Hi, I am new to posting on this forum, and I hope the pros here can help me.
I decided to build a fast gaming rig, and while it is fine for gaming, it has trouble running Nero Vision, everytime I run it my system either freezes or reboots. I have narrowed the problem down to overheating (using the ASUS probe software) my idle temps are about 50C, and that was with a Zalman 9700. I have tried different cases to try to increase airflow into the case, but no matter what I do the system is running hot. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Case: Gigabyte Aurora 3D
Motherboard: ASUS Striker Exremem
CPU: Intel QX6850
RAM: 2X2GB Corsiar Dominator PC800
GPU: Twin BFG 8800GTS 640MB OC
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 1000W

I'm not a pro, but I'll give it a go (it rhymes!).

If it's heat and not the app, you could run a multitude of different apps to get the same result: freezing or rebooting.

Can you post the other temps that are reported by ASUS PC Probe? mb/chipsets.

I don't know about the idle temp of 50C on the QX6850, it seems a little high, but more concerned with peak temps.

Is the QX6850 overclocked? If so, better post those specs, including voltages.

If you are using ntune, what's the GPU temps at idle and full throttle?
They should be 60-65 idle and about 74-78 at full tilt, unless OCed and/or poor ventilation.

So more information might help assess the heat problem a bit better. If Nero Vision the culprit, sorry...

If nero is the only problem, its a problem with nero. Its likely that you simply haven't run anything else yet that stresses the CPU as much as nero does. The first thing to do is to make sure your system is running as its supposed to. Load CPUz and make sure the FSB, and CPU voltage are where they are supposed to be. Next, click on the ram tab and make sure the RAM settings match what you bought. If any of these are wrong, go into the bios and make the changes.

If this doesn't fix the problem, or everything is as it should be, its time to reapply the heatsink. Clean the CPU and the heatsink, then apply the TIM again, but use less this time.

use primer95. stress ur cpu. n c if it hangs or not.

I have tried Roxio Easy CD Creator 10 as well and it gives me the same problem when trying to encode video. my peak temps while encoding video are about 57C, but that is only with the cpu load at about 38%. I have reapplied the heatsink many times, and have even tried the stock one that came with the chip. I did take my PC into Firedog and they ran full stress tests on it and they had no hangs or crashes.

It could be your DVD or CD drive that's the problem since both programs use the same device. Make sure your programs are up to date and if they are try another drive.

I don't think it is the DVD burners since it locks up or reboots during the transcoding part, both programs would burn data files no problem.

57c under load seems too low to cause crashing. It COULD be that but I think you have been a bit premature to say you narrowed it down to that. Quads run hot and 57c is WAY below the failure point.

What is your room temperature?

See if you can make it crash in orthos or prime 95 which will push the cpu to 100.

Try memtest, you may have flaky ram.

Also try another temp reading utility such as speedfan.

What does the BIOS report as the idle temp?

What OS, Vista or XP, 32 or 64?

Have you done this? it sounds like a memory problem to me. Possibly it could be a bad stick or just wrong voltages. Agree with notherdude, you need to rule out the ram first.

Its either your CD/DVD Driver or your software.

I ran CPU-Z, and all my settings are what Mr. Mitchell recommended. I will check the Q-Fan settings once I go back to the Zalman (I currently have the stock cooler in, didn't have time to put it back since I was gone for the holiday). I ran the MS ram test and all my ram passed, so I ruled out the ram awhile back. I am running Vista 32bit.

Now it could just be me but 50C at idle seems very high. Give or take a 20+ increase for load and your hitting the bar.
I suggest running Prime95-small FFTs and see if you are stable. Also run Speedfan 4.33 at the same time to report load temps. (Read Computronix's guide in the overclocking section if you can)

Edit: After running memtest for the memory, try a blend test to check it also.

I ran 4 instances of Prime-95 to test each core, I also ran all the extended tests for the MS ram test, which I believe does a blend test. I am running Prime-95 with the small FTTs, with 2 instances running and my CPU load is maxing at 52% with the Temp1 at 65C and the Temp2 at 37C, the internal temp is listed at 112C, keep in mind this is with the stock cooler still on, I need to check what it runs with the Zalman on since it takes awhile to get that sucker on since you have to remove the mobo from the case to get the back bracket on.

There are some strange temperatures in Speed Fan, find the ones that are true temps. In Speed Fan I get some temps at -112C so I just disable those.

quick update, I have hit a few spikes of CPU temps over 70C now with the stock cooler, I will be putting the Zalman back in soon, I will try plugging the heatsink directly into the mobo instead of using the speed control switch

Temps around 70c are normal for quads on stock cooling under very heavy load, iirc.

I know for a fact if you had / have Roxio and nero both installed you get conflicts. This is possibly your problem. If you had both installed when you first noticed the problem, then I would say 99.99% that is the problem. Also I believe Nero and Mccafe Anti virus conflict also.

Do you have other encoders beyond Nero & roxio? What would happen if you used a dvd ready mpeg 2 file rather than one that needed to be encoded? You might try that. Also, simply record to an image file rather than burning a disc to eliminate ide/ata issues.

Good Luck

What about windows movie maker?

Don't know if that will produce an mpg2 or dvd on your system. check it out.

Asus Probe is crappy monitoring. Try core temp or speedfan.