Faulty Gaming PC RIG / Potential Upgrades! (Incoming W.O.T)

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JoshFlash-1386050

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Aug 10, 2013
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========TLDR Version - My PC isnt working/Looking at upgrading my rig. Advice please.========


Hey all out there. I've got a rig that i've had for close to 2 years now. but ive just had to replace several components due to weird stuff going on. Has made me look at the viability of what i have and the potential gain/boost from upgrading what i havent already.

Basically looking for thoughts/opinions about what i should do. (asking because despite the fact i know more than joe from down the road, i still wouldnt call myself a "guru" or anything close to it :p).

The Rig:
- CASE - Cooler Master Storm Enforcer
- PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1000w
- MOBO - Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H
- CPU - Intel Core i5-4670K (Haswell) 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)
- RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
- GPU - Geforce GTX 560 Ti
- Storage - Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series 128GB
(My HDD is currently disconnected for stability issues).

Cooling:
- 1 x 200mm Front Intake Fan (Factory CM)
- 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust Fan (Factory CM)
- 2 x 120mm Top Exhaust Fan's (Deepcool UF120 Ultra Silent)
- 1 x 120mm Bottom Intake Fan (Deepcool UF120 Ultra Silent)

(Looking at water cooling soon for GPU/CPU)

Peripherals:
- Mouse - Logitech G500s
- Keyboard - Logitech G19
- Headset - Logitech G35

Display Monitor is currently a 22 Inch Monitor, nothing special.

I'm running Windows 7 currently, but thinking about the move to Windows 8 considering my MOBO was more or less built with Windows 8 in mind.

Ok so thats the deal.
-MOBO/CPU/SSD are brand spanking new (3 days).
-GPU/Ram/PSU/Case are coming up 2 years old.

And it's worth noting that for approx a solid year and a half i haven't had compatibility issues, stability issues, BSOD's etc. But after the meltdown the other day (MOBO and CPU both fried somehow unexplainably stopped responding entirely and then my HDD did the same) I have had un-ending BSOD's.

All components as i can see are fully compatible. I have uninstalled drivers, reinstalled drivers, uninstalled OS, reinstalled OS, fully dismantled and rebuilt all the hardware including meticulous cleaning of any and all headers (the ones that are of course cleanable - no i didnt touch CPU/MOBO pins). I have tried all of this to no avail.

I was overclocking to turbo setting (3.8GHz - reccomended OC for CPU) but have since reduced to standard (3.4GHz) as with all components. Nothing is OC'd.

BSOD's i am getting so far have included:

- Page Fault in a Non Paged Area
- Pen List Corrupt
- IRQL Not Less or Equal
- Bad Pool Header
- Kernel Data Inpage Error

I've had two self proclaimed "guru's" have a wee "fiddle" and they both told me (seperately) that i need to replace my Graphics Card, and potentially my Memory. The little forum hunting i've been able to do tells me this isn't necessary.

So the 2 questions i have...

1) *&@^FAIUBG^&%HF - HELP HELP HELP!!!! What can i do to fix the issues on this rig. Not being able to game is causing me to get a tan, and socialise and other virally deadly things.

2) Your advice/opinions about upgrading my system based around these parameters:
- Graphics Capabilities (a Geforce GTX 660Ti for example) - vs - SLI GTX 560 Ti - vs - SLI GTX 660 Ti)
- System Rig Cooling (Air > Water - CPU/GPU)
- Operating System (From Cracked Windows 7 x64 Ultimate to Legitimate Windows 8 x64 Pro)

PHEW!!!! Quite the wall there.


========TLDR Version - My PC isnt working/Looking at upgrading my rig. Advice please.========
 
Solution
getochkn
Well easiest way to start eliminating graphics card or RAM is trial and error and the good old standard process of elimination.

Take out the GPU and run from the onboard graphics. Test and see if you get blue screen.

IF you do, it's your video card, it's not firmly in the slot, it's old and dying, getting hot, etc. Solution, replace video card.

If you don't, then it's RAM. Remove all 4 sticks and seed 1 back in. Run and test.

If you get a blue screen, replace that RAM with a different chip, test again.

Etc.

Etc.
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getochkn

getochkn

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Jul 2, 2006
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Well easiest way to start eliminating graphics card or RAM is trial and error and the good old standard process of elimination.

Take out the GPU and run from the onboard graphics. Test and see if you get blue screen.

IF you do, it's your video card, it's not firmly in the slot, it's old and dying, getting hot, etc. Solution, replace video card.

If you don't, then it's RAM. Remove all 4 sticks and seed 1 back in. Run and test.

If you get a blue screen, replace that RAM with a different chip, test again.

Etc.

Etc.
 
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Solution
Swordkd

Swordkd

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Oct 3, 2012
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Where are you getting the bsod's? Any particular activity? Swapping out the Ram isn't a bad idea, since it's a fairly inexpensive fix(60 dollars for 8gb's, 100'ish for 16gb's). If you had Ram issues, it would possibly be causing corrupted data to be written to your HDD which would eventually cause bsod's. Might try running Memtest I believe it's called, and see what it says. Also, what Cpu cooler are you using? Are you having problems with heat around your Pc? It's a long shot, but still worth checking.

As far as upgrades are concerned, you seem really balanced with the exception of the Gpu. I'd toss in at least a 760 for 250ish, or 770/7970 for around 400.
 
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HEXiT

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Mar 13, 2011
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go into bios if its eufi then go into the ahci menu and you should find hpet. if its disabled , enable it.
(hpet is the intel high precision events timer) if its disabled a lot of software will cause random bsods.
if its already enabled then its not hpet causing the random bsods. so you would then start stress testing your hardware.

the reason i say go here is that the bsods you have listed are in most cases not reliant to each other.
ntkernal fail and irq errors are cause in different parts of the motherboard so this makes me think hpet.
 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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Should i do the HPET thing first? Or should i start making my way thru the Graphics Card/RAM?

As for CPU cooler, is the one that comes standard with the CPU. And no, all alerts for CPU show it not going over about 45-60 (during high stress). I have run MemTest (and several instances of it at once after advice that will better test my system) and left it for an hour with all instances showing over 100% coverage and 0 errors.

UPDATE - Going to check HPET and then post back in a few minutes.
 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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Ok in the bios settings the only things i can find close (as in cant find eufi/ahci menus) are the following...

under "Device Config"
-XHCI Mode (Disabled/Enabled/Auto/Smart Auto/Manual) - Currently Smart Auto
-XHCI Hand-off (Disabled/Enabled) - Currently Enabled
-EHCI Hand-off (Disabled/Enabled) - Currently Disabled

under "Sata Config"
-SATA Mode Selection (IDE/AHCI/RAID) - Currently AHCI

Under "Intel (R) Smart Connect Technology (listing these but they are prob not what ur wanting)
- ISCT Support
- ISCT Nofitication Control
- ISCT WLAN Power COntrol
- ISCT WWAN Power Control
- ISCT RF Kill Switch Type
- ISCT Timer Selection

Under "Bios Features"
- VGA Support (Auto/EFI Driver) - Currently EFI Driver
- BOOT Mode Selection (UEFI and Legacy/UEFI Only/Legacy Only) - Currently UEFI and Legacy

any of these any good?
 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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well ive done the ram, and the graphics card. gave them HEAPS of time to crash. then reinstalled graphics driver assuming all was well. then started getting nvidia gaphics driver kernerl display thing has had an error and recovered. then 2-5 minutes later BOOYAH. but in checking online, people simply re install the drivers. they dont replace hardware...

so i dont have any HPET options, i have done the tests with memory and GFX card but alas nothing.
 
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HEXiT

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Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H its a gigabyte board so it should be there. as gigabyte lable it specifically hpet. i myself have a ud5... so what il do is look in the motherboard manual and find the exact menu... (its just normally in apci (sorry i said ahci))
anyways try this little app, it will tell you if its enabled or not. http://www.mediafire.com/download/xzo9n84d8lze9nb/WinTimerTester_1.1.zip if its disabled you will need to email gigabyte and ask them where the switch is in bios. (as i looked at the manual and failed to see it.)

 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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other things i have found since...

1) my non-genuine windows is playing up and explorer/windows desktop manager are both getting into the habit of encountering errors and having to recover.
2) my samsung SSD is apparently not recognised by my OS as a SSD but instead is identified as a HDD.
3) My graphics driver was nvidia's 500 series driver 320.***** where the *'s are random numbers. I found this driver in particular had an issue with the kernel something or rather encountering an error and having to recover. The resounding response to this issue was rolling back to the 310.**** driver. According to the masses, this 310.blah driver had no issues with kernel anything. So i did this, 5 minutes later, BOOYAH BSOD.
4) I'm still no closer to any source, conclusion, or restoration of my system. Next viable step i see is buying a legitimate copy of windows 8 as to avoid any software conflicts in compatibility with drivers or anything. Then if still BSOD's, i will replace my GPU with a 660Ti i think as that is best value for money in my country right now and would simply look to SLI 2 of them in the near future.

Other than that update, anyone got any thoughts? All memtests, stress tests, stability tests i run all come back A OK. it doesnt seem to be anything concrete. and yet the 5 different BSOD's (listed at the top of this page) are recurring. no patterns. no timings. no order. nothing necessarily more common than the others. just all of them keep on cropping up.
 
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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Oct 3, 2012
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Sounds like it's time to backup your important files and wipe the drives and just go with windows 8. Although it sounded like you took out the video card and ran off the onboard video and had no problems?

"well ive done the ram, and the graphics card. gave them HEAPS of time to crash. then reinstalled graphics driver assuming all was well. then started getting nvidia gaphics driver kernerl display thing has had an error and recovered. then 2-5 minutes later BOOYA"

Was that the case?
 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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Aug 10, 2013
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Basically at this point windows 8 is the only option i can think of OS wise as to eliminate any potential issue via an Illegal system/faulty install/drivers.

Re the graphics card, yes i ran off onboard graphics and was stable for a couple hours. but then when i put in my 560 Ti it was also stable for a few hours. In fact i had system going for about 4 hours running onboard VGA, and about 5 hours GTX card. both without crashes. doing everything that would normally instigate a crash (multiple youtube vids, copying files from external HDD or across network locations, playing music etc) and no crashes. then all of a sudden im sitting there and booyah it BSOD's despite hours of "stability".

This leaves me to think that the graphics card must be at fault as its the ONLY thing (other than my OS and my memory) that isnt brand spanking new. Im thinking a new GTX 660 Ti along with Windows 8 Pro OEM x64 will eliminate any speculation about what it could be.

Should me system still be unstable after those upgrades then i'll know exactly what the issue is - God hates me and wants me dead.

Sound thinking?
 
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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LOL, or it's just the perversity of the inanimate. But, that sounds like a solid shot. Or, go back to the onboard video and run it till you bsod. If you don't after a couple of days, that'll give you a more solid idea. Pc parts are odd sometimes. I had a mouse that would cause me to freeze while playing Quake 3. Took me forever to figure that one out. First generation of optical mice from MS, and when I plugged in a 5 dollar crap mouse I was fine.
 
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JoshFlash-1386050

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it was enabled already :)
 
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HEXiT

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thing is if its enabled in windows and disabled in bios you will get a conflict and then a crash.
you need to email gigabyte and ask them if hpet is needed on your board for the o.s your running. it seems that some boards now dont have it because windows 8 doesnt use it, which means that board will only be compatable with win 8 or later. but if your using windows 7 you will get random crashes.
so email gigabyte. there pretty good at replying most of the time. when i contacted them they answered within 2 hours during a work day and within 48 hours if i emailed after 6pm.
 
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JoshFlash

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Aug 10, 2013
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Well guys its been a long journey but i think were finally there. Windows 8 installed. New gtx 760 in. All seemed stabled then booyah! It crased. This time tho it was ONLY irql not leas or equal bdos. However this time, it says a program afterward. Turns out that particular bsod is caused by a gigabyte software program called cfosspeed! I uninstalled that and disabled it, then i was able to do anything i needed. Havent checked over night since i woke but it was stable for about 7 hours last night before i went to bed. Will get back later to tell the result ;)
 
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HEXiT

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cfosspeed! is crapware, pure and simple. i honestly dont know why its been bundled with your board as it will have zero impact on your overall net traffic speeds. but will allow you to impose speed restrictions on your home network. so you can prioratise connections if your router doesnt already allow it... for he most part its completely useless.
anyhoo i hope this is your fix so good luck...
 
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