I built a PC about three years ago with an ASUS Prime B760M-A D4 motherboard, an Intel Core i5-13400F processor, and an RTX 3070 graphics card. Initially, it functioned well, but I started noticing random freezes every few days. After two years of those annoying freezes getting worse, I decided to format my PC, reinstall Windows, and update all drivers, which resolved the issue temporarily.
Recently, I wanted to upgrade to 32GB of RAM. Despite knowing that mixing RAM kits might lead to complications, I found another 2x8GB 3600MHz kit since I couldn't locate matching 2x16GB sticks. After installing all 4 sticks, everything went smoothly for a while until my PC suddenly powered on with all the fans, GPU, and RAM lights working, but my monitor, keyboard, and mouse didn't respond.
I thought the RAM might be the cause, so I removed the new sticks and tried only the old ones, but the issue persisted. I experimented with different combinations of RAM—curiously, one old and one new stick in the same channel managed to boot the system, but it was unstable with frequent out-of-memory errors. Fast forward a few months and using only the old RAM or the new RAM alone still resulted in crashes. After some trial and error, I figured out some patterns: 1) The PC would power on with no response from peripherals 2) It might work but with constant application crashes or 3) It would work perfectly, albeit rarely.
Sometimes, leaving the PC off overnight helps, but it's unpredictable. I'm starting to wonder if it could be a CPU issue. I plan on testing some RAM from a friend soon. Benchmarks indicate everything is functioning normally, but whenever I turn it off and back on, I'm back in the same situation. Looking for any advice or thoughts!
2 Answers
Be aware that the maximum rated speed for two sticks is technically 3200MT/s. Although it can go higher, it's tricky with four mismatched sticks. Start by setting your RAM speed to 2133MT/s and then gradually increase it to find a stable speed.
Have you checked if XMP or any overclock settings are enabled in your BIOS? If you did, try reverting back to the default settings and test out the RAM combinations again. Sometimes XMP settings can lead to instability with mismatched RAM.
I had XMP enabled but turned it off when I began trying different combos.
I'm currently working my way up from there.