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RAM, all computers need it, and there are more types of it than you can shake a stick at (excuse the pun), and people often take it for granted, however faults with RAM are one of the quickest ways to screw up your computer, more so than almost any other component except perhaps a dodgy power supply (QTech anyone?). I have personally busted entire Operating System installs with bad ram overclocks- times like that you better pray you weren't stupid enough to leave your valuable documents ect on the same partition as Windows.

So RAM stability is the cornerstone of a reliable computer, and whether or not you overclock your components, knowing that you computer is stable is peace of mind that you can't put a price on, but how do you go about testing your system to see if all is running well, or if you have hidden faults waiting to surface and destroy your valuable data?

In fact with a little know-how you can do it totally free if you have a spare hour or two (mostly unattended), and this brings us to the topic of this brief(ish) article....... MemTest and Memtest86+, the only RAM testing software worth talking about.

MemTest is a tiny windows exe that allows you to input the amount of memory that you wish to test, and then chuggs away happily testing it, telling you its progress by a % of the RAM you have assigned it, while you do other things (though beware it will use up a substantial amount of CPU power as well), leave if running for a hour or two, and if it has any errors then your RAM is unstable. There are fundamental limits on the reliability of this though, as the amount of RAM being tested by a single occurrence of the program is 1184MB (this can be circumvented by running two versions at once however), and also as the program obviously cannot access RAM being used by the Operating System, or by the user, you may miss "Bad" sectors of your RAM by the fact that they are being used!

Memtest86+ is the bigger brother of MemTest, and treats the testing with a rather more serious approach. Rather than a Windows program, you have a bootable CD, or a USB/Floppy EXE for use from DOS. This more rigorous approach allows you to test the entire RAM (bar the few kb in takes up), rather than the small amount you assign MemTest to use, as there is no Operating System or other programs running. Memtest86+ also has a series of different "Tests" that it runs, of differing complexities, in each "Pass". To make life even easier, many Linux CD's carry a copy of Memtest86+ accessible from the boot menu, so there really is no reason why you shouldn't have a copy close to hand. If you don't have a linux live/install CD handy then you can obtain via a small download a version to run from a floppy or USB key from the official site.

 

RAM that produces ANY errors on Memtest86+ is faulty and should be removed from the system ASAP, and preferably returned for replacement. Leaving it in the system can cause problems varying from occasional program freezes and crashes, through to corruption of files and total Operating Systems. Most RAM has an extensive if not lifetime warranty, so there is no reason to run the risk of running faulty RAM.

I personally use both the programs, MemTest for quick testing while I have other things to do, often when i am trying to initially test the stability of an overclock, and then Memtest86+ when i am either trying to analyse for long term stability, or trying to identify RAM with an inherent fault. The pictures you see above come from recent tests of my own system, analysing my 4 RAM sticks for errors, 2 of which you can see have been diagnosed as faulty and need replacing and has since been removed from my system.

So whether you are an overclocker looking to squeze that extra bit out of your system without compromising on stability, or just someone that wants a computer they can depend on, MemTest and Memtest86+ are great tools that will allow you to rely on your computer with certainty.