Maximum PC

I just returned the third bad OCZ RAM kit I've gotten in a row. OCZ used to be good... 3 in a row is just ridiculous. What happened to their QC? Not only that, but its really making me doubt PCP&C. If OCZ is capable of messing up their own great quality and reputation, they're certainly capable of botching the upcoming Silencer 2 PCP&C PSUs.

I hate to ask, but if all three kits were bad in the same board, then are you sure it is not the board?

Or maybe there's a voltage incompatibility.

n0b0dykn0ws

Agreed. The memory isn't at all the common problem here, since 3 sets have been tried out and the problem is still there. If it's the same motherboard, the perhaps the motherboard should be in the Dog Pound?

But you'd think at least ONE thread would be started trying to solve this problem before question a brand. We can help ya dude. Free Clinic, HMB/B, or even your peers in the Club can at least attempt to help ya. The club type may even send variants for trial, just to make sure that's the issue before going further...no RMA needed. But until all these efforts are gone through, no one belongs in the dog pound.

Case in point. I have known working OCZ DDR2 pairs that work. Have worked for years, and in the same build it's worked since installing Win7 HP. Hated it, moved to Win7 Pro for her machine, and it's 4 days of battling. Constant locks and only boots after a BIOS reset and one stick removed. Knowing it worked before had me ruling it out, but was getting really grim with the results it was giving me. Any of the OCZ I stuck in failed. OCZ was bad, or reinstall Win7 Pro again. Nope. A couple bright ideas, and it's chugging along for 3 days now. None of the bright ideas were based on the memory set, and I feel bad for even doubting the sticks.

The problem was in the board's BIOS and it's limitations with the Chipset...a perfect storm. I could rag on Brand Y, or Brand Z, but in the end it was me as the builder. That's what we deal with...we take this stuff on ourselves and own the support.

I've never had a problem with my RAM from OCZ so far, and I've bought probably 3 or 4 DDR2 kits from them (plus I dropped one module, and it still works--amazing).

I would venture to say that after 3 kits, it's probably not the RAM. I could see 2 bad kits, but 3 is a bit far-fetched (but it could happen in theory if there was a manufacturing gliche at the factory and you happened to get the same 3 kits that came off the same line at the same time...) Basically, very unlikely, but slightly possible.

I have had several OCZ parts an no problems here. I tend to agree that after the second 'bad' set I would be looking elsewhere for the problem. Believe me, if you had three in a row bad, many others would have seen a couple of bad sets in a row and I think we would hear more complaints.

I'm a bit saddened, though, that OCZ bought PC Power & Cooling. I haven't bought any of their new units, but I know the ones that they had (prior to the merger) were excellent (maybe that's why I haven't had to buy one so far... knock on wood). I just hope that OCZ doesn't run the PC Power & Cooling name into the ground, like what happens with some mergers. All in all, what probably was to happen is that OCZ wanted the PC Power & Cooling goodwill (brand name) to add to their arsenal of products, to help boost their image ratings.

To add to this situation- all three bad kits were tested on three different motherboards and failed memtest miserably on all three. By "in a row" I meant that the last 3 OCZ kits I've purchased have all been bad. Not all 3 bad kits I've had were even intended for the same motherboard. First time I got an OCZ kit for my main rig, was bad, and when I exchanged it I traded it out for a G.Skill kit which had gone on sale and was faster and cheaper. I was disappointed that I got a bad kit from OCZ, but every company lets a lemon through ocassionally, so I thought nothing of it.

Next time I bought an OCZ kit was for a new build I put together. Again, copious amounts of errors in memtest in multiple boards. Swapped the kit out for an identical one at Micro Center ("OCZ again, humph") and the kit I got back was extremely flaky. It would occasionally throw a single error through a run of memtest, but the Windows install would BSOD as soon as it started up. Tried it on my rig's motherboard, this time plenty of memtest erros showed up. I threw the G.Skill kit from my rig into the new computer, Windows installed and ran perfectly. I angrily returned the OCZ kit and got a Kingston kit, which has run flawlessly from the moment I threw it in.

This is why I avoid OCZ RAM now. Some of their PSUs are decent, and I might consider buying them in the future. Their Vertex SSDs are also something I would definitely buy, but I won't risk buying their RAM for a good while. G.Skill has become my new preferred brand. I've never had a kit fail me.

I still, to this day, have yet to see a bad OCZ RAM stick, and have used plenty of them. My current setup, in fact, sports 4GB of OCZ DDR2 800Mhz SLI Ready memory in a configuration of 2x 2 gig kits, all same timings, all same voltages, 4 separate sticks. I've had no issues with them whatsoever, so far, and it's been quite a few years since I started in this game. Thankfully, I've never had a new component be flaky, aside from an older Soyo Dragon board, which I learned my lesson from.

Anywhoo... I still say there's something wrong with somebody other than OCZ. I'd say it has to do most likely with it going from point a to point b, or perhaps b to c, idk. Or maybe you just have horrible luck with these sorta things.

If Spart says he tested the RAM on multiple boards and it was flaky, the RAM was flaky.

I trust Spart's experience with the actual RAM more than your experience with a couple of sets of RAM that are completely unrelated to his usage. Because, you know, that makes sense.

I could see your point, had I actually stated that he was full of it, but I didn't. I was actually implying the possibility that the RAM he was using quite possibly could've been screwed up in shipping, by a packer, etc. Simple logic really. I don't doubt that he had issues, I just don't think it was necessarily a flaw in the RAM initially, and trust that he has enough experience not to F it up himself.

Then there's also the possible issue of the motherboards messing up the RAM due to a voltage issue or something. So many factors could fall into play. I've known that exact scenario to happen and it was crazy. 4 different brands would work in this one motherboard I was checking out for somebody, but not the RAM that they wanted in the machine. No matter what I did, it just wouldn't work. Finally I figured out that, after having checked all possibilities, the board had somehow borked the RAM due to a voltage issue. The RAM was set to a higher voltage than the board would allow, so when it tried to under-volt it, it borked it. I only know this from examining all factors. It was really a crazy situation.

Recently I attempted to build a new system with a Core i7 875-K, and while the system would run fine, once I started gaming it would crash within minutes. The first thing I did was run not only Memtest, but the Windows Memory test as well. Which the memory passed both. So looking up the problem on the web, I heard it could be that there wasn't enough power. Purchase a bigger PSU still crashing. Maybe it's a problem with the ATI 5770, install an Nvidia 260GTX...Still crashing...Overheating?....nope. Then being so frustrated went out and bought an AMD Athlon II 250, a Gigabyte 880GM mobo, and using the memory, ATI 5770 from the failed build it ran great.

However I still had that i7 processor...So I started over. With the 880GM having on-board graphics I took the ATI 5770 back. Only this time I used Corsair XMS3 memory, and no crashes. I decided let's put that OCZ memory back in...and crash! Really I don't know...Just glad I finally have the system I intended to build in the first place.

So
Intel+OCZ=Fail
AMD+OCZ=Success

It could be voltage issues for you then. Are you sure the Intel board set the OCZ RAM to 1.65V, as is the proper voltage for performance DDR3?