GTX 280 HANG FREEZE

Hey guys,

Ive had to start another post due to my old one getting a bit to clogged! The reference to the old one is:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/263392-33-lock-vista-64bit-every-10mins#t1933277

Im having problems playing any game pretty much on my PC.

MOBO: Asus Striker II NSE
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q9550 2.83.Ghz 12 Mb 1333F
GPU: XFX Nvidia GTX 280
OS: Vista Ultimate 64bit
RAM: Corsair (4x XMS3 1GB)
PSU: ToughPower 850w

This PC was built by a computing shop. It has currently been in for repair 4 times now, and all those 4 times it still hasn't been fixed.

They seem to tell me that 64bit software can sometimes be incompatible with many games, but if i am correct aren't most games such as Crysis, Left 4 Dead, Half life, WOW, Bioshock, Spore, BF 2, BF2142 run on 64bit!

My issue is that the PC Freezes/Hangs up and has sound repeating anytime i play games.

Ive started to notice it mainly does the hang ups when Anti Aliasing is enabled (and when it is, it crashes within 5-10mins).
(they also did an RMA on my graphic card)

Ive researched for nearly a year now and still no luck!

I read about in another forum here, that it could possibly be my RAM which is 4 x 1GB sticks. Could that maybe be the problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks!

1 pass down, 43 mins in, no errors.
any other suggestions?

Temperatures (cpu and gpu) .. within range?

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] 0i-freezes

I'm pretty sure that the problem you have is the infamous nforce freeze. The BIOS settings look to be a bit different between the boards (you have a LOT more voltage options, and I don't know if the BIOS highlights out of range/dangerous voltages like the 790i does...), but the general steps would be the same: Sync RAM-FSB, and extra Voltage.

I for one am suspicious of all nforce boards at the moment, first because of the fact the freezing issue exists, because no one knows WHY it occurs, and no one knows a cure all to fix it.

I'm sorry to say I'm stumped at this point. The quick fix would be a non-nforce board, but the obvious downside is the loss of SLI support.

I have a very similar problem with lockups on a very similar configuration. I tried new video cards, new CPUs, new drivers, etc., but still had lockups during gaming with shuddering audio. After reading the posts on this forum, I increased my NB voltage from 1.33V (auto setting) to 1.40V (manual setting) and that seems to have fixed the issue. I'm also syncing 1:1 the FSB with my memory manually. I was already doing this via the auto settings, but I changed to manual just to make 100% sure they were in sync.

It seems like the 790i ultra chipset just needs a little more juice.

Thanks to gamerk316 and liquidignition for driving this discussion and fixing my lockups. I was about to go through the Asus warranty exchange process.