Custom Built PC Freezes

[Uniquey]

Hi, ive had this pc a gd few years now, and for the first year there were no errors. Then all of a sudden, my OS would just freeze and nothing would respond. Powering it off and then on again works fine. I sent bk the RAM and motherboard thinking they might be the problem, and these solutions fixed it temporarily, and then a few weeks later it would play up again. Now every now and then the lan adapter gets on limited connectivity and a reset of the adapter makes it work again. Im on the same connection as friends and they have no problems so i think they're linked. Other people with the same problem found out they had WLAN card problems. I dont have a WLAN card so it cant be that. I also suspected a power supply problem, that it might temporarily get a shortage in voltage. Ive run OCCT tests for voltage and it all seems normal. The rails are as follows;

Vcore - 1.31
5V - 4.96
12V - 12.34
3.3V - 3.2

These all seem to be within the ATX guidelines tho.
Ive done memory tests and it doesnt come up with any problems, and there are also no errors in the event log, so it has to be a hardware issue.

Im reaching the end of my teather with this one, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. My system is;

EVGA 780i 132 CK-NF78
Intel Q9450
DDR2 - 800mhz
8800GTX
Samsung 500GB HD

 

[shortstuff_mt]

We need a little more info. What PSU do you have? What exact RAM kit do you have? "DDR2 - 800mhz" doesn't really narrow it down much. Have you manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the specs listed on the sticker on the RAM?

What memory tests have you done? The best RAM test I'm aware of is Memtest86+. You should let it run overnight to fully test the RAM.

What are your idle/load CPU and GPU temps?

 

[Lutfij]

U know i had these frequent yet rare - freezes in windows xp 32 bit a few years ago...i found out that it was due to incompatible hardware.

Do wat shortstuff sed - run memtest to test ur rams, and i also noticed that its a 780i board - that oard has big bugged with holes - just like the asus x48 boards

 

[Uniquey]

The PSU was from ebuyer, they dont sell it anymore but sell a similar one which is 800W. The PSU i have is a Hi-Power 1000watt Modular PSU, cost me £56: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135196

The RAM is 4x1gb Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864AA80A. Manual timings of 4-4-4-12 and 2V, actual voltage 2.01V. Ive done memtest before, and have replaced the RAM a few times so it cant be that the sticks are faulty.

CPU Idle temps - 44-47, load - 58max
GPU idle temps - 50, load - 64max
MCP - 63

Ive heard about the 780i being a bad board, do you know any gd replacement for socket 775?

Thanks

 

[shortstuff_mt]

When was the last time you ran Memtest86+? RAM can go bad. I've had especially bad luck with Crucial Ballistix RAM. Running four sticks of RAM just makes the problem worse since it's harder on the motherboard and doubles your chances of a stick going bad. I would run Memtest86+ again. Your symptoms are usually caused by either faulty RAM or incorrect RAM BIOS settings.

 

[Uniquey]

i havent ran memtest for a while so il run it over night as you suggested. I can't see any problems with my bios settings as most of them are default with changes to the RAM and fan speeds. Il post up any results of the RAM test 2moz.

 

[Lutfij]

if ur interested in sli'ing, then all boards with a nvidia chip have a wierd BUG - overclocking loopholes and some minor problems with hardware. but if ur looking into crossfirex then go 4 a P45 or X48 chip mobo. Gigabyte, Asus and EVGA make good intel based boards. Gigabytes are good for everyday use, with medium overclockability, EVGa is a lil better and asus is only for the hardcore overclocker.

If ur a newbie - that 8800GTX will run on a single slot (PCI-e 2.0) in a crossfire mobo

but this hardware swap is only needed if ur rams are not the issue, after the memtest

 

[Uniquey]

ok after a memteast all of last night, there weren't any errors found. PC didnt crash last night, may have something to do with disabling the networking adapter, not sure.

 

[Lutfij]

hmmm, as i thought so, i read somewhere that the network problem ur having is among a whole lot of customers witht the same board.

i also read that the network adapter is/isnt controlled by the nvidia NB chip but it has issues....:S i don remember.

ur answer sez, its not ur rams - rather ur board

 

[Uniquey]

ok thanks, il look into more about the board and hopefully find a new one and hope the problem is fixed. I want a new board anyway seeing as i cant fit a soundcard in because of the size of the graphics card, and only 1xPCI-E 1.0 slot.

 

[Uniquey]

im thinking of either;

ASUS Rampage Formula Republic of Gamers Series iX48
Asus Maximus II GENE iP45 Socket 775

any thoughts? altho the maximums wouldnt allow me for a sound card.

 

[SL2W8]

What's it like to replace crucial in the UK? They're good about in the states. My ballistix goes bad about every 6 months. "Are you running at the right voltage?"

 

[Uniquey]

crucial are brilliant for RMA, but ive sent the RAM back twice, first time i had PC2-8500 and replaced it, then i wanted PC2-6400 to improve stability but it hasnt helped. The RAM has the right timings and voltages. First year it was working fine @1066mhz and 1.8V, less voltage than recommended but it was all fine. Just installed new motherboard drivers as the network card was playing up more frequently.

 

[Lutfij]

Uniquey, ur almost in the same boat as i am.

You'l be more happy looking at the Asus Maximus II formula, not the gene (although it looks kinda neat) but u get a tonne of features in the formula. Its a P45 chip, so if ur going to crossfire then u'll be getting x8/x8 as opposed to x48 chipset - x16/x16 but if u run a single GPU - x16 for both P45 and X48

i understand u want to keep ur rams and trust ME, their GOOD timmings! so u can look into the rampage formula and the maximus II formula...but if its overclocking features you want then u should look no further than the maximus II formula as the rampage formula has a few issues and it has a few overclocking bugs.Plus the rampage formula is a bit older than the Maximus II formula.

If ur switching to DDR3 than u can look into getting the Rampage Extreme x48 thas wat i have

 

[Uniquey]

thanks for ur advice, i think im gonna wait and see if i can get any help from EVGA and then if i cant fix this il get the maximus 2 gene. I cant really afford a massive upgrade with RAM as well so the motherboard will do. I built my bro's PC as well and hes had no problems. He has the i7 bloomfield with a rampage 2 gene.

 

[Lutfij]

the rampage II gene has no known issues...get the maximus II formula - you'll be much happier!

here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131319&Tpk=asus%20maximus%20II%20formula

and

http://www.amazon.com/Maximus-II-Formula-DDR2-1200-Motherboard/dp/B001BIHDOQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266498157&sr=8-1

mATX over am ATX means your going to have to sacrifice some features...but look into both of them , provided you have a midtower-full tower case.