Stability issues on a new homebuild

[mrtauntaun]

Hi guys. I am building a new system with all new parts, and I have a doozy of a stability issue. I am currently bench testing the following parts:

EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB 7200 RPM
ASUS P5QL/EPU LGA 775 Intel P43
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Sony IDE DVD Rom Drive

I just can't get the system to in a stable fashion. At first I got a blue screen the first time with one of the mobo drivers. I figured that it was a bad mobo, so I RMA'd out the mobo, RAM and PSU. Parts came back, system still will not run stable. Now it will frequently either hard lock, or just stop what it's doing (like a download or update). I even had it just stop when installing XP SP3. I had the video card running in another computer just fine for 3 hours playing some high end games. I also tried the known working PSU from that system with this hardware, still not stable. I put my personal gtx 260 into this board, also no dice. If I put in a old Geforce 6600, the system seems to be stable, but I am not sure what that tells me.

All signs point to CPU, in my mind, but before I have another RMA issued, I wanted to get some other opinions. My other guess is that the PSU just can't power all this stuff, all the research I've done says it should run it fine.

Any thoughts? I am at my wits end. Thanks!

 

[obsidian86]

have you tested your ram with memtest86+ or tried each stick of ram seperately

 

[mrtauntaun]

I tested the old batch with memtest, came back fine. I only RMA'd it with the board as I was going to this ASUS one. I tend to think it's not the memory, as I am getting stability issues with new parts. The only constant is the CPU (aside from the amount of available power).

But I will test the memory when I get home to be thorough. Assuming the mem is ok, any other thoughts?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I wouldn't be so fast to rule out the RAM. Faulty RAM or incorrect RAM settings in the BIOS are easily the #1 cause of BSOD's and system instability. Your RAM requires 2v to operate at its rated speed and timings. Have you manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the manufacturer's specs in the BIOS. It's rated at 800MHz with 4-4-4-12 timings at 2v.

You could also be having heat issues. What are your idle and load CPU temps?

 

[mrtauntaun]

Ok, I ran a memtest and it came back clean. I manually set the ram in the BIOS. It does seem to be running MORE stable, but not entirely stable. It's not crashing, but it does seem to loose the network card. I rebooted and there was no nic in the device manager. Rebooted again, and it was fine. It will also just drop connection and then find it again while the system is on, but it hasn't outright crashed.

I'll check in a bit to find exact load temps, but I am bench testing it so it's out in the open and not in a case.