Memtest86+ How long for 2x2gb?

L

LOUISSSSS

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
193
i'm running Memtest86+ v2.01 from a boot up disc to diagnose a freezing problem i encountered.

my ram is 2x2gb G Skill DDR2 1000 5-5-5-15. i set it to 5-5-5-15 800mhz since that what i'll be running at. 1.9v also.

i know that 1 pass takes longer w/ more ram so the "24 hour rule" doesn't really work here. right now, i'm at 23 hours and only gone through 31 passes w/ no errors. how many passes should i go through to safely say my both of my ram dimms are not faulty?
 
I usually do around 5 to 10 passes of memtest and call it good. 31 passes is plenty in my opinion - good to test at their rated speed to make sure they meet spec, but if you'll always run them a 800, testing at 800 is fine. If I suspect the RAM is bad, I will often test one stick at a time to see which one has the problem.

For testing out an overclock for 24/7 stability I'll do maybe 6 hours memtest, 15-20 passes of Intel Burntest, 6-8 hours of OCCT, and finish it off with 24 hours of Prime95. If it gets through all that, I figure my hardware and overclock is all good. If I have a wierd freezing up error that keeps occuring after I've passed thru all that stability testing -- I may do longer tests, but usually I'm thinking hardware is good at that point and there is a driver conflict somewhere (or the PSU is bad)
 
One more tip. For a quickie, use test # 5 for a couple of passes. It doesn't go as deep as the full thing, but it will show unstable settings quickly.
 
I think 24 hours is more than enough even with 4-6GB of RAM... I've used this one Windows memtest utility in the past that sometimes tends to find errors way faster than Memtest86+, dunno why, dunno if it still works reliably, but it's worth a shot if you're looking for an alternative or extra re-assurance.
 
6-8 hours of memtest is the most I've ever bothered to do.
 
Typically if you never turn off your pc 24hours is still plenty of passes to test ram but since I turn off my pc if I'm not using it or going to for a few hours.

I normally use a 12 hour test or just start it up ,go to bed and check it when I get back up and if all is good it will probably never concern me.
 
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