The Noctua cooler is nice but
captain_videoThe Noctua cooler is nice but it does take up a lot of room. I picked it mainly because it was highly rated at silentpcreview.com. It was also the only top rated cooler that wasn’t as tall as a skyscraper.
Reseating the memory didn’t appear to help, although subsequent errors never produced the three beeps indicative of a memory failure. Instead, the PC either simply locked up or it shut down with no error indications at all.
I decided to give MemTest86 a try and it showed that the 2x2GB DIMMs were definitely the culprit. The test hung when I tried to run it with all 6GB installed. I then tried it with just the two 2GB sticks and it caused the PC to reboot after just a few seconds into the first test. Repeated attempts yielded the same result. The two 1GB DIMMs tested perfectly after three complete passes.
I’ve already RMA’d the 2x2GB DIMMs back to Newegg. I originally asked for replacements but then I discovered that the same DIMMs are now on sale with free shipping and a $10 rebate. I’m hoping my revised request to Newegg to change to a refund instead of replacement DIMMs is honored. Besides, I would have probably bought a new pair regardless of the price because the turnaround time for replacements could take weeks whereas I can get them overnight with a new order.