Did I damage my RAM?

[Sovereign]

OK, if you see the part of my sig where it says "if you want to know why" referring to DDR432. then here's why. I was overclocking (who doesn't :)) and I did not realize that the MSI K8N Diamond Plus can run DDR500 with a 5:4 divider. So, I pushed the FSB to 250MHz thinking I had to do that to maximize my RAM. Then 260 (I wanted an FX60). Then it started locking up and crap like that. So I looked everywhere except the BIOS...turns out I had set the HTT to 250, 260 and 270MHz on a 5:4 divider, pushing my memory past DDR600...it works fine the way it is, but the system feels kind of sluggish at 2.5GHz proc and 250MHz memory...do you think I damaged my RAM and thus should possibly buy new memory since I can't seem to get past 260MHz? Even if the processor is limiting my OC, how much performance am I losing by not running the RAM at 1:1?

For reference, I am not a **** (Blondie and several others who post over at Maximum PC can vouch for this) but I am new to this site ;)

[yurimxpxman]

Only one way to find out. Run memtest86 on it.

[Sovereign]

If I did, should I try RMA or should I buy a new kit or should I just be happy with DDR432? I mean my computer is very fast (see sig...) already.

If RMA, how should I explain myself to G.Skill? Can I RMA one at a time so that my whole rig isn't down?

If I buy a new kit, please recommend something (keep it under $250 please if you can).

Otherwise I'll just deal with what I did...

[Capper]

Welcome Sovereign, I'm glad you picked HL!
As to your problem, lets address a few things first. What voltage did you run your memory at? Did you push the voltage past the manufacturers recommendation? If not, then of course you can RMA it without issue, and even if you did, its worth a shot.

The reason your system felt sluggish is probably because the memory wasn't stable. When overclocking, great benchmarking numbers are what most everyone shoots for, but there comes a point when one component, or more than one component becomes unstable, making the system lock up, crash, or show strange behavior (low benchmarking scores, "sluggish" as you described it, etc).
Lets get a more detailed explanation of what you did, and what your settings are so we can isolate the issue and try to get you pointed in the right direction

[OCNoob]

Originally Posted by Sovereign

If I did, should I try RMA or should I buy a new kit or should I just be happy with DDR432? I mean my computer is very fast (see sig...) already.

If RMA, how should I explain myself to G.Skill? Can I RMA one at a time so that my whole rig isn't down?

If I buy a new kit, please recommend something (keep it under $250 please if you can).

Otherwise I'll just deal with what I did...

Err.. what do you mean if you did? Run it immediately to check for problems! I, personally, have never heard of breaking RAM by simply clocking it too high. I've only seen overcooked RAM, RAM that took too much voltage and simply started failing.

Go back to 250MHz HTT with 1:1 dividers and see if Memtest brings up anything. Sluggish performance... elaborate for us please? Does everything slow to a crawl or is it a slowdown you "feel"? You could also try SP2004 with the Blend test to see if the RAM has problems.

I can't see why you couldn't RMA the kit - assuming you didn't overvolt, G.Skill should have you covered. I don't think you can RMA one stick at a time because that's what I tried with OCZ for my fried sticks and they didn't allow it. Haven't heard of any stories regarding G.Skill's customer service, though.

Edit: Make sure your timings are very relaxed. After you've proven that the DIMMs are stable, try to tighten or just leave it.

[stinger608]

First thing that I would recommend, is start from scratch! Reset your Bios to stock default settings. Then start tweaking it again. If you still feel that the system is "sluggish" Then start looking at other areas one by one.

You might want to run memtest first though just to eliminate the possibility of a bad memory chip, but once that is done I would strongly recommend resetting the Bios

[drew and not u]

Even if they'd let you, you wouldn't want to RMA one stick at a time because you want matched pairs for optimal dual-channel performance.

And welcome to the forums!

[onebxr]

I am talking out of my butt here but usually when you have probs with bad/cooked RAM, dont you just get the BSOD?
-1

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by onebxr

I am talking out of my butt here but usually when you have probs with bad/cooked RAM, dont you just get the BSOD?
-1

Like Capper mentioned, instability can take on many different forms depending on the severity and complexity (how many other components are unstable as well).

As everyone else has said, try running MemTest or Memtest86+ and see if your memory is what is erroring out. Also please post the timings and voltages you are using. Post every detail you can think of that is relevant :thumb:

[Sovereign]

Well, I never ran it above 2.8vDIMM (within G.Skills's specs)...