What is the difference between memtest86 and memtester?

Question

Memtest86+ - http://www.memtest.org

Memtester - http://pyropus.ca/software/memtester/

I am looking at above memory test tools.

What is the difference between these two? (In what aspect should it be used differently?)

Answer 1

memorytester run on OS, so use api of OS for allocate ram and test it. Memtest86 run without OS and is very small and access to RAM directly.

I always used Memtest86 I think is better, and more accurate for test RAM

Answer 2

In my case, I had a problem with RAM. Memtest86 past perfectly. Only memtester helped to figure out.

It's useful when you overclock your memory. Even when you use XMP profiles there could be problems with memory corruption, which are not detected with Memtest86. Moreover, it's not necessary to test all memory. I usually keep memtester running testing 20% of RAM approximately in a loop. It's usually enough to detect problems with timing settings when some bits may change. Comparing to Memtest86 you may use your PC for work while memtester is running.

In conclusion, I would say that both tools are useful. Memtest86 helps you detect dead modules, whereas memtester detects "glitches" in memory, which can cause data corruption, freezes, reboots and so on.