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Prime95 BSOD's at stock speeds on i7 920

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Prime95 BSOD's at stock speeds on i7 920

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I upgraded my machine a few days ago, and it BSOD's while running Prime95 at the stock speeds. I've been unable to read the BSOD as it restarts to fast.

I have:
EVGA E757
6 GB Corsair XMS3 - 1600 mhz
OCZ Powerstream 700 watt
Radeon HD4870
3 hd's, 1 DVD-RW

I had to manually set the timings and voltage on the RAM to the advertised rates - 7-7-7-20 @ 1.65.

I originally had the CPU voltage on auto, and so I manually changed it to 1.3, thinking it may be the fluctuations caused by the auto setting that killed it. It still died. I've upped it to 1.306 and am trying again, but I don't expect it to work, especially considering I've read that other people are OC'ing their 920's at 1.25 volts w/ no problems.

Any idea what the issue could be?

Edit: Should mention that it runs Crysis with no problems for long periods of time, if that helps at all.

Edit again: Also - CPU-Z reports the voltage as 1.247
Everest reports temps (under full prime95 load) as:
CPU - 55-56c
Cores1-4 - 70-72c


Message edited by sacredchao on 09-01-2009 at 10:52:10 PM
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put the voltage back on auto

Reply to Outlander_04

Why? Like I said, it was on auto when this started.

Reply to sacredchao

Try upping the timings on the RAM and see if the problem persist. I think that's not a problem of the 920 but of the RAM. Put them at CL 9 and try running Prime95.

If it doesn't BSOD then it's the RAM as it will probably be. In the case find the better stable CL for it. No need to RMA since the difference in performance from CL9 and CL7 is minimal.

Reply to selea

Have you run multiple passes of Memtest86+ to test for RAM errors? BSOD's are most commonly caused by RAM problems.

Reply to shortstuff_mt

You say you upgraded your PC a few days ago . . . what did you upgrade? the whole system? or was the i920 running fine before that?

In my experience, Prime95 is more likely to expose a memory problem than memtest.

Crysis running for extended periods of time tends to eliminate another possible culprit, your psu, as well as your vid card and general cpu timings.

I would put the BIOS settings back on auto and run Prime95 for a sufficiently long interval (say, 2x how long it took to BSOD with 3 sticks, or at least an hour) with a single stick of memory. Repeat the test with each single stick. Repeat with all pairs of two sticks.

At some point you should have an idea of which stick(s) are causing the problem, or whether the symptoms now point to something else.

Reply to Twoboxer

I'm running Memtest right now. Seems to be going fine. It's on 65% w/ no errors. I'll run a couple more passes as well.

Twoboxer wrote :

You say you upgraded your PC a few days ago . . . what did you upgrade? the whole system? or was the i920 running fine before that?



The CPU, mobo, and RAM are all new. Sorry, should have been more clear

Twoboxer wrote :



I would put the BIOS settings back on auto and run Prime95 for a sufficiently long interval (say, 2x how long it took to BSOD with 3 sticks, or at least an hour) with a single stick of memory. Repeat the test with each single stick. Repeat with all pairs of two sticks.

At some point you should have an idea of which stick(s) are causing the problem, or whether the symptoms now point to something else.



Good suggestion - will try that.

@Selea - I get what you're saying, and while the performance gain between CAS 7 & 9 may be minimal, I did spend the extra $30 to get the CAS 7, so I'd prefer it to work properly.

Reply to sacredchao

Sure, you paid more and you want it to work right, I can understand that. I said that only because some people becomes crazy when they ear the word RMA ;-)

Reply to selea

sacredchao wrote :

Good suggestion - will try that.

Thanks.

Remember I also said Prime95 will detect more memory errors than memtest.

Reply to Twoboxer

BSOD are usually relied to memory and graphic card. Since your 4870 was working in another computer, it leaves the memory.

Reply to redgarl

I went through and tested each stick at the bios default speed/latencies. They all worked fine.

Then I happened to read that someone was using these at 1.5 volts (vs. my 1.65, which is what newegg and the sticks themselves say to use), so I set them to 1.5.

Prime95 has now been running blend for about 2 1/2 hours. I think they may have been getting to hot or something at 1.65, and are now staying at a safe temperature. Of course, that's just my guess, but I can't come up with a better.

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to leave it up at the very least until I go to bed in an hour or two just in case.

Reply to sacredchao

Nope. I lied. BSOD'd just now (about half an hour after the last message). I'm now out of ideas. Anyone else?

Edit: I just submitted a technical support ticket to Corsair, so we'll see how that goes.


Message edited by sacredchao on 09-04-2009 at 04:29:18 AM
Reply to sacredchao

sacredchao wrote :

I went through and tested each stick at the bios default speed/latencies. They all worked fine.



What "test" did you perform?

Reply to Twoboxer

Prime95 Blend, as you suggested.

Reply to sacredchao

So to recap. We have a PC with a new mobo, cpu, and memory that:

- runs Crysis with 2 RAM sticks without failing but fails under Prime95.
- runs Prime95 successfully with either stick.
- has a graphics card and psu that ran fine with their previous mobo, cpu, and RAM.

Some new questions:

- What did your mobo set RAM timings to when on "auto". (You said you *had to* manually set the timings.)

- Did you do a fresh install of your OS from an OS CD (not a "recovery disk" )?

- How old is your psu and do you have another to try?

I guess I'm liking the psu or mobo as the culprit here. And in that pairing most often its the psu.

Reply to Twoboxer

3 sticks actually - triple channel ddr3


The mobo set the timings to 8-8-8-24, 1033 mhz. Adverised rates are 7-7-7-20, 1600 mhz

Fresh install

PSU is about one year old. No extras to try, unfortunately.


Message edited by sacredchao on 09-04-2009 at 10:05:29 PM
Reply to sacredchao

Have you ever tried just setting everything back to auto, and letting the mobo do what it finds comfortable?

I understand about the memory timings, and the $30, but it would be nice to get it running, and pin down the fact that this mobo/ram can't run as advertised.

Reply to Twoboxer

At completely default settings (8-8-8-19, 1033) it runs Prime95 all night. If I set it to 1600 mhz, but leave everything else on auto (11-11-11-24?), it dies as soon as the test starts to run. I tried setting it to the XMP profile - it ran the test for about 10 minutes before dying.

Reply to sacredchao

So obviously you know where the problem is.

Why not take your findings to EVGA and Corsair?

Reply to Twoboxer

That's probably the best bet. I've emailed Corsair, and will call EVGA Monday.

Thanks a lot!

Reply to sacredchao
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