Hi all 
This is going to be a long post, I am sorry, but I want to explain everything because it all seems confusing to me. I also have autism so I hope that this post makes sense, sorry if it doesn't.
So I have an older PC, My friend got the parts a few years back and we built it up at the time. I can't remember all the exact parts inside it I am afraid, but I will list the specs as I remember them.
Rampage 2 Extreme Motherboard
Intel I7-930
6GB DDR3 RAM
2 GTX 480 SLI
950w PSU
I've used the pc for a few years, because until recently I've not been able to get a new one, and I've struggled for a good while with it. But the issues I've had are somewhat weird. For some reason the PC itself would freeze up every time it loaded up Windows and got to the point just before it brings up the log in screen. This was with both windows vista and windows 7, the exact same issue. The part that is confusing is that the problem only happens when I ran the system at stock, when it was overclocked then the system didn't freeze and it worked normally. I also tried 3 different PSUs right up to a 1150w one and the issue was still the same. So I figured the PSU couldn't be the problem.
But I figured as I couldn't afford a new PC and as long as it was overclocked it would work I would stick with it. About a year later I was getting tired of issues I was having with my GTX 480s, I didn't like how loud the cards were, or how hot they ran, and I wanted to change them. So I picked up a GTX 670. I put that card in and it worked fine, I installed the drivers, did everything I needed to and it seemed great. But then I found as soon as I loaded a game, between 10 seconds to a minute after the game loaded, the whole system would freeze. This confused me even more, I did bios updates and everything I could to try and fix the issue, and couldn't. So I tried a 660ti, and the exact same issue. As soon as I loaded a game or did a benchmark that put the gpu under load it would freeze my system. But when I put the 480s back in, it never froze or crashed the system.
Not only that but my 480s would run what seemed to me like a very weird way, they would keep getting hotter and hotter, and I know they are hot running cards, but I always assumed that if a GPU got too hot, it would cause the system to stop what it was doing, or even crash or something. But they never did, I could never enjoy games because I was so worried about them getting way above the heat they should. at one point one of them got to 105 degrees before I realised and quickly shut down my pc to try and let them cool. Once again a weird issue, when I run one 480 the heat issue never happens, it's only when in SLI that issue happens.
Again sorry for the huge post but my question is, Does anyone have any idea what could be so broken in my old system? I can't work out what is the cause, but I just keep thinking it's a motherboard issue, but I wanted to check if anyone has any ideas before I buy a new motherboard for it. I am hoping I can find the issue and replace what's broken so that I can rebuild it for a friend who wants a simple gaming pc but can't afford one.
Any help anyone could give would really be great, I've been so confused by it for so long.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post
This is going to be a long post, I am sorry, but I want to explain everything because it all seems confusing to me. I also have autism so I hope that this post makes sense, sorry if it doesn't.
So I have an older PC, My friend got the parts a few years back and we built it up at the time. I can't remember all the exact parts inside it I am afraid, but I will list the specs as I remember them.
Rampage 2 Extreme Motherboard
Intel I7-930
6GB DDR3 RAM
2 GTX 480 SLI
950w PSU
I've used the pc for a few years, because until recently I've not been able to get a new one, and I've struggled for a good while with it. But the issues I've had are somewhat weird. For some reason the PC itself would freeze up every time it loaded up Windows and got to the point just before it brings up the log in screen. This was with both windows vista and windows 7, the exact same issue. The part that is confusing is that the problem only happens when I ran the system at stock, when it was overclocked then the system didn't freeze and it worked normally. I also tried 3 different PSUs right up to a 1150w one and the issue was still the same. So I figured the PSU couldn't be the problem.
But I figured as I couldn't afford a new PC and as long as it was overclocked it would work I would stick with it. About a year later I was getting tired of issues I was having with my GTX 480s, I didn't like how loud the cards were, or how hot they ran, and I wanted to change them. So I picked up a GTX 670. I put that card in and it worked fine, I installed the drivers, did everything I needed to and it seemed great. But then I found as soon as I loaded a game, between 10 seconds to a minute after the game loaded, the whole system would freeze. This confused me even more, I did bios updates and everything I could to try and fix the issue, and couldn't. So I tried a 660ti, and the exact same issue. As soon as I loaded a game or did a benchmark that put the gpu under load it would freeze my system. But when I put the 480s back in, it never froze or crashed the system.
Not only that but my 480s would run what seemed to me like a very weird way, they would keep getting hotter and hotter, and I know they are hot running cards, but I always assumed that if a GPU got too hot, it would cause the system to stop what it was doing, or even crash or something. But they never did, I could never enjoy games because I was so worried about them getting way above the heat they should. at one point one of them got to 105 degrees before I realised and quickly shut down my pc to try and let them cool. Once again a weird issue, when I run one 480 the heat issue never happens, it's only when in SLI that issue happens.
Again sorry for the huge post but my question is, Does anyone have any idea what could be so broken in my old system? I can't work out what is the cause, but I just keep thinking it's a motherboard issue, but I wanted to check if anyone has any ideas before I buy a new motherboard for it. I am hoping I can find the issue and replace what's broken so that I can rebuild it for a friend who wants a simple gaming pc but can't afford one.
Any help anyone could give would really be great, I've been so confused by it for so long.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post
