System locks/restarts after OC, lack of power?

[spathotan]

Awhile ago I had overclocked my processor with these specs.....Q6600 on a G33 Micro-ATX board, 530W Hiper PSU, 4GB of ram, 1 harddrive, 1 dvd drive, and a ATI 2600XT. The power supply has Two 12v rails @ 20A/17A.

I had gotten the CPU from its stock 2.4 up to 3.0 with no problems.

Now the system has 2 harddrives, an 8800GT, and 4 additional fans (two on the case, two on the Thermaltake DuoOrb VGA cooler) to a total of 7; crashes/locks/reboots after ehh..15-20 minutes of playing a game.

The extreme power calculator puts me at around 358W. Neweggs power consumption chart at the PSU FAQ calculated with the max amounts X 1.4 it puts me at a little over 650W which sounds way to high for a single card system, but then again I used the maxes. And Neweggs power calculator puts me at 546W, and thats not counting the 7 system fans , USB devices, and I had to put in a 8800GTS since the GT isnt listed.

Could this issue be due to a lack of power, since I understand both the CPU and Video Cards draw from the 12v+ I think? Or is it more than likely due to the lack of power in this Micro-ATX board, it has 4phase/4Pin for the CPU. Right now after going through all these charts/calculators im leaning towards power supply personally.

 

[Mondoman]

No, since it only happens after a period of heavy use, something is overheating. Monitor the CPU, GPU and any other temps the board can report, and you should get a clue as to what's overheating.

 

[mi1ez]

Could be the power supply overheating?

Also, you said that you had a 2600XT, but then said you had an 8800GT. Which is it to be?

 

[leo2kp]

Why, if it fails with heavy use, couldn't it be power? I think it could be either power or heat, but if two calculators are putting you at very close ratings to your max PSU rating, then I think it would be a good idea to get a new PSU. Ironically, my Hyper Type-R 580watt PSU died on me after a fan upgrade as well. However, I didn't add fans, I just replaced slower fans, so I think it was gradual for me.

In either case I think you should strongly consider a new PSU even if heat was the issue since the ratings are so close. You should never be running your PSU at full-bore. I've heard that 50-75% is a good range, but try to stay under 75% if you can.

Also, if you can, monitor the temps of your CPU and GPU, log them if possible, and when it fails, check the last temp logged. If they're way too hot then heat is at least part of the problem. If that's the case then either lower your overclock or get better cooling.

When getting a PSU, get something that's known to be really good. As you can see, having a sub-par PSU can really reak havok on your system as a whole, sometimes causing damage to any part of the computer. It's better to invest in a solid PSU than it is to end up paying for the whole PC again. You might also want to consider getting a PSU that has a single 12V+ rail vs. multiple rails. PC Power & Cooling has a good explaination: the power that is not being used in the other rails does NOT spill over to the other rails, leaving some rails with too much load and others with unused power. Having a single rail will allow only what you need; no more, no less. It ends up being a more stable system, and PC P&C's reputation is very very good and I'm sure their not-so-mainstream choices in PSU design help with that.

Good luck with that

 

[spathotan]

As I said above, I WAS running a 2600XT and now im running an 8800GT.

As far as temps go, the power supply is cool to the touch, it has a 120mm intake inside the case and a 80mm exhaust on the back obviously. The video card idles at 40c and peaks at 47c after hours of gameplay (this is due to the badass Thermaltake DuoOrb), and all four CPU cores idle around 25c and peak at around 45c after running Prime95(without overclocking). I really dont think this is a temperature issue, and power as susgested above (thanks for the info).

Ive got my eye on a few PSU's, like the Zalman 750W which is $160 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379006

Its gotta be modular, I refuse to use "old style".

 

[Aragorn]

You said your CPU goes to 45c before your OC. What does it go to with your OC? If you scale your OC back a bit does your machine become stable again?

 

[Onus]

You might be stressing the NB on your micro-ATX with your OC. I'd back it off a bit and see what happens. When you put in the better GPU and did your OC, did you lock the PCI buss at 100MHz or let it go up?
Capacitor aging could well have reduced the capacity of your tier-4 Hiper PSU.
Is temporarily putting the 2600XT back in an option, or did you sell it? As Aragorn suggests, do something(s) to reduce the load and see what happens. You might try switching some connectors around to see if you can move load from one rail to another.

 

[spathotan]

Stock is 2.4, going up to even 2.6 bombs the system. Also I tried the OC before and after I reworked all my wiring this weekend, same results. And the 2600XT isnt an option

 

[evongugg]

Did you use Driver Cleaner when you changed video card?
If you didn't it could cause problems.

 

[spathotan]

Yes I used driver cleaner, although there is nothing wrong with the card itself. The card is in the equation because its believed that it (8800GT) has taken up the last bit of available juice.

 

[Andrius]

This might be a long shot but (just in case) make sure the G33 onboard video adapter is disabled in BIOS.
The "RAM Performance Enhance" setting of "Extreme" causes my system to fail stresstests when overclocked.
If you're using the "Auto" voltage settings in BIOS that could be the cause for overheating as Auto tends to overvolt quite a bit with higher overclocks.

Isolate the problem :
Prime95 maximum fpu stress for CPU. What cooler are you using for the CPU?
Memtest86/Prime95 blend test for RAM
3DMark/NVIDIA Control panel/ATI Tool for GPU

Power:
If you have your system on an UPS try without it.
Remove 1 hdd and optical drive(s) and all nonessential fans and test again (should work if it's power shortage).

450W should be enough for any G92 single chip card system.
I checked the GIGABYTE GV-NX98X512H-B manual.
(They tested a stock QX6700 + 9800GTX + 1HDD + 1ODD).

 

[spathotan]

Hmm ok, Ill try the Prime95 memtest and turn off autovoltage. Ive ran 3Dmark06 WITHOUT CPU overclocking but WITH VGA overclocking, the card is a EVGA 8800GT SC, its stock OC'ed to 650mhz and 900mhz memory, ive gotten it to 710mhz and 1000mhz memory with no problems. Im starting to believe its the motherboard and not the PSU....

 

[spathotan]

Ok an update here. I went into the BIOS and did the things you susgested Andrius, I changed the CPU voltage setting from auto to the chips stock which is 1.3V. I then set the proc to 2.88ghz and headed into windows, and started Prime95 on 4 cores. I ran it for 30 minutes with no errors, temps spiked at 48c (idles around 28c, this is with a Scythe Ninja "Mini" cooler, passive). I then ran 3dmark06 5 times back to back with no errors. Im going to try some games now, if they crash then im completely out of ideas.

**EDIT** Just opened up my case and felt around, power supply is cool, processor cooler is cool, but the RAM and Northbridge cooler is **** BLISTERING hot, I cant even keep my finger on them for more than 3 seconds. This might be the issue....im going to play this safe and set the CPU back to default speed.

 

[Mondoman]

You could also work on improving the airflow inside your case -- the VGA and CPU coolers cool those chips well, but they end up dumping all that heat inside the case, so you likely need to add some more exhaust.

 

[spathotan]

Eh, airflow is good. I have a Raidmax Smilidon Extreme. Two 120mm front intakes, rear 120mm exhaust, side window 80mm exhaust(right inline of the CPU cooler) and a 80mm intake right below that aimed directly at the video card/PCI slots that pushes a nice bit of air.

 

[Mondoman]

The side window above the CPU should be an intake, not an exhaust, supplying cool outside air to the CPU cooler rather than sucking air away from it. Also, according to newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156078&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Cases+(Computer+Cases+-+ATX+Form)-_-Raidmax-_-11156078 ), the rear exhaust fan is 80mm, not 120mm.

Overall, sounds like you've got too many intakes and not nearly enough exhaust, so there's not a good *flow* of air through the case. (The total exhaust fan airflow needs to be more than the total intake fan airflow). I would disconnect the two side fans and the two front intakes (did you add a 2nd 120mm intake to the stock one?) and replace the single 80mm back exhaust fan with a super-high-airflow version.

 

[spathotan]

The side window above the CPU should be an intake, not an exhaust, supplying cool outside air to the CPU cooler rather than sucking air away from it. Also, according to newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156078&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Cases+(Computer+Cases+-+ATX+Form)-_-Raidmax-_-11156078 ), the rear exhaust fan is 80mm, not 120mm.

Overall, sounds like you've got too many intakes and not nearly enough exhaust, so there's not a good *flow* of air through the case. (The total exhaust fan airflow needs to be more than the total intake fan airflow). I would disconnect the two side fans and the two front intakes (did you add a 2nd 120mm intake to the stock one?) and replace the single 80mm back exhaust fan with a super-high-airflow version.

Yes, I added a Thermaltake icage for my Harddrives which has a 120mm fan and goes in the 5 1/4 drive bays. Also, the rear fan is a 120mm, I checked your link and my newegg order history to see if there was a revision or some sort, and damn sure enough both of them have it listed AND pictured as a 80mm, but the model I have is a 120mm (trust me :lol: ) Maybe Raidmax did a revision and Newegg hasnt updated, who knows. Anyways, in a few days once I get my $600 from the "relief" thing im gonna snag a 580W Mushkin PSU and an ASUS P5K-E (non-wifi version). So ill see how that handles OCing then decide wether or not to tinker with the fans.

 

[Andrius]

The G33 should run 333MHz at stock. My passive cooled P35 chipset cooler is hot to the touch also but only has around 40°C-45°C (quite good normal for passive cooling).

If you have a heatspreader on your RAM it should also be around 40°C-45°C. Make sure the memory to fsb ratio is right (266x3.0 = 800 or 333x2.4 = 800).

It's like a car in direct sunlight during summer. The metal burns to the touch but it's only around 10°C-15°C hotter than the surrounding air (30°C).