14 DAY TRIAL // There are a couple of reports that recently emerged on the Internet, pointing to some serious issues with the memory ICs supplied by Elpida Memory to major DRAM vendors, such as Corsair, OCZ and Kingston. As it turns out, some of the company's high-end memory chips are failing and are the cause behind the issues reported by several users of memory modules from the likes of the three named above. The problem has now been confirmed by almost all of the aforementioned companies, which have also announced their support for those users who have been affected by it.
The initial reports about Elpida's memory chips started a couple of weeks ago, according to a recent news-article on “The Inquirer.” These reports have been followed by investigations on the matter by leading memory vendors like Corsair, OCZ and Kingston, all of which have been affected by the issue. As it turns out, Corsair has decided to discontinue selling these Elpida 'Hyper'-based modules, while OCZ has announced it will provide its customers with extended support for their Elpida-based modules that are subject to the reported failing issues.
“We have seen a number of reports across various forums about failures of modules (from Corsair as well as from other memory manufacturers) built with Elpida “Hyper” RAMs. Through lab testing, we have now been able to reproduce similar failures. We are continuing to test to determine the cause of these failures,” Corsair said in a statement on its forums. “Due to these failures, we will no longer sell Hyper-based modules until the issue can be resolved. We have also have asked our retailers to return any modules they currently have on their shelves. Products impacted include TW3X4G1600C6GTF, TR3X6G1866C7GTF, TR3X6G2000C8GTF, TR3X3G2000C7GTF, and TR3X6G2000C7GTF. We are working on enhancing our manufacturing and testing process to be able to offer these parts again as soon as possible.”
OCZ's statement isn't as dramatic, with the company claiming that it has “not yet seen extended failures in the field, and the Elipda Hyper IC’s we have used came from earlier batches so we do not yet know if this is the reason why we are not seeing field issues but as a proactive measure based on the latest information from media reviewers like AnandTech we have officially held the use of any Elpida Hyper IC’s at this time.”
Kingston, one of the world's leading vendors of memory modules, is even less dramatic, claiming that the “matter doesn't merit any special attention or consideration,” due to the fact that the reported problem is “nothing more than a typical issue that Kingston encounters from time to time.” The company goes further saying that the problem will be solved through the normal customer service process.