(Not sure if I should post this under PC Games or Memory, so it's going here to avoid crossposting, mod please move if needed)
I got Stalker: Clear Sky a few days after it came out, been having a helluva time getting it to run stable. It's fun but buggy as hell. After many a random crash to desktop I got a few blue screen crashes that rebooted the whole system. On one of the crashes my system would no longer boot past post. GREAT! Trial and error helped me figure out that one of the sticks went bad (it's one of a set that I had previously RMA'd).
I remove the bad stick and my system is fine, minus one gb of ram. I dropped all my overclocks just in case.
So ok, I think that maybe it's just fluke, I got a bad RMA and it broke again. So I go through the RMA process and send off the matching set 2x1gb.
Machine is down to 2gb ram, oh well, should still work ok, just slower load times.
Meanwhile I go back to playing Clear Sky and it's still buggy, but I'm able to play it with some trial and error and workarounds (quicksave won't load, so load old save, then hit quickload to avoid CTD). This works for the weekend.
It takes me a few days to get around to getting the RMA sent out since my system is still functional and it's not high pri.
The very day that I send it out, I get home from work and get time to game and it crashes every time I try to load. So I try a few more things and lo and behold, Memtest x86 says another stick of my ram has gone bad and lists the addresses, Windows Mem test was less specific with something like "Hardware errors detected, contact your system manufacturer". So I test the (remaining 2) sticks individually and sure enough, one of them is bad. I tried them in all slots.
So I'm down to 1x1gb stick on my machine, I don't want to RMA this one till the other set comes back since I have no more memory available and I don't really want to go buy more. So I'm not taking any chances by leaving it off unless I need something on it. I have other computers I can use but not for gaming.
Ok now here's the kicker, I have always had the RAM on this machine running stock speeds and voltage, no overclocking it at all. DDR2-800 speed with 4-4-4-12 timing and 2.2v, exactly what the modules list on the side.
I've only been at 4x1gb for a few weeks, upgraded from 2x1gb and played through Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl (Oblivion Lost mod, great btw) and Crysis with the 4gb in my system with no problems whatsoever.
This only started happening since I installed Stalker Clear Sky.
The ram is 2 matched sets, 2x1gb Ballistix DDR2-800 and 2x1gb Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800, both with the exact same settings. I have good airflow over the ram and when the second one failed, I even had the case open.
Motherboard is an EVGA 680i LT that I have RMA'd for other issues before, all minor. Rest of system specs are in my sig.
My day job is fixing stuff like this, so I know what I'm doing. But this just doesn't make sense.
What gives?![Confused :confused: :confused:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Confused :confused: :confused:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Confused :confused: :confused:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
This is really bugging me, has anyone else had any issues like this?
I have had a suggestion from a co-worker to test the ram in a different machine, which I can do at work tomorrow.
Luckily I got some good books recently I've been meaning to read, and just saw the author at a book signing (Steven Erikson, Malazan Book of the Fallen, anyone?) so I can handle a break from gaming for a bit
![](http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/161313/16/0.png)
I got Stalker: Clear Sky a few days after it came out, been having a helluva time getting it to run stable. It's fun but buggy as hell. After many a random crash to desktop I got a few blue screen crashes that rebooted the whole system. On one of the crashes my system would no longer boot past post. GREAT! Trial and error helped me figure out that one of the sticks went bad (it's one of a set that I had previously RMA'd).
I remove the bad stick and my system is fine, minus one gb of ram. I dropped all my overclocks just in case.
So ok, I think that maybe it's just fluke, I got a bad RMA and it broke again. So I go through the RMA process and send off the matching set 2x1gb.
Machine is down to 2gb ram, oh well, should still work ok, just slower load times.
Meanwhile I go back to playing Clear Sky and it's still buggy, but I'm able to play it with some trial and error and workarounds (quicksave won't load, so load old save, then hit quickload to avoid CTD). This works for the weekend.
It takes me a few days to get around to getting the RMA sent out since my system is still functional and it's not high pri.
The very day that I send it out, I get home from work and get time to game and it crashes every time I try to load. So I try a few more things and lo and behold, Memtest x86 says another stick of my ram has gone bad and lists the addresses, Windows Mem test was less specific with something like "Hardware errors detected, contact your system manufacturer". So I test the (remaining 2) sticks individually and sure enough, one of them is bad. I tried them in all slots.
So I'm down to 1x1gb stick on my machine, I don't want to RMA this one till the other set comes back since I have no more memory available and I don't really want to go buy more. So I'm not taking any chances by leaving it off unless I need something on it. I have other computers I can use but not for gaming.
Ok now here's the kicker, I have always had the RAM on this machine running stock speeds and voltage, no overclocking it at all. DDR2-800 speed with 4-4-4-12 timing and 2.2v, exactly what the modules list on the side.
I've only been at 4x1gb for a few weeks, upgraded from 2x1gb and played through Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl (Oblivion Lost mod, great btw) and Crysis with the 4gb in my system with no problems whatsoever.
This only started happening since I installed Stalker Clear Sky.
The ram is 2 matched sets, 2x1gb Ballistix DDR2-800 and 2x1gb Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800, both with the exact same settings. I have good airflow over the ram and when the second one failed, I even had the case open.
Motherboard is an EVGA 680i LT that I have RMA'd for other issues before, all minor. Rest of system specs are in my sig.
My day job is fixing stuff like this, so I know what I'm doing. But this just doesn't make sense.
What gives?
This is really bugging me, has anyone else had any issues like this?
I have had a suggestion from a co-worker to test the ram in a different machine, which I can do at work tomorrow.
Luckily I got some good books recently I've been meaning to read, and just saw the author at a book signing (Steven Erikson, Malazan Book of the Fallen, anyone?) so I can handle a break from gaming for a bit
![](http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/161313/16/0.png)