My system crashes in games

[johnhatz4]

Well last week i bought ASUS P5PE-VM (Latest BIOS) and a Prescott 3.2
From my old computer i kept everything (1.5GB RAM Transcend at 333 CL2.5, NVidia 7600GT AGP by XFX, SB X-Fi extreme gamer, DVD RW NEC AD5170A and my WD HDD 40GB)
I bought and another WD HDD 250GB SATA so i tried to setup my system.
My problem is that everything works fine expect games. After a few minutes (max 15 or 30, maybe it will crash in 2 minutes sometimes) the games crashes. (Doesn't restart). It appears the common windows message that the application has crashed.
I tried everything. Patch for games, older nvidia drivers nothing!!!!
I am suspecting memory incompatibility. What do you think? Should i have to set memory timing manual or should i buy another two memory sticks at 400Mhz?
Note that my PSU is 550 Watt with triple 12V rails 18A in each.
Thanks for your time

 

[Guest]

check your processor temperature. it looks like it's overheating. because when you playing games it under heavy load and it heats up. check air flow too.

 

[johnhatz4]

I have already done that. The temps are normal.

 

[PC_Side_Line]

IT's pointless to work beyond 1024x768 x 32 bit resolution in video unless u have a business that requires more.

THis is also the best resolution for all games for most ppl.

In addition, your gaming experience is optimized when you match the desktop resolution with the game resolution.

You will experience the best load up times when ur desktop and game res are matched.

 

[PC_Side_Line]

IT's pointless to work beyond 1024x768 x 32 bit resolution in video unless u have a business that requires more.

THis is also the best resolution for all games for most ppl.

In addition, your gaming experience is optimized when you match the desktop resolution with the game resolution.

You will experience the best load up times when ur desktop and game res are matched.

 

[Guest]

Try running mermory tests.

 

[Fedor]

Please elabourate on your power supply. Specifically, brand and model. The Prescott is the highest energy consuming consumer CPU ever made, so it seems to point at the fact that your new configuration is beyond what your PSU can handle. This is backed up by the fact that your games crash, and its only in games that your graphics card speeds up and starts consuming lots of power.

I had a friend with these exact symptoms, and it was the PSU at fault, so I think this is very possible. Try unplugging all unnecessary components, like that new harddrive.

On a completely different line of thought, are the games you mentioned installed on the new drive? If the drive is defective and you installed the games onto it, then it could be what's causing the problem.

 

[Vash-HT]

I would agree to run memtest or something similar. I had a problem very close to yours, and it ended up being a bad ram slot on my mobo, but that would also show errors in memtest.

 

[rodney_ws]

Agreed. The Prescott wasn't exactly a PSU friendly CPU... definitely make sure your power supply is up to snuff.

 

[Fedor]

Yeah I think PSU is most likely, followed by HDD, and with memory last. The symptoms do match bad memory, but he took it from his old computer where he didn't experience problems, thus I think it's quite unlikely.

 

[johnhatz4]

Well i found solution to my problem. My problem is RAM. Not bad RAM but incompatible RAM. I tried two Kingston DIMM 512 at 400MHz (Dual Channel) and the system was very stable. No crashes!!!!!
My PSU is CHIEFTEC 550Watts

Next week i am going to buy two Kingston DIMMs.

Thanks for your time
:!:

 

[Fedor]

I'm glad to be proven wrong as long as someone else benefits from it
Never woulda thought that Transcend memory would have compatibility issues. Anyways, glad to hear that this problem is solved.

 

[johnhatz4]

Asus claims that Transcend DDR 400 Mhz memories are compatible with P5PE-VM

Maybe my incompatibility is speed (333) because CPU has FSB 800 so it would be better to use DDR 400, maybe not running in Dual Channel Mode. I don't know!!!

 

[Fedor]

Definitely weird cause it should be possible to run the memory at 333. Sure 400 is better but 333 should work. Same goes for Dual Channel, its not necessary for system stability, just boosts speed.

Are you sure the mobo wasnt running your 333 at 400 speed? That might explain it.

 

[johnhatz4]

Actually my ram was running at 320MHz
That's normal because if you use a processor with FSB 800MHz and RAM at 333 then due to chipset ram runs at 320MHz. I don't know why that happens. I found info about this but i don't remember where

I was almost sure that my problem was RAM because in my old MB's user's guide says that if you use a processor with FSB 800 then you MUST only use DDR 400. I don't know if that was happening only in old MBs
I had a Northwood 2.66 with FSB 533 so i had DDR 333 and everything was stable

 

[AKJ]

Did you reinstall windows? Im suspecting that you simply took your old HDD (with windows on it) and expected it to work properly..

If you change your motherboard, you should REINSTALL windows...

 

[johnhatz4]

I reinstalled windows over 10 times. I spent six days trying to find out what was happening.

 

[AKJ]

OK, are you overclocking? If you are, then set all your hardware to default settings. Also, i know this will sound stupid, but which codec pack are you using? I've had issues with Ace Mega codecs messing with my games, so i only use k-lite codec pack

 

[johnhatz4]

ASUS P5PE-VM can't overclock (from BIOS) so all settings are default, auto and the timings have been adjusted by SPD.
I use k-lite codecs

Never mind, on monday i'll order two kingston DIMMs 2*1GB 400MHz (approved by ASUS that these DIMMs are compatible with my mb)

 

[AKJ]

Cool man, hope you get this sorted out.

 

[stefx]

IT's pointless to work beyond 1024x768 x 32 bit resolution in video unless u have a business that requires more.

THis is also the best resolution for all games for most ppl.

In addition, your gaming experience is optimized when you match the desktop resolution with the game resolution.

You will experience the best load up times when ur desktop and game res are matched.

PC_side_line, you keep copy-pasting that same text over and over.

You've been told and explained in four different threads why your reasoning is uninformed and plain wrong.

 

[AKJ]

IT's pointless to work beyond 1024x768 x 32 bit resolution in video unless u have a business that requires more.

THis is also the best resolution for all games for most ppl.

In addition, your gaming experience is optimized when you match the desktop resolution with the game resolution.

You will experience the best load up times when ur desktop and game res are matched.

PC_side_line, you keep copy-pasting that same text over and over.

You've been told and explained in four different threads why your reasoning is uninformed and plain wrong.

Yeah, so what happens when your default desktop res is 1280x1024 PC_Side_Line??

 

[Fedor]

Dont pay attention to him, he just blurts out the same pasted cr*p on many threads, sometimes on those that dont even have anything to do with video settings. Go figure.

As for the OP, I hope the RAM fixes your problems, do let us know.

 

[johnhatz4]

I just ran memtest with TRANSCEND 333 DIMMs
Results
When i use 2 DIMMs : Error
When i use 1 DIMM (1GB) at DIMM1 : OK
When i use 1 DIMM (1GB) at DIMM2 : OK
When i use 1 DIMM (512MB) at DIMM1 system can't even run windows normally.
When i use 1 DIMM (512) at DIMM2 : OK

I did and another test.
I ran too many applications on windows (Photoshop, Nero, Opera, Windows Explorer, etc) at the same time. After minutes one or two of the programms crashed.
So my problem is not only in games.

But i am very confussed because even my system has memory incompatibility doesn't restart! It crashes only! From my experience i know that when a computer has memory incompatibility restarts, does not recognised the whole memory


So tomorrow morning i am going to change my ram (I have already ordered the DIMMs online)

 

[Fedor]

Always nice to see that problems actually do get resolved on these boards sometimes