ALL my games are crashing!

[skyturnred]

Hi, I have recently built a new system with the following specs:

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Gygabyte AM3 processor 770TA-UD3 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128431

AMD Phenom II X4 955 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=amd_phenom_ii_x4-_-19-103-808-_-Product

4 GB DDR3 RAM GSKILL

ATI Radeon HD 5770 XFX http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447&cm_re=5770-_-14-150-447-_-Product



So, I installed EVERYTHING with the newest drivers and updates. But immediately I noticed serious problems. Every time I would try to open an Adobe CS5 app, it would crash immediately with many errors. Whenever I would reboot my system, several errors would pop up. So I went to Omega (http://www.omegadrivers.net/) and got his latest drivers for the ATI 5770 for Windows 7. All of the problems that I mentioned before disappeared. So I started installing a bunch of my games. But it seems that all of my games are crashing usually about 10 minutes into playing the game. Just an example of some of them that are crashing is: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, Sims 3, Age of Empires 3, and Worms 4. Does anyone have any ideas for what I can do? Please help! Has anyone else been having severe driver issues with their 5770 and Windows 7 64 bit?

 

[skyturnred]

Forgot to mention PSU

it is a Corsair 450w. I specifically spent an extra 50 or so to get corsair just to that it would be a quality PSU, I really hope its enough for my rig...

Anyways I downloaded and ran Hardware monitor for about 10 minutes while I ran Age of Empires 3 until the point that it crashed

My min and max CPU temps were 36C and 50C
My min and max GPU temps were 54C and 68C

However at the point of the crash, the GPU was not at 68C, but 62C.

Thanks for the quick response too btw

________________
EDIT

The games do not slow down in FPS or anything like that at all even until the point where it crashes. It just suddenly and inexplicably crashes. No errors show up at all. Sometimes, a windows notice appears saying "game" has stopped working.

I am using stock cooling for all my hardware but plan on upgrading my CPU heat-sink fan to a third party one.

 

[notty22]

Sounds like possibly unstable memory. Did you set the voltage for your memory in bios.
Is it running at the right speeds timing ?
You can make a bootcd with a file from memtest.org which you can then run a test for a couple hours, you should have NO errors.

 

[Hard Line]

don't forget to verify your timings and voltages... that is a common mistake even for veterans..

 

[skyturnred]

OK, I ran the memtest and after about 10 minutes and about 60 000 errors I figured something was wrong. I exited the memtest and checked to make sure all of the settings were right in the bios and they were.

8-8-8-21, and 1.5v. Just like the RAM says on the package AND on the sticks of ram themselves.

So does this mean that I have bad ram sticks? or is there some other kind of setting in the bios that could be causing this? I really don't want to have to go a month or so waiting to get the ram back from GSKILL in the mail.. but w/e if that's what I have to do.

But besides my ram issue, could that really be what is causing the problem? 'cause I mean OTHER apps other than gaming seem to be working perfectly such as firefox. that can stay open all night without crashing. also msn, etc. wouldn't those be affected by bad ram aswell? and wouldnt windows 7 itself be affected aswell? i haven't noticed any other issues other than the games crashing, however I am no computer tech.

 

[4745454b]

Try upping the ram voltage to 1.65. With an AMD system you can try 1.7 as well. If that works you can keep it that way, but you should RMA the ram seeing as they don't work as they should.

 

[skyturnred]

I tried upping the voltage and that did not work at all. I ran the memtest individually for each stick of ram and I identified which stick was not working. I tried playing my games with only the working piece of ram, and the problem is gone.

Thank you very much everyone for you help this has been a fairly easy experience. Now all I have to do is figure out how to RMA this thing...

 

[skyturnred]

Best answer selected by skyturnred.