New Homebuilt Locking up Reliably

[jmswshr]

Hey there, This is my 1st build:

EVGA 790i FTW Mobo
EVGA GTX285
OCZ GameXStream 700W PS
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2000 PC3 16000 (9-8-8-28 @ 1.85V
Intel E8500
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 32MB Cache
X-Fi Soundblaster Platinum Champion Fatal1ty series
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe
NZXT Tempest case
Linksys Wireless-N PCI adapter

I am having problems with the system completely locking up while playing games, pretty reliably.

It freezes, and out of the speakers whatever the last prolly 1/4 of a second worth of music or sound effects coming out of the speakers continually blasts out until I shut it off. It is like static on the TV almost.

I was running Vista 32 Bit, but upgraded to windows 7 32 bit hoping it would solve the problem, but it didn't.

I ran a Windows Memory checker to make sure there were no faults on the memory. It passed all tests.

I usually I overclock it to 3.8GHz (400x9.5) and it usually is quite stable at 1.35V. I know its not a problem with cooling because My CoolMaster V8 keeps it below 45C under enormous loads (Microsoft FSX with graphics CRANKED...probably one of the most CPU intensive games out there) I used to even run 4.275 with (450x9.5) but I had to increase the voltage to much for my comfort level.


This problem is really driving me nuts as I am a full time student who has to have full time job, so just paying for it all was a real struggle.

Any input would be more than appreciated.

 

[GhislainG]

Is it stable when not overclocked?

 

[jmswshr]

no, It still happens

 

[GhislainG]

Did you run memtest for several hours to make sure the RAM is working fine? Does it lockup when running CPU intensive applications like Prime95?

 

[jmswshr]

From the research I did, It said 2 runs of the 6tests would be sufficient. I did 4...and No it doesn't, just seems to only happen for games

 

[GhislainG]

Your problem seems to be with the EVGA GTX285. Is it overclocked? Can you try a different video card?

 

[wimcle]

if you are running the latest nvidia drivers: go into nvidia control panel -> performance -> Adjust GPU settings select 'direct Fan Control' set it to 100% and try again.

Nvidia has had a persistent problem for over a year where the fan would stay on 40% until the card burned up and died

Not saying that is your problem, but its where I would start