Program for basic memory testing

[Arrakis9]

Every software person I know refers to this user definable, step above command line, arrangement as a GUI. Anyone familiar with a keyboard should be able to follow the on screen instructions and explanations to TAB + Arrow Key around inside it.



You hit upon main question I had about the various paid software. I suspect Microsoft went the economical direction of loading a bootable in their consumer diagnostic tool.



There is a chance I'm missing something here. Granted I typically structure my threads into a highly simplified rejuvenation of age old topics that will produce a fresh search result.

Reasoning you are exploring for using a spare drive escapes me at the moment. I have a few ideas, but would rather let you expand upon what this meant if you would be so kind.

Probably reccomending a spare drive because when your memory overclocking and you take things too far you can corrupt your OS and soft brick your system.

 

[Jism]

In my opinion memtest86 (onto a USB stick) is the best. It is outside of your whole OS and you can quite fast determine if RAM is stable or not. You do have a multithread feature which bases the ram using multiple cores at the same time, rather then the old version which would do one thread at a time.

Whenever i go for memory overclocking, i think the dumbest thing todo is to perform this from within Windows. You want to test for stability, and not cause any errors onto your ongoing OS. Corrupting a OS is quite easy. Usually within 5 minutes you can already tell if a OC is solid or not. For absolute stability a few hours minimum is recommended.

There can not be any errors. Simple as that.

 

[sneekypeet]

Every software person I know refers to this user definable, step above command line, arrangement as a GUI. Anyone familiar with a keyboard should be able to follow the on screen instructions and explanations to TAB + Arrow Key around inside it.



You hit upon main question I had about the various paid software. I suspect Microsoft went the economical direction of loading a bootable in their consumer diagnostic tool.



There is a chance I'm missing something here. Granted I typically structure my threads into a highly simplified rejuvenation of age old topics that will produce a fresh search result.

Reasoning you are exploring for using a spare drive escapes me at the moment. I have a few ideas, but would rather let you expand upon what this meant if you would be so kind.

You use a spare drive, so if shit goes belly up with your kit, you do not destroy a good os. If you don't care to have to rebuild an os, test on whatever you want.

 

[Waldorf]

@nomdeplume
it depends WHAT you want to test for.
while memtest86 (any version) is great for finding bad ram, its useless for stability testing,
especially when tweaking/ocing.
when bclk was (auto) boosted by my Gb board, memtest passed all tests, HCI found errors within 2-20 min of testing.

ignoring for a moment that your pc wont be running dos all day, so just because it passed in dos enviroment
does not mean it will also be stable running an actual os like win.

use something like TM5 or HCI for win testing.

HCI
the deluxe version incl a dos one, so if you suspect defective ram, you dont need to boot to win every time,
and can run it like memtest, works off cd or usb.

 

[A Computer Guy]

@nomdeplume
it depends WHAT you want to test for.
while memtest86 (any version) is great for finding bad ram, its useless for stability testing,
especially when tweaking/ocing.
when bclk was (auto) boosted by my Gb board, memtest passed all tests, HCI found errors within 2-20 min of testing.

I wouldn't say memtest86 is totally useless for OC. If you picked some ram timings that are going to be bad it can tell you pretty quickly if it's likely to fail before you boot into an OS saving you some time to make adjustments before your next test. Although once you do get it to fully pass you definitely need to switch to other methods of testing for OC stability that include CPU/IMC stresses and heat.

 

[Rus4kova]

For stability testing I am using RAM Test from Karhu. It's not free it cost 9.99€
It's extremely fast at finding unstable ram.

RAM Test – Karhu Software

The ultimate memory stress test program. Check your PC for faulty DRAM modules and verify overclock stability with Karhu RAM Test. Works on Windows 7/8/10/11 32-bit and 64-bit. Linux support coming in 2024.

www.karhusoftware.com

 

[Waldorf]

@A Computer Guy
problem is you the tests are fixed, so no random/over time errors are getting detected.
especially with ryzen i have seen that 99% of the time memtest past all tests,
while HCI found them within 5mins if it was clock/timings related, and about 20min if it was related to voltages being off.

i had a Gb Aorus Ultra (great quality, sarcasm mode: off) that didnt keep bclk at 100 (when set to auto),
and thinking it was related to hw, started testing/changing settings.
not a single time did (any) memtest86 i used, showed a single error.
quoting here: MemTest86 cannot remap itself to different portions of memory in order to run tests in the section of memory it was occupying.

im not saying it would/will never, but there is a reason why ppl messing with tweaks/oc on ram,
are usually using other things to test (stability), which isnt what memtest was made for.

one reason i like HCI is that its easy to set/use, and will detect rare/random things, as long as you let it run long enough.

 

[csendesmark]

There is MemTest86, which is owned by PassMark. I don't know if anything important has been left out of the free version vs the $49 paid version.
And there is MemTest86+ which is still a free open-source product. I used to use MemTest86+ in the DDR1/DDR2 days and I would still use it if needed. There was a long period when 86+ wasn't being updated, but the latest version is 2023-05-07.

fpbp
If you really wish to test your memory you will used one of these two, anything you run under windows will be subject to the windows kernel which might mask certain errors from the test program.
You need to get an USB stick and create a bootable memtest copy and run it.
Some better mainboards even have this integrated to the BIOS, but it is rare.
Forget using any memory testers launched under windows.
Superpi will not utilize all of your memory so that is also not suitable for this purpose.

 

[Waldorf]

@csendesmark
just because you havent (used) one, doesnt mean non are able to do so.
many on here can confirm TM/HCI etc will, and i doubt they would use those, if any free memtest could do the same.
not a single time did (any) memtest show a single error when i was tweaking clock/timings/voltages too much, while HCI did find em within 5-20mins.

ignoring that (unless turned off) win will use hdd/ssd space for page file and can swap stuff around,
and as long as those progs run long enough, it will test everything.