When your computer suffers from random crashes, inexplicable Blue Screens of Death (BSOD), or corrupted data, the culprit is often a failing memory stick. PassMark MemTest86 stands as the industry-standard diagnostic tool designed to rigorously stress-test your RAM without loading an operating system, ensuring that software conflicts do not interfere with the results. As a standalone bootable utility, it launches directly from a USB drive to perform deep-level hardware analysis, making it the first line of defense for anyone suspecting defective physical memory.
Key Features
- Native UEFI Interface: Unlike older text-only diagnostic tools, version 11.5 runs a modern graphical environment that supports mouse input and saves configuration files directly to the USB drive, making navigation and logging intuitive.
- Advanced DDR5 & ECC Support: The software retrieves detailed SPD data and supports the latest technologies, including Error Correction Code (ECC) error injection and reporting for modern platforms like Intel Arrow Lake and AMD Ryzen chipsets.
- Comprehensive Test Algorithms: It executes 14 distinct test patterns—including the specialized Row Hammer test—to detect difficult intermittent faults that standard quick-scans often miss.
- Detailed HTML Reporting: After completing the diagnostic loops, the tool generates a professional HTML report that identifies the specific failing module and memory address, which users can save to disk for warranty claims or repair logs.
- Microsoft Secure Boot Signed: The bootloader is digitally signed by Microsoft, ensuring it launches correctly on modern Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines with Secure Boot enabled, removing the need to lower security settings in the BIOS.
Use Cases
System builders and PC repair technicians rely on this utility to verify new RAM kits before shipping hardware, ensuring zero-defect stability for clients. It is also an essential tool for overclockers who need to validate that their custom voltage and timing settings are stable enough for 24/7 operation on high-performance gaming rigs.
By bypassing the operating system completely, PassMark MemTest86 provides an unbiased, scientifically accurate assessment of your hardware's health, saving you hours of troubleshooting time.
Version 11.5 — September 2025
- Added a new
CHECKSPDSMBIOSconfiguration parameter to verify consistency between SPD and SMBIOS data, automatically aborting tests if mismatches (such as conflicting serial numbers) are detected. - Updated EFI binary compilation to meet stricter Microsoft SecureBoot memory alignment requirements, ensuring compatibility with Rust-based UEFI firmware.
- Fixed a bug that caused incorrect CAS timing validation when the
CHECKMEMSPEEDparameter was enabled. - Resolved a system hang issue that occurred when querying memory controller settings on certain AMD Ryzen Zen platforms.
- Corrected an error where chip width was reported inaccurately for SMBIOS memory devices that do not specify this information.
- Updated the internal JEDEC manufacturer ID database to reflect the latest JEP106BM standards.
