Got a Faulty RAM Kit and Mwave Will Not Repair It

Lnelzen on 20/01/2022 - 17:53
Last edited 20/01/2022 - 18:50

Hi all, I'm looking for advice regarding warranty with my RAM.

I bought a pair of G.Skill Trident Z RAM from Mwave. I conducted some extensive testing on this kit through Memtest86 and determined it was faulty, so I went ahead and RMAed it to G.Skill in Taiwan. The return process took over three months but as soon as the RAM arrived, I conducted further testing to figure it was still faulty.

Since then I had purchased a new motherboard and a new CPU to expand the amount of hardware I have to test this RAM kit. With the new hardware I further tested and continued to receive errors on Memtest86, so I reached out to Mwave (my original seller) in hope of a quicker replacement this time.

At the moment I'm a bit confused on what I should do… Should I send the RAM back to Mwave and tell them about their mistake or send it back to G.Skill in Taiwan and pay a high shipping fee + another three month wait.

The parts I have swapped around in my testing:

CPU
i9 12900K
i9 9900K
i5 8500

Motherboard
Z690 Asus Strix-A Wifi (DDR4)
Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi
B360 Aorus Gaming 3 Wifi

PSU
Corsair RM750x
Corsair CX650M
Corsair TX550M

TL;DR: Mwave incorrecty ran Memtest86 and assumed the RAM Info meant the actual speed of the sticks, when it is actually running at around 2666MHz instead of the full 3600MHz. With their incorrect results they deemed my RAM as not defective and sent it back to me.

Here is the chatlog between Mwave and I:

Here is the collection of images used in the case.

More Details
I had contacted G.Skill support and had gotten a replacement of the ram after almost four months (due to delayed shipping).
The serial numbers of the original sticks were: STICK1 + STICK2
The serial numbers of the replacements sticks are: STICK3 + STICK4

Upon the day of arrival (of the replacement sticks) I had instantly ran a Memtest and gotten up to a hundred errors.

My system specs are:
CPU: i9-12900K
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z690-A GAMING WIFI D4
Power Supply: RM750x
GPU: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GAMING X TRIO

To rule out any other faulty part I ran Memtest86 with a Patriot Viper (2x8gb 2666mhz) kit of ram and got zero errors. I have also tried out different CPU's, motherboards, and power supplies and received the same results.

Mwave 6/01/2022 8:44:12 AM
If you have any picrtures of the errors please upload them to this ticket.

MY ATTACHED IMAGES

Mwave 18/01/2022 10:21:42 AM
Hi,

We have finalised testing on the unit and have been unable to identify the described fault. Please see the attached photo where the RAM has passed Memtest.

The unit has been deemed No Fault Found and as such we are unable to process warranty claim on the item.

Please confirm your return address so we may ship the unit back to you.

Kind regards

You 18/01/2022 12:25:35 PM
Hi,

My return address is

#

You 18/01/2022 2:54:13 PM
Hi,

I'm curious if you had ran the benchmarks with XMP enabled.
If you refer to the control image and your Memtest passed image, the memory speeds are 18.2 and 18.4 GB/s, while the image with errors is running at 23.7 GB/s.

Kind regards

You 18/01/2022 2:58:12 PM
Regarding the previous message, the control image has ram sticks running at 2666mhz hence the reduction in bandwith

Mwave 19/01/2022 9:40:37 AM
Hi,

The Ram was tested with XMP on as you can seen in our test image it is running at 3600mhz. We are unsure what might be causing the discrepancy, its possible the memory controller of the cpu or the motherboard is causing issues with the system.

You 19/01/2022 9:51:25 AM
Hi,

I'm certain the 3600mhz number describes the XMP speed saved on the memory profile and not related to the actual speed of the memory in the test. I have tested 3600mhz memory on a B360 board (which is physically limited to 2666mhz) yet it says 3600mhz on memtest.

You 19/01/2022 9:59:33 AM
I have uploaded an image of the memory running on the B360 board which is physically bottlenecked by the motherboard and it passes because it's not actually running its XMP speed. You can tell because the bandwidth is not correct, yet it displays 3602MHz.

Mwave 19/01/2022 2:19:32 PM
Hi Nelson,

Re: Job/RA number ######, Product SKU number: ######

The job is now completed.

Your tracking number is ###########
Please track at https://startrack.com.au/

Please note this can take up to 24 hours to show online in some cases.

Regards,
Mwave Customer Team

Computing Computer Component G.Skill RAM

Related Stores

Mwave Australia
Mwave Australia

Comments

  • rektrading on 20/01/2022 - 18:03
    +8

    Why did you ship the item to the manufacturer?

    • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 18:19

      Mwave required me to speak to the manufacturer before opening a case with them

      • rektrading on 20/01/2022 - 18:20
        +19

        Ohh. I see.

        You got played.

      • vinni9284 on 20/01/2022 - 18:53
        +12

        Handball to the max. They had to refund or replace the RAM under ACL

      • solidussnake on 20/01/2022 - 20:14
        +6

        It's illegal for retailers to palm you off to the manufacturer and then for you to spend big on shipping overseas that's pretty poor

  • JimmyF on 20/01/2022 - 19:21
    +3

    The serial numbers of the original sticks were: STICK1 + STICK2
    The serial numbers of the replacements sticks are: STICK3 + STICK4

    Got a friends machine you can put the RAM in? It's pretty rare for RAM to fail let alone to be dead on arrival these days, and to have two lots 'fail' out of the box like you have would seem to me like something is up in your testing hardware, even though you have tried a LOT of hardware.

    Also the fact that when mwave tested the RAM it passed, would make me think there is something in your setup that is causing the issue.

    Have you gutted the computer back to the bare bones? No add in cards, no drives attached, the bare min to boot the machine to start the RAM test? Even remove wireless keyboards etc.

    Done all the BIOS/firmware upgrades, reset to factory defaults/safe settings?

    Your failed RAM tests seem to say the clock speed is 3222 Mhz. Seems a bit NQR.

    • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 19:37

      Thank you for your feedback, I'll definitely try out my sticks in my friend's computers. The clock speed listing 3222MHz seems to confuse me because I noticed it being inconsistent in my pasts tests. Like a B360 board lists 3645MHz, while another test on my Z690 reads 4955MHz. Could this possibly be related to the CPU clock speed rather than the memory?

  • Drakesy on 20/01/2022 - 19:25
    +1

    clock speeds of 2666 rather than the full 3600 mhz do point towards a bios/hardware limitation

    • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 19:29

      I appreciate the feedback. The 2666MHz tests were run on different sticks as a control to eliminate the possibility of other hardware causing errors

      • Drakesy on 20/01/2022 - 19:31

        So what exactly are the errors then for a TLDR?

        If the ram functions then surely it functions?

        • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 19:33

          Memtest86 errors

          • Drakesy on 20/01/2022 - 19:33
            -2

            @nelzen: But the Ram still runs no?

            Just because a software says there's errors doesn't mean a company has to replace/warranty them.
            Is it a serious problem that prevents the normal operation of the ram?

            • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 19:38
              +1

              @Drakesy: Yes errors are an issue. A ram kit should be reporting back zero errors. I previously had a kit that would spit out thousands of errors which caused many BSODs and data loss.

            • elusive on 20/01/2022 - 19:47
              +3

              @Drakesy: Generally if you're getting any errors at all in memtest, your RAM (in your system, not necessarily the sticks themselves) is no good.

              There is no "acceptable" number of memory errors other than 0. Any single error is a random crash waiting to happen, or even data corruption if you're unlucky.

              • TilacVIP on 21/01/2022 - 10:18

                @elusive: I tried to test the theory and keep using [always with backups and a System image] bad memory [in my case 1 stick was bad out of a set of 4] in a system & see what happens. Memtest86 showed errors, but system booted up fine and everything seemed normal initially.

                Fast forward a few weeks later, and started to BSOD, no posts, system freezing up.

                Mmetest86 is my go to RAM checker, and even though I knew running bad RAM would eventually cause issues, I just wanted to see it for myself.

                RAM changed and everything was good again.

                • nelzen on 21/01/2022 - 12:38

                  @TilacVIP: This is certainly true. In the past I had a defective ram kit (at 2133MHz) and it caused many blue screens and data loss, which is why I test all my RAM now.

  • idjces on 20/01/2022 - 19:29

    afaik there are no cpu's in existance that officially support ddr4 at 3600MT/s. The specs on the i9-12900K say up to 3200MT/s, and if you dig into the exact configurations for that processor and/or motherboard, the high 3200MT/s speed will likely be with some minimal memory configuration.

    Memory is advertised for overclockers who like to tweak their systems faster than what is guaranteed by intel/amd. I'm assuming you are repeating what seems to be a common problem, where someone blindly loads the ram on a motherboard and then the cpu fails to operate outside it's specifications, leading the user to believe the RAM is faulty.

    tldr: google how you can tweak your system to make the memory controller more stable, or reduce your memory speeds to something your platform officially supports

    • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 19:31
      +1

      Thank you for the feedback, I'll certainly look into this more.

  • Axelstrife on 20/01/2022 - 20:44
    +1

    the memory speeds are 18.2 and 18.4 GB/s, while the image with errors is running at 23.7 GB/s.

    My 3600mhz trident Z kit is 42.8 GB/s https://i.ibb.co/KzjT9zd/IMG-0053.jpg
    Definitely seems like they didn't run at 3600mhz but it also seems like it doesn't run at 3600mhz when you ran the test as well.

    Personally i think something in your system is causing this otherwise your insanely unlucky that both your original ram kit and this new kit has the same issue unless the G-skill didn't actually send you new ram and only sent the same kit back to you.

    • nelzen on 20/01/2022 - 21:46

      The change in memory bandwidth seem really odd to me. By any chance do you have four sticks of ram?

      • McOzbargainer on 20/01/2022 - 21:50

        It shouldn't make a difference, as both the 5950X and 12900K are dual channel, so if you have a stick in both channels, you are already getting the maximum bandwidth.

        Also, the maximum bandwidth on the 12900K is 76.8 Gigabytes/sec, so the memory controller should be able to handle 3600 easily.

      • Axelstrife on 20/01/2022 - 21:57

        Nope, 2x 16gb sticks, in a Asus Strix B550-I only two slots.

  • reactor-au on 21/01/2022 - 09:21
    +2

    Check the memory voltage is sufficient for the xmp speeds. Also remove and CPU overclock you may have.
    Run memtest86 again.
    I had this issue where a pair were running xmp undercoated for years then one day started giving errors, the shop couldn't reprodu the result then I realised I wasn't running at the recommended volts. Problem sorted.

    • HeadTheWall on 21/01/2022 - 10:31

      Yeah, 2 sets of ram with the same issue only happening on your hardware. And your control RAM is a different brand, model speed etc
      Hardware tests ok on other equipment when it is running at the correct specifications and speed……..

      You need to invest your time into looking at "your" setup, factory default everything and test again.

      This reminds me of staff saying VPN/Remote access is slow today but it's not their internet that is the problem. And hundreds of other staff have no problems connecting so it is your internet that is the problem

    • Snoozer on 21/01/2022 - 10:35

      I was about to make the same comment. When applying the XMP profile the motherboard should be applying more voltage, e.g. ~1.35v rather than 1.2v. Check that you are applying the XMP profile correctly in the BIOS (including the increased voltage) and not just ramping up the RAM clock speed.

      • nelzen on 21/01/2022 - 12:18
        +1

        Thanks for the feedback. I have confirmed that my RAM is running at 1.35v and recently tried 1.37v yet I continued to receive errors.

  • ShannonN on 22/01/2022 - 01:17

    Have you set your XMP profile in bios ? If so make sure NOT to use any software that also overclocks cpu mem etc.

    I had an issue where I set XMP correctly and fiddled with gigabyte app that overclocks mem cpu gpu etc in auto increment totally caused issues. removed software and its effects system stabilized

    Also check that both sticks of ram are identical and in the correct dual channel slots on mobo

  • OzCheapDrunk on 17/02/2022 - 06:50
    +2

    Yep mwave have incorrectly tested that memory but that could be a good thing.
    Now you need to proove that your system is capable of running at the higher speeds, can you test each stick indvidually in memtest?
    If you can show a few of the sticks work and one doesn't at 3600mhz ot higher that would rule out your system.

    Take your findings to a local computer store where you have never been before and have them write you a expert report on the findings or conduct some yourself, ideally one that sides with you. You NEED a TLDR; on the findings.

    Considering going to the small claims court. You will need to email mwave your findings at the latest possible date. Small claims need the expert report as they wont belive you.

    final note, I am not sure gskill memory is reliable!

    • nelzen on 16/03/2022 - 16:43

      Hi, thanks for the response. Just an update to all of this: I bought a kit of Trident Z Neo ram (2x16GB 4000MT/s CL16) and use it on the exact same system with no issue. My old kit is being replaced by G.Skill in Taiwan at the moment.

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