Adding memory freezes 2 games

[videobruce]

I added 2 additional sticks of PC133 memory to a Soyo SY-6BA+IV MB and it causes 2 different games to lock up whereas with only 2 sticks the games were alright.

I ran 2 different memory testing programs (Doc Memory V2 and Mem386 Test V3) over 24 hours with each program and everything passed!

I tried the 2 additional sticks by themselves and all was fine. I tried the 2 sticks in slots 3 & 4 bythemselves and still fine. All sticks are PC133 I believe (not all the same manufacture), though the MB is PC100.

I then tried one additional stick and it was a borderline case. The games would usually work but with a struggle. As I was just over the limit.

The P/S is only a 250W, but the Porcessor is only a PII 450! Nothing overclocked! The videocard is a nVidea GeForce 2 MX from IO Magic (not great).

The games are Scrabble Complete (runs from the CD) and Trainmaster V4.2 (runs from the HD). Desktop is 1024x768 high color 75Hz. The O/S is Win 2k w/sp3.

It seems either the system has a limit of 256 or maybe a P/S issue, BUT all tests pass. Especially after 24 hours in the extended mode (I think that was what it was called).

[ski]

Your MB supports up to 1 GB of RAM.
If the total amount of installed RAM is less than that with all 4 sticks inserted, then you're ok as far as the total amount is concerned.

Lower the games' graphics settings and the resolution, and use 16 bit color depth with all of the RAM installed when playing those 2 games.
If they work ok, then your PSM may have to be replaced with a higher wattage unit.

Are you sure they are both 133 MHz? Sometimes a supplier will say 133 MHz, when the actual speed is 100 MHz.
And are the new and the existing RAM either both ECC or non-ECC?
Sometimes RAM from different manufacturers conflict with each other, even if the specs are identical.

What do you mean by "As I was just over the limit."?

[Paleo Pete]

I would say switch to 256 color before trying the games in question, many games work best at 256 color, in fact many specify that in their documentation. Almost every game I have uses 256 color, but of course that pretty much dates my games...:D The only exception I've seen so far, for older games anyway, is Unreal, which recommends 32bit color. Otherwise, Quake, Descent etc mostly work best at 256. It definitely makes a difference, games that work perfect at 256 color on my 233MMX would freeze at higher color depths.

[videobruce]

3 of the sticks are 133, the other I think is only 100.
The game changes the color and resolution by itself in a dos like window I beleiev. Thing is I never had to do this before.

They should be all non ECC

[ski]

Thing is I never had to do this before.

Are you saying that at some previous time you've installed 3 sticks of 133 MHz RAM and 1 stick of 100 MHz RAM from different manufacturers all at the same time, and had no problems?
If that's not the case, then recommend that you install RAM rated at the same speed and from the same manuf.
And consider using quality RAM from Crucial, Mushkin, or Corsair.

[videobruce]

Yes, if I have any more than the 2 sticks in there is a problem. Either the 2 (what I call good) sticks or the 2 older non-matched sticks are fine by thenselves. Three sticks the lockups start and get worse with all 4!

I know they aren't really good sticks and in the future I will get better memory, but for now these will have to do, at least on this system..

[saphalline]

How much RAM is on each stick, particularly the PC100 stick? It would be nice if you could just not use two of them (you could sell them). Also, you said "they aren't really good sticks"? That could be your problem right there.

As ski said, RAM from different manufacturers & rating don't play well together, and if they're all cheap RAM, you could just be out of luck in terms of trying to use all of them at once. I know you want to use them all but that may not be possible.

Also, the best test for RAM is games. :D I had a stick of RAM go bad on me recently (about 3 months ago) and the first thing to go was my PC's ability to play games. Windows worked fine (when it could boot up), transfering large quantities of data to various hard drives worked fine, everything else worked fine right up until I replaced the bad stick, but games would not run!

[videobruce]

Sorry, I thought I mentioned that. 128MB each stick.

I did install MBM and will look at the voltage with different amounts of RAM installed.

I believe you guys are right I will have to live with just 2 sticks. 256 is fine, it was just the fact I had more that wasn't being used, why let it sit!

One memory manufactures site (I can't recall which, I thought it was Cruical, but I couldn't find it there) has a number of benchmark tests on many popular MB's (this one isn't included) and for many going above 256 didn't improve the scores much.