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Sonofabitch, the problem appears to be the diagnostic tests themselves. I tried +/-10% combinations with both CPU and DRAM voltage and both sticks of RAM, with no different behavior.

Then I tried MemTest86+ 4.20 (released in January 2011), and it's running fine so far. Ubuntu 11.04 comes with MemTest86+ 4.10 (released April 2010). V4.20 "Added support for Intel Sandy Bridge CPU". I'm irritated that Ubuntu 11.04 and Win7 SP1 were released several months after the Sandy Bridge release, but neither has a memory test that's compatible. SB is a major architecture -it's not like they neglected the release of a Via or niche ARM processor.

Has anyone had succcess with V4.10 on a SB machine?

While I'm at it, I wish those two diagnostic tests would provide a more useful message at the beginning. Something like, "CPU architecture is not recognized/supported. The tests may not function properly."

Would it be possible to build a RAM test directly into a new UEFI? That would be a great feature that I'd pay an extra $10 for.

Edit: 1 successful pass so far

There were three errors on the second pass, so I have to RMA the memory afterall. Thanks Airman for the guidance. It helped steer me into more productive directions than I was considering.

I'm still curious if anyone has successfully used Memtest86+ 4.10 or earlier (ie, the versions bundled with Ubuntu install disks) with a Sandy Bridge machine.

I haven't used Memtest on my machine yet- I'm not that religious . Typically I'll Memtest after I've installed the OS and verified that the system can handle a Prime95 load. If I have issues there, then I'll backtrack; but I usually don't have issues.

I got new RAM and the build has been working really well with four monitors (two from the IGP, two from the 8600GT) for five weeks. It's nice finishing computations in half the time as before. I'm pretty happy with the case too (at its sale price). It's a little bigger and a little more polished than my Antec Three Hundred. The windowless version went out of stock, so I got the windowed version.

My 3 year old daughter peered through the window of the case and started showing interest while it was being built. She helped me with the screw drivers and handed me stuff. I didn't completely trust her not to touch sensitive components like RAM, so I had her grounded with the anti-static bracelet the whole time, which she liked anyway. I then decided to bling it a little, and got two LED fans that she can change the color of.

Friday, several (nonsolid state) caps in the XFX 8600GT blew. I replaced that dinky fan years ago with a passive Accelero heatsink; I hope that doesn't invalidate the lifetime warranty. I'm about to contact XFX support. I assume they won't have any 8600s available to replace it, which is too bad because it fit my modest requirements well. The board was probably made in 2007. The temps reported by GPU-Z were never alarming. Is that too late for the great capacitor plague and too early for Charlie's great conspiracy thing?

I may return to ask which replacement card I should buy. I assume something simple like a $50 6450 would be good for the 3rd & 4th monitors? I'd like it to (1) have very low idle power and (2) not prevent the CPU multiplier from lowering itself.

How about a Radeon HD 5670 512MB for $60½ -10MIR? Newegg has a 1GB variant for $70 -15MIR.

If you're not planning on using that second pair of monitors for anything intensive, I think your 6450 choice would be great for an inexpensive fanless solution. JAE's suggestions provide significantly more power for light games and things like HD streaming/file playback.