Full lockup on coolish temps

mikeyp123 · 19 Jun 2010 at 16:45

Coolermaster HAF 922
ASUS P5NSLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz (/w after market coolermaster heatsink+fan)
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2
HIS Radeon HD 4850 IceQ 4 TurboX 512MB
CoolerMaster 700W Silent Pro M700 (Given as RMA replacement)
HDDs - 150gb Samsung >< (Were 2 in RAID 0, but one is faulty)
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro Series

Okay, I've cleaned every component with compressed air on removal from my case and fitted them into my new HAF 922 (my god the breeze from the top fan is going to give me a cold!)

I put everything in according to the motherboard manual and had a friend who'd done a full build to help me. We ran into a few minor small issues with the front panel sockets and had to reseat the cables on a few components as we were getting zilch out of the computer, but it boots fine and posts every time.

We fitted a new Coolermaster TX3 CPU Cooler (those clips to put the fan on are the most irritating thing I have ever come across, and the smug youtube guy fitting them with one hand didn't help matters). Put a small dab of thermal compound on and seated it.

The problem arises almost at random. I can play COD4 for close to 20 minutes at 125fps and then my screen completely locks any form of input or movement, about 5 seconds later my screen goes black for another 5-10 seconds, and then comes back on and I'm straight back to 125 fps!

However, this also happens on my desktop at random when the pc is literally under no strain whatsoever. It freezes all input as if a screenshot of the screen has been taken. Only way out is hard reboot.

I did notice in my COD4 console that after the black screen it says finished recovering device, so I guess that's my graphics card coming back to life?

The PSU is brand new, about 2 months old and has good reviews and the voltages seem okay from what I've gathered?

Speedfan Idle -

Furmark Score -

Any help would be a god send, thanks <3

Destination · 19 Jun 2010 at 17:41

Run memtest from dos on each stick of ram individually.
If it all passes, then reseat your CPU with new thermal paste and try it again.

mikeyp123 · 19 Jun 2010 at 17:52

Hikari Kisugi said:
Run memtest from dos on each stick of ram individually.
If it all passes, then reseat your CPU with new thermal paste and try it again.

Woops, forgot to mention i'd run memtest on each stick for an hour each and pulled up nothing. :/

I figured it might be the thermal paste, its the only scary bit about putting a pc together for me now

What I don't understand however is how it recovers in game, yet out of game it solidly freezes.

Essexraptor · 19 Jun 2010 at 18:25

Did you have the same problem running with 10.4 or 10.5 drivers?

Sounds more of a GPU problem to me

The only reason I say this is that the only thing that you have done is move the system from one case to the another?
Perhaps reinstall the OS after changing from a Raid 0 array?
The only new piece of the equation is the 10.6 drivers showing in your Fur mark test?

mikeyp123 · 19 Jun 2010 at 18:29

Essexraptor said:
Did you have the same problem running with 10.4 or 10.5 drivers?

Sounds more of a GPU problem to me

Uh, I haven't used this pc for about 4-5 months so

I got it back and just reformatted it and assumed the latest drivers would be fairly stable, I could try going back, I hate the new driver installer from ati if im perfectly honest!

Essexraptor · 19 Jun 2010 at 18:45

The GPU will fall over when stressed and restart when commanded by the software in COD4.
You've ruled out the RAM being at fault. CPU is not stressed with overclocking or extra voltage demands. Which leaves corrupt OS, Faulty or on the way out GPU or GPU driver issues

mikeyp123 · 19 Jun 2010 at 18:56

So are those voltages okay? I wasn't sure about the -12v I wasn't sure what sort of voltages I needed on that.

Yep, the RAMS fine or close to it! CPU despite my amateur pc building aspects seem to be running at fine temperatures.

Gonna reformat once more, reinstall some drivers then its time to order a new card. Which 5770 is the best to get?

Also, is there a chance this could be a motherboard issue, considering it took a few reseats to get the card to be detected in the one PCI-E slot?

Essexraptor · 19 Jun 2010 at 19:03

They are all very much alike with core speed etc. Just slight tweaks between them and fancy shrouds on others. Pick one that suits your pocket

I would advise one of the full shroud ones which will insure the hot air is pushed out the back of the case. Like this type

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515

If possible test your system with another/or a mates GPU first to insure that your card is indeed on the way out

mikeyp123 · 19 Jun 2010 at 19:13

Essexraptor said:
They are all very much alike with core speed etc. Just slight tweaks between them and fancy shrouds on others. Pick one that suits your pocket
I would advise one of the full shroud ones which will insure the hot air is pushed out the back of the case. Like this type

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515

If possible test your system with another/or a mates GPU first to insure that your card is indeed on the way out

That looks sweet, I will ask a friend to borrow his gpu following my reformat and see if I can isolate it to the GPU.

I was considering doing a fresh rebuild with a ASUS 790GX, Phenom II X4 955 and OCZ Gold, if its not the GPU that would give me some incentive to spend I suppose haha.