whats a good memory tester?

[Jesta]

I am having troubles with my computer. Ive tested the HD, replaced the MoBo, my next step is to test the memory.

Whats a good program to see if there are any problems with my current ram?

ps: my problems are frequent crash's. When windows is idle it is very stable. but when i run any kind of program either the program crash's or the computer crash's.

[Yellowhello]

I use MemTest and it works great. It runs outside of the OS though (you need to create a bootable disc).

You can also try the "blend" test from Orthos.

[One4yu2c]

Memtest86+

[Yellowhello]

What's the difference between Memtest86+ and Memtest86 which I linked to? I know you explained it in an earlier thread, but I for the life of me cannot remember the difference...

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Yellowhello

What's the difference between Memtest86+ and Memtest86 which I linked to? I know you explained it in an earlier thread, but I for the life of me cannot remember the difference...

At one point in time, the original Memtest ceased development and stopped being updated. Another programmer (Samuel Demeulemeester) picked up the slack and Memtest86+ was born, which was basically an updated version of the original to accommodate modern hardware.

Today both programs are worked on, though Memtest86+ has been more recently updated (2/08 versus 8/07). Samuel Demeulemeester has also contributed to the original (see the last line here), helping bring Memtest up to speed.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Yeah, Memtest86 is a good one to use. My motherboard has Memtest86 built into it, so I can run it right from the BIOS. I have another little thing just called Memtest, that runs in Windows for X amount of time until you stop it, and a couple things by Rightmark (Memory Stability Test and Memory Analyzer). I can't say how effective these programs are, since they never seem to find any problems on my system. But maybe try them - if you are having memory issues, maybe they will identify any problems.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Memtest86+

I partially agree with you. I've had many overclocks pass memtest86+ yet not even boot into Windows, so I guess it would depend on the situation. If trying to pinpoint faulty memory, it's the best. If trying to verify if your overclock is stable, ORTHOS or OCCT wins it in my opinion.


Edit: Dangit, can't type tonight. @_@

[Quakindude]

@ Polobunny

If your memory passed memtest, but you didn't boot into Windows, then memtest did the job it was supposed to do. It showed you your RAM was not the reason behind not booting into Windows, but rather your CPU overclock that caused the non-boot.

If your CPU didn't cause the non-boot, then your FSB wasn't stable. You can have a CPU and Memory that passes testing for a given overclock, but the chipset not be able to handle running Windows and cause Windows to error out and fail to load. Knowing it isn't your Ram is why Memtest is used.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

@ Polobunny

If your memory passed memtest, but you didn't boot into Windows, then memtest did the job it was supposed to do. It showed you your RAM was not the reason behind not booting into Windows, but rather your CPU overclock that caused the non-boot.

If your CPU didn't cause the non-boot, then your FSB wasn't stable. You can have a CPU and Memory that passes testing for a given overclock, but the chipset not be able to handle running Windows and cause Windows to error out and fail to load. Knowing it isn't your Ram is why Memtest is used.

I'm pretty sure there's a certain difference between memtest stable and Windows stable for RAM. Depends on the config, but it can be as high as a 50mhz difference sometimes, from what I could gather.

[Quakindude]

For sure, there is. I've had ram pass memtest, but Windows fail to load. Increase voltage to my CPU and then everything loaded just fine.