I was having some memory issues with my motherboard, and I'm pretty sure the issue is with a DIMM on the motherboard. It ends up causing games to crash/lockup randomly or more recently, freeze up completely when I'll be playing. I've had these issues occur recently: I'll play Guitar Hero on my PC and then the screen will sometimes go COMPLETELY purple, however the game still keeps on playing music as thought I was playing the game, despite me not hitting a note. When playing Oblivion, sometimes the game will lockup entirely and I'll have to reset. Etc, etc. I ran memtest, with each of my ram sticks and I kept getting the same error, regardless of which DIMM I placed the ram in or which stick out of the four I used. I even tried it with ram from my previous computer, and I still got errors in memtest at the same point and teh same amount. Basically once it reaches the test that states "Changing 0's to 1's or inverting 0's to 1's not sure which, it crashes at about 21% stating there are errors. So all in all I'm sending the board back to the company.

Now to the point in this thread. After installing my dual core, I kind of lost place of where I put the cover that came with the CPU to protect the gold pads from dust/etc and now I need to buy another one. The only problem is I have no idea what that piece is called, nor where I could possibly purchase one. My room is rather dusty, and I have no place that I can truly feel safe keeping my cpu exposed and not cause damage, so I need to find one before I can send it to the company for repairs. Any help is much appreciated, and I thank you for reading all of this. Thanks again and take care.

P.S. I have a XFX 680i SLI motherboard, so if anyone can further verify if my issue might be memory/motherboard related would be much appreciated. Take care and have a great day.

not the mobo??

too little voltage on the memory?? raise the memory voltage.

you do not give specs on your system too much bs above - just your specs (parts, settings, voltages etc)

most people blame the mobo but its almost never the mobo

2 x [Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ]
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (FSB 1333MHz)
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
XFX MB-N680-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply
BFG 8800 GT OC2 EDITION

No overclocking. Everything at stock settings. I tried running the memory at the suggested voltage of 2.1V but it didn't change anything. So I put the voltage at normal.

Although the advertised timings on my ram are supposed to be 4-4-4-12, putting them at those settings causes LOTS of issues and BSOD's on my computer so I left them at system setting of 5-5-5-15.

Most importantly, I just want to know what the cover for the bottom of the cpu is called and where I can buy it, just so I can protect the pads if I have to RMA my mobo. Thanks

ram voltage is too high

set the am to 2v

Your ram voltage is too high. Nvidia mobos boost ram so they can boot.
So if you set your ram to 2.1v your running 2.15v and most ram can not hanle it.

Set your ram to 2.0 to 2.05v

then boot

then raise your latencys to 4-4-5-15
retest
the 4-4-4-12

your issue is too much ram voltage i am 75% sure

I was mistaken about the advertised and current timings, but did try your suggestion to no avail. Memtest still crashes when it tries to move the inversions at 21%. Advertised timings = 3-3-3-12, bootup timings = 5-3-3-15.

Do you know what the CPU cover is called? ^^;;

you worry over nothing. I have old CPUs that sit in a dirty utility closet, and they still work, even the Pentium mmx. dust will not harm your cpu. Just wipe it clean before you install it again.

alright I'll try it...

ok i am wrong!

try setting all your voltages to manual - first look at the bios see what the voltage is

crank of the nb slightly higher