Issues with RAM lasting more than a year and a half
Issues with RAM lasting more than a year and a half
Apologies if I didn't use proper tags, this is my first time using this forum. Specs: Mobo: Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX CPU: R7-7800X3D RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 16GBx2 @ 5200MT/s 40-40-40-77 GPU: Gigabyte Nvidia 4070Ti BIOS Version: F34a This is an NZXT prebuilt since I did not build another PC at the time. Problem: When using two or more sticks of RAM, my PC will bluescreen and enter recovery mode. The error that throws is kernel heap pile up. I forget the exact wording, but that is the gist of it. I can throw in two sticks and it will survive for a few days to about a week and a half max before bluescreening during use or sometimes it just won't boot. This started roughly 3mo after I bought the PC in March or so of 2024. When the issue first arose, it would not post and I didn't use it for about two weeks. During that time, I contacted NZXT customer support and they were not much help as I did their entire troubleshoot checklist and wanted me to send my PC back to them for them to troubleshoot and fix and I did not want to risk it getting damaged in shipping as then I would be the one at fault for it and this is an expensive build. The motherboard that was initially built with the PC did not have debug lights, so I went out and bought a new motherboard with debug lights to give me an idea of where to look, and the light for RAM was on. I removed one stick of RAM and it booted up just fine, no issues. I later on decided to replace the RAM thinking that maybe it was just a bad kit. I bought the Corsair Vengeance I'm using now(I used that in my previous build and I had zero problems so that's what I stuck with). PC took both sticks just fine, had no issues until maybe a month or so later, I got bluescreens with the error I mentioned earlier. I removed one stick and it has been working just fine, but some games I can really feel a performance hit(Star Citizen for example). During one of my sessions in Star Citizen, I mentioned this issue and someone recommended updating my BIOS. I went from the very first BIOS version to F34a. I put the second stick in and it worked well for a little bit(roughly two or so weeks). I removed the second stick and that's what I have been using pretty much all the time with my PC. Recently, I looked up my motherboard compatibility and I found that my RAM is not fully compatible with my motherboard and CPU. I went into the BIOS and tweaked the speeds down thinking that by tuning it down a bit should help it be more stable with two sticks in, and like before, it lasted about a week or so. At this point, I am pretty unsure what my next steps are between buying a set of fully compatible RAM(and those prices are WAY out of my budget lol) or maybe buying a new motherboard that states its fully compatible with my current CPU and RAM. If y'all have any sort of ideas of things I could try, I am all ears. Thank you for your time reading and any and all help is greatly appreciated.
You can verify it's not your RAM by performing a memory test using memtest86+. You'll need a USB drive to load, and ensure it's empty of important files. On Windows, run the USB installer and boot from the drive. Once confirmed, you can begin searching for other solutions.
In reality... you can't... After years of dealing with the notorious "vengeance" ram problems, memtest consistently reported no errors. Eventually, we replaced the faulty RAM with genuine ones (Trident Z) and the issues disappeared completely. Your RAM isn't broken, which is why memtest passes but crashes and BSODs still happen. Memtest doesn<|pad|> to mimic a Windows setup, so it's mostly ineffective—though it can detect bad RAM. It doesn't actually replicate your CPU, which is why compatibility issues arise. If you've changed your RAM, let me know the brand and model. If I were you, I'd look up what AM5 equivalents are for AM5 and consider buying that (it'll cost more, but it's worth it). Alternatively, you could try Crucial 5600 RAM without heat spreaders—just a guess, but it seems the best fit for AM5.
Yes, that's correct. Verify the RAM modules first to ensure they're functioning properly before proceeding with troubleshooting. You can find compatibility details on the manufacturer's support page for your motherboard.