Are there any 'motherboard stessing programs'?

VortX

VortX

VortX

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As per title.

I've got a CPU stress program - Orthos.

I've got a GPU stress program - 3DMark Vantage / GPU Caps Viewer

I've got a RAM stress program - Memtest / Orthos


However, my computer is consistently crashing / freezing / stuttering.

My computer has passed 20 hours flat out on orthos for both CPU and RAM.

I have run memtest+, on a 2 pass, no errors.

I have run 3D Mark Vantage on a triple pass, run GPU Caps Viewer for a good couple of hours.

EVERYTHING passes, not a hitch. It doesn't make any difference whether I revert OC settings to stock, update/rollback BIOS, change video, sound etc drivers, I have had 3 different OS's installed, on 2 seperate hard drives, THE LOT. Yet it still does the same.

The PSU is a 700W, so it should be more than enough to cope, I was putting up with it but I am getting sick and tired of playing my games and it stutter / freeze every now and again.

The only things I can think it could be is the PSU or the mobo, as my memory and CPU seem to by fine, and my graphics card is a recent replacement and hasn't really changed the problem.

However, when I had my 8800GTX it would freeze the entire computer, ever since I have had my GTX 280 replacement, no freezing at all, now it just stutters all the time (strange), another reason I doubt it is the PSU as this GTX 280 actually draws MORE power :confused:

So yeah, is there any program in which I can stress my motherboard, such as the South/Northbridge.

If not, any idea? Would you agree that my motherboard is slowly but surely dying?

Thanks.
 
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From a strictly unbiased point of view Orthos /Prime64 is useless, I've ran the thing for up to 20 hours on extremely unstable settings. Memtest and GPUtests never seem to find anything.

Try these practical tests:

CPU + Memory: Intel Burn Test version 1.9+ (at least 3200Mb mem usage)

If the CPU is unstable it should fail in 1-2 passes in under 6 mins.
If the memory is unstable it should fail once every 20-100 passes.

Complete system test: Age of Empires 3: Asian Dynasties
Despite being a game I can guarantee it will not waste your time. If you're system is even SLIGHTLY unstable this game WILL crash with a BSOD. Its the only game I know that is this sensitive.

If it passes the Burn Test but fails Age of Empires 3 then its probably the PSU. If it fails the burn test try increasing the Northbridge voltage to at least 1.45v. Mine fails below that.
 
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PanMaster said:
From a strictly unbiased point of view Orthos /Prime64 is useless, I've ran the thing for up to 20 hours on extremely unstable settings. Memtest and GPUtests never seem to find anything.

Try these practical tests:

CPU + Memory: Intel Burn Test version 1.9+ (at least 3200Mb mem usage)

If the CPU is unstable it should fail in 1-2 passes in under 6 mins.
If the memory is unstable it should fail once every 20-100 passes.

Complete system test: Age of Empires 3: Asian Dynasties
Despite being a game I can guarantee it will not waste your time. If you're system is even SLIGHTLY unstable this game WILL crash with a BSOD. Its the only game I know that is this sensitive.
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Thanks for the heads up I will give the Intel thing a go, and lol at the AOE:3, thats a hell of a reputation to have for a game - so unstable you can use it as a stability test!:p
 
Well, I ran 10 passes, and it still says that my system is 100% stable. So it can't be my memory or my CPU. It just has to be the motherboard :confused:
 
VortX said:
The PSU is a 700W, so it should be more than enough to cope
Click to expand...

Hey VortX,

firstly well done on surviving a King-Kong troubleshooting session without throwing the computer out the window! :D

From everything you have described it does sound like the PSU is shot! :(

It's really hard to troubleshoot a PSU and I've spent many days going through a similar headache as what you have described above ahhhhh! :eek:

Just as you have methodically tested most of the components separately you really need to test the PSU with either a MM or a PSU-Tester (£15) to be sure!

Now what brand is this PSU? :confused:
 
Either as Big.Wayne describes, or...

Check your temperatures.

Orthos/Prime/etc. are brilliant for demonstrating that the computer processing sub-system (i.e. memory/CPU/cache) can handle calculations of Prime factors without hiccup.

However, this says nothing about your graphics card or other peripherals in the system. What could be happening is - during a period of time where your graphics card is getting hot - various other core components within the system are getting a bit too warm for their own comfort and failing, leading to the problems you're describing.

How good is your case ventilation (in addition to BW's query)?
 
Prime95/IBT all very good at testing you motherboard. They put a huge load ont he PWM/mosfets and on the NB.

What's your PCIe lane speed, you can check in CPUZ now iirc or GPUZ. Have you got another PC to test the PSU with to rule it out?
 
Cheers for the replies people.

The power supply is a Thermaltake Toughpower 700W.

Surely it can't be the PSU though, because when I run it in Vantage which surely would be drawing a heck of a lot of power, its runs without ONE hitch.

It can't be overheating either, all my temperature are fine, from motherboard, to CPU, to GPU. Sometimes it will happen after a couple of minutes, sometimes after a couple of hours. It's a very random thing.

As for my Motherboard's PCI-E lane speed, it’s a full 16x PCI-E.

Note, this is all on stock settings. So this has nothing to do with overclocking either :confused:

And yes, I do kind of have another PC to test it out on, my dads, however I'm not sure he will appreciate me dismantling his PC :p so that's a no really :p

Everything in the PC is just over 2 years old by the way.
 
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shadowscotland said:
Have you tried running the system without the x-fi?
or with just a minimal set up for a few days (mobo, 1GB ram. boot HHD & 280)
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This is one thing I haven't done, never even considered my X-Fi (notirous for playing up) - will give this a go and get back to you, thanks :)
 
VortX said:
Thermaltake Toughpower 700W

Surely it can't be the PSU though, because when I run it in Vantage which surely would be drawing a heck of a lot of power, its runs without ONE hitch.
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Hey VortX,

it may well not be the Power supply but in the trouble-shooting process everything needs to be tested and eliminated. I'm not sure if you have suffered from a flakey PSU before, the side effects are sometimes curveball in nature and point to the problem being elsewhere!

Somehow you need to test it, just because it powers up the PC and runs Vantage fine doesn't mean it's not slightly fubared! . . . i.e a faulty PSU isn't always one that goes *bang* and lets off some curry smelling smoke! :D

Good luck! :)
 
Big.Wayne said:
Hey VortX,

it may well not be the Power supply but in the trouble-shooting process everything needs to be tested and eliminated. I'm not sure if you have suffered from a flakey PSU before, the side effects are sometimes curveball in nature and point to the problem being elsewhere!

Somehow you need to test it, just because it powers up the PC and runs Vantage fine doesn't mean it's not slightly fubared! . . . i.e a faulty PSU isn't always one that goes *bang* and lets off some curry smelling smoke! :D

Good luck! :)
Click to expand...

lol I guess that :p, I just thought that being that a PSU's main purpose is to output power... by forcing it to output as much power as possible, that should rule out the possibility of it being faulty. In the same respect running orthos for 10 hours is forcing a CPU to calculate at its maxium 'calculation limit' So if it can cope with everything at once it should cope with the little things??

Anyway..

I took out the X-Fi card, and started up COD4, which seems to be most prone to the 'hicups' however the game won't start without the X-Fi card plugged in. Even though I have uninstalled the drivers and run a driver sweep (Guru3D). On top of that I created a new COD4 profile and backed up my old one, still won't start up :confused:

Has to be some file some where to do with COD4 that is telling the game I have an X-Fi card whhen in fact I don't atm :mad:

I'm sure as hell not reinstalling COD4 either as it takes AGES to install :(

Unless I can find that file I am just going to give up and wait until I get my new computer in about 4 months :o
 
VortX said:
lol I guess that :p, I just thought that being that a PSU's main purpose is to output power... by forcing it to output as much power as possible, that should rule out the possibility of it being faulty. In the same respect running orthos for 10 hours is forcing a CPU to calculate at its maxium 'calculation limit' So if it can cope with everything at once it should cope with the little things??

Anyway..

I took out the X-Fi card, and started up COD4, which seems to be most prone to the 'hicups' however the game won't start without the X-Fi card plugged in. Even though I have uninstalled the drivers and run a driver sweep (Guru3D). On top of that I created a new COD4 profile and backed up my old one, still won't start up :confused:

Has to be some file some where to do with COD4 that is telling the game I have an X-Fi card whhen in fact I don't atm :mad:

I'm sure as hell not reinstalling COD4 either as it takes AGES to install :(

Unless I can find that file I am just going to give up and wait until I get my new computer in about 4 months :o
Click to expand...

OK, serious suggestion that sounds silly: Try plugging a mic into your PC then running cod4.

I don't know how this does it but cod refuses to run for me (and a fair few others judging by google) unless there's a mic present, it just does the infinity ward thing, then black screen, then closes.

I know it's an odd suggestion but worth a shot and easy to try.
 
Geckovich said:
OK, serious suggestion that sounds silly: Try plugging a mic into your PC then running cod4.

I don't know how this does it but cod refuses to run for me (and a fair few others judging by google) unless there's a mic present, it just does the infinity ward thing, then black screen, then closes.

I know it's an odd suggestion but worth a shot and easy to try.
Click to expand...

I have the sound card unplugged though lol, its not installed. As for motherboard sound it isn't installed at all, so plugging in a mic won't make any difference.

Thanks anyway, interesting find. :)
 
Ok, I turned on the computer this morning, wouldnt boot, the fans all went on full power and it did nothing. I narrowed it down to the memory, lucky that was the first thing I unplugged and it worked, here is what I found -

1 stick - boot fine.
2 stick single channel - boot fine.
3 stick dual channel asymetric - boot, crashes when you enter the BIOS.
4 stick dual channel - doesn't boot at all.

Now this got me thinking maybe my memory is duff? So I swapped the sticks around, but it made no difference at all, the only thing that made it boot was the combination above.

Once I got into the BIOS on 3 sticks, and then it let out a roar of constant 'post' beebs in a freenzy before I flicked the power on the back lol.

I am now running on 2 sticks in single channel, which appears to work fine... so I don't think this problem is my PSU, would you agree now that it is by far my motherboard that is dieing? :(
 
VortX said:
I am now running on 2 sticks in single channel, which appears to work fine... so I don't think this problem is my PSU, would you agree now that it is by far my motherboard that is dieing? :(
Click to expand...

It seems logical to me. If any combination of memory sticks works in single channel but not dual channel then its the motherboard thats fried.
I would get a new board right away if thats the case.
 
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