. Do you?

Well... *sheepish look*... noooo.

I know nothing about how the new board will behave. For all I know it might work with neither of the memory sticks I have.

- Tim

lm · Post by lm » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:12 am

tbessie wrote: Mobo switching - yeah, lots of work; on the positive side, I've never used a Gigabyte mobo, so I'm curious how they behave.

I've a Gigabyte mobo, and in a perfect world I should not be able to tell I have. The only way to notice which board you have, by using the system, is to notice the faults it haves. For example, mine has nontrivial dpc latency spikes (which I can't perceive myself, but a tool made to measure them detects them).

The mobo has maybe the least amount of effect to whole system performance of all the system parts except trivial things like the case. To me, it's basically just a bunch of connectors and sockets. Why should it matter which one it is as long as it works.

larrymoencurly · Post by **larrymoencurly** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:02 pm

Wayne Redpath wrote: I have not yet found a mainboard that did not work 100% reliable with Kingston ValueRAM.

Kingston 256MB ValueRAM PC2100 would not work at stock settings with ECS P4S5A2 (SiS 645 chipset) but worked fine with ECS K7S5A Pro (SiS 735 chipset).

Then there was my experience with 12-13 Kingson ValueRAM 512MB PC3200 DDR modules. I tried them in those two mobos plus mobos based on the VIA VT400 and nVidia nForce 250, and eight of them failed at the stock settings with at least one of those mobos.

OTOH I've never had a failure with a Kingston DDR2 memory module, and every replacement module Kingston has delivered has been error-free.

The only RAM that's always been reliable for me has been the kind with chip maker branded chips on it, except for a PC133 PNY/CompUSA with Infineon chips (solder blobs on the gold contacts).

tbessie, I have to agree that the problem is the Corsair memory because I bought some 2x2GB PC6400 back in January ($15, AR), and both samples had one really bad module. Four people I know also had problems with it.

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:20 pm

larrymoencurly wrote: tbessie, I have to agree that the problem is the Corsair memory because I bought some 2x2GB PC6400 back in January ($15, AR), and both samples had one really bad module. Four people I know also had problems with it.

Thanks for all your suggestions - in the end, I sold the Corsair memory on Craigslist, with the caveat that I would take it back if it didn't work for whoever bought it. The guy who bought it had no problems with it, so it looks possibly more compatibility than anything else.

The Crucial memory I bought to replace it showed no faults in MemTest86+, so I'm up and running now, thank goodness!

- Tim