Problems with first home build

[gijoe262]

Hello all,
I completed my first homebuild yesterday and was delighted when everything actually turned on and nothing popped or lit on fire. A few minutes in however, I started running in to problems. Seemingly at random, the whole sytem will freeze, locking the image on the screen and not responding to mouse or keyboard. I would assume that this was a software problem, except that the first time it happened was when I was working in the BIOS before I even installed Windows 7, though it became much more frequent after I installed windows 7. I did some reading online, and a few different people suggested upping my NB voltage to 1.2 V from the factory 1.1 setting. This seems to reduce the frequency of the freezes, but not prevent them. Specs are below, thanks in advance for any light anybody can shed.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4 OC'd to 3.5
ASrock 870 Extreme 3 6gb/s USB 3.0
GSkill Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 (2x2gb) Dual Channel
WD 1TB Caviar Black 7200 RPM 6gb/s
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB PCIE 2.0
LG 10X Blu-ray
XION 700W PSU

 

[Richard_nixon]

What is the part number/model of the ram?

 

[Dogsnake]

I think you may have PSU problems. Take a look at this review (http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=109). This guy knows power supplies. Do you have the same problems with everything set to stock-default values?

 

[orangegator]

Yeah, that psu is garbage and very possibly the problem. I know someone who's xion psu fried recently after only 18 months of use and killed his motherboard and cpu. Get a corsair or antec psu.

 

[gijoe262]

What is the part number/model of the ram?

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

I was kinda feeling like it might be a ram issue because as I understand it, upping the NB voltage effectively increases the voltage to the RAM, and as I said this signifigantly decreased the freezes.

Thanks for the help.

 

[gijoe262]

I think you may have PSU problems. Take a look at this review (http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=109). This guy knows power supplies. Do you have the same problems with everything set to stock-default values?

What a Burn, that was not the cheapest PSU! I looked at the review, I have the gold series, who knows if that matters. It looks like voltage regulation may be my problem, but how would that affect a freeze and not just a reset?

 

[ko888]

What a Burn, that was not the cheapest PSU! I looked at the review, I have the gold series, who knows if that matters. It looks like voltage regulation may be my problem, but how would that affect a freeze and not just a reset?

The model reviewed by jonnyGURU.com is an older non-modular model that has four +12 Volt rails and utilizes older technology.

Your power supply model is the newer modular version with a single +12 Volt rail providing 58 Amps.

The AXP / Xion brands use Super Flower as the OEM.

 

[gijoe262]

The model reviewed by jonnyGURU.com is an older non-modular model that has four +12 Volt rails and utilizes older technology.

Your power supply model is the newer modular version with a single +12 Volt rail providing 58 Amps.

The AXP / Xion brands use Super Flower as the OEM.

Thanks a lot for the info, it had really positive feedback on Newegg, so the Jonnyguru review seemed off.

 

[ko888]

Thanks a lot for the info, it had really positive feedback on Newegg, so the Jonnyguru review seemed off.

Two reviews I've read:

Overclockers Club:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xion_lp_700w/


PureOverclock:

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1129

 

[ko888]

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

I was kinda feeling like it might be a ram issue because as I understand it, upping the NB voltage effectively increases the voltage to the RAM, and as I said this signifigantly decreased the freezes.

Thanks for the help.

What value/option did you set the NB Voltage and DRAM Voltage to?

The G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL operating voltage is 1.5 Volts.

 

[gijoe262]

What value/option did you set the NB Voltage and DRAM Voltage to?

The G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL operating voltage is 1.5 Volts.

Out of the box, both were set to Auto. The Auto setting for NB voltage was 1.1 V, and freezes were frequent, seems like especially under load, maybe not. I set it to 1.2 V, freezes much more infrequent, but still a nuisance.
DRAM voltage is still on auto setting, which has it at 1.54 V.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Jim_L9]

Have you tried memtest 86+?

 

[gijoe262]

Have you tried memtest 86+?

I was /just/ looking into that, though I will learn have to learn how it works first, my skills are still admittedly beginner. I was also considering switching the two sticks from the white slots to the blue, both to see if maybe there is a problem with the slots, and it occurs to me maybe they are not seated properly?

 

[Dogsnake]

If you set everything to default/stock values does the problem go away?

 

[gijoe262]

If you set everything to default/stock values does the problem go away?

No, freezing is really bad with factory settings. It occurred to me that maybe one of the RAM sticks wasn't perfectly seated, so I pulled both and reinstalled in the next set of slots, then set the NB voltage to 1.15 V (Auto setting was 1.1, frequent freezes at that setting) and that seems to be running stable, played Empire: Total War on ultra settings for several hours, no freezes or crashes. We'll see if it holds!

 

[Dogsnake]

Good work! Do not keep the MB. If this proves a "fix" RMA the thing and get a new one.

 

[ko888]

When populating the dual channel memory slots on that motherboard you should populate the ones closest to the CPU first (i.e. Blue Slots).