Urgent help with PC!

[magouster]

Hi all,

So my parts arrived Wednesday, and I quickly threw everything together. Literally did everything in about an hour. The specs are in my sig.

Problem I have though, is the fact that the CPU isn't stable at all, not even at stock settings.

The voltages and temperatures are looking good, never going above 40C while running Prime95, but the test fails after less than 10 minutes. I made sure I've connected all the power connectors, so I'm at a bit of a loss. I've tried playing NFS Most Wanted, but it runs for a couple of minutes, and then the PC freezes. I'm running Memtest overnight when I go to bed now to check if the memory isn't the problem. Any thoughts on what the problem could be?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[solid102]

Could prolly be your 7900GT overclocking.

 

[Pepsiboy700]

Priming doesnt invloved video card. Set EVERYTHING stock and check drivers and conflicts. If that doesnt work rma it.

 

[StillwaterIT]

Your ValueRAM could be it. Maybe try underclocking your ram, sometimes cheap ram isn't stable at the advertised speeds, sometimes it is, it's hit or miss. If your at 200mhz, try 166mhz and see if you still have problems.

 

[Nitestick]

well it's probably either cpu memory or motherboard, depending on the results of memtest we can rule in or out memory. motherboard is probably less likely than cpu so that narrows things down a bit. i would check the cpu voltage is actually at the correct voltage because i have seen motherboards set both vcore and vdimm above or below the correct value. next i would try increasing vcore slightly to see if that cures your instability, if it does i would probably RMA the chip because it has been binned wrong.

 

[atomic tofu]

sometimes it takes a whole week for a build to settle...I don't know...happens

must be cyber ghosts

;p

a little unsure on your situation though...you only have problems with certain things? IE., problems only occur during cpu intensive apps? If you turn your pc on and do nothing, go to sleep and wake up is it ok? If so I'm thinking you should check for a bios update to that mobo

 

[magouster]

Ran memtest last night. It ran trough 19 passes, for 6 and a half hours, without a single error, so I'm sure it's not the memory. For the BIOS or motherboard info I'll check out the DFI forums.

This only happens during CPU intensive apps, like prime, and games. Thing is, it only happens when both cores have to work together. If I run only one instance of Prime95, it seems to be stable for an hour or so. Haven't run it for long enough to check stability over a long period of time.

It's going to suck if I have to RMA it! Waited over a week for everything to come, and I had to work late every night as well, so couldn't spend more than an hour fidling with it!

Any other thoughts? Has this happened to anyone else before?

 

[magouster]

Right, it's stable now. I kept it a 1.4V, but took the Big Typhoon off, and put the stock cooler (which is pretty darn good) back on, and all of a sudden everything is stable and works perfectly!

Which brings me to another question: Is it possible I could have fastened the Typhoon too tightly, and that it was putting too much strain on the CPU/socket/mobo. How tight should it be?

 

[theshonen8899]

The Big Typhoon has crappy instructions. Did you make sure to put the sticker foam thingy on the back of the mobo?

 

[magouster]

Yup, I put everytihing on that was supposed to on. I realy think I just put it on too tight, since the stock HSF is giving me no problems! I'll keep the stock one on for now, for at least a month, and afterwards I'll try the Typhoon again.

I was dissapointed to see I have the 110W, and not the 89W X2 4400+! Means it will tend to be a bit hotter once I start to overclock! Oh well, I'm just happy I got the 4400+, cause stocks on those are running low in the UK at the moment!