samsung ram

[gg_wong]

is samsung ram reliable compared to kingston or corsair? i just recently buillt a computer for my friend and HL2 keeps crashing to desktop. The error is the HL2.exe and send to microsoft or not.. .. pleasse help? or it might bne something else... everything else runs fine

Specs
3500+Amd
512x2 Samsung Ram
160Gb Seagate 7200rpm HD
nvidia 7600GT KO gpu
Antec sonata 2 case
400 W pw
ASUS A8N-E Motherboard ATX S939 NFORCE4 Ultra DDR PCI-E16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Mobo

[Aristocrat]

Download 2 programs, 1 called memtest, and one called Prime 95.
Both are free, use memtest to test the memory (you load it via a floppy disk) and let it run for a few hours (most errors are picked up in the first pass though...).
Prime95 runs through windows (or in the Operating System anyway desktop anyway).
Run it's stress test and see if any errors come up.
If either one shows errors the cpu or the ram has problems.

If you don't feel like doing the above, go into the BIOS of the computer and check that the ram timings are set those recommended by Samsung for the ram.

[gg_wong]

how do i run the stress test?

[Aristocrat]

Go to the options tab and run the torture test (sorry, my bad), and run the blend setting.

[gg_wong]

ok i have found an error in test #3, so how do i find out which 1 of the 2 is the faulty 1?

[OTZ]

ok i have found an error in test #3, so how do i find out which 1 of the 2 is the faulty 1?

Is that a memtest error, or a prime 95 error?

[Aristocrat]

Well, take one stick of ram out and put the other in the slot that your motherboard manual specifies for a single stick of ram (slot 3 on mine...but check first otherwise your computer will beep on startup and wont load).
Test that ram with the programs you downloaded. If no errors are found, test the other stick.
Report back what happens, it is possible that neither stick has an error but run the tests on the individual DIMMS (stick of ram) first.