Can RAM just "go bad" after a few years?

A

[A]MD-Fan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
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One of my secondary PCs is running some Kingstom KVR overclocked about 30 mhz (pc2700 @ 200 mhz). And today I noticed random crashes. Run memtest and get errors on the 5th test. Sucks that this happened since this RAM came with really good ICs.

So is this common/rare?
 
I would imagine overclocking would damage most componets over time. I think of it like this:

You have a water pipe that is rated to flow 30 gallons per minute.

You push 40 gallons through the pipe. Although the pipe dosen't initially break and to some it can take the additional load, you ARE stressing it out more than it's rated.

So after a while, wouldn't you expect the extra load to cause problems?
 
I've had my own memory go bad as well as seeing it at work. It happens.
 
iZero said:
I've had my own memory go bad as well as seeing it at work. It happens.
Click to expand...

Same here, I just keep getting more and more forgetful... :p

On topic, RAM can sometime go bad overtime, and this is usually "helped along" by increasing the voltages of your RAM for extended period of time. Depending on how high you volt your RAM, and where various transitors happen to be, over time you can cause atoms of copper and other conductive materials to be released from the transitors they are on, which over time can degrade the performance of RAM. This degredation of performance often follows after an extended period of heightened use; for a while there isn't a problem when you loose a bit of the materials on the transitors, and you can actually increase speeds. Over time, however, you can experience degradations in speed, and actual damage to the RAM itself.

 
this is bound to happen to all ram over time. It's an IC and ICs have a lifetime... it may happen faster or slower, but ultimately it will happen. I used to remember a reason for this too, but i do not anymore.
 
I've had sticks go bad before. Usually though it's only the generic cheap stuff that goes bad before it's obsolete.
 
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