Pre overclocked bundle - assistance required.

steve1873 · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:19

Hi, some assistance required. I bought a preoverclocked (4Ghz) i7 bundle in mid October. As well as new power supply and an HD5870. Been very impressed by the performance of the system, but have been suffering some stability issues. It BSOD's at random intervals, although this happens and reboots so quickly that I do not have opportunity to note any of the error information. I have Everest Ultimate Edition and run the stability test, but this fails after anything between a few seconds to a minute, due to "hardware failure", but offers no further information as to the cause. I used Windows 7 Memcheck which detecs a hardware error, so I am leaning towards it being at least 1 stick of memory is causing problems. I am a little lost regarding troubleshooting though. Would removing the sticks and testing them individually be worthwhile or would this reduce/increase the memory clock making the test redundant as the moemory will not be tested in same configuration? Any help, troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated.

If I have to RMA it, then so be it but I'd like that to be a last resort as it is a hassle. In that event, would I be able to ship the entire desktop as opposed to removing the motherboard etc? May cost more shipping wise, but would save me the hassle of removing motherboard, cooler etc. as I am a bit of a novice. The majority of hardware is from Overclockers anyway. Only the optical drives, case (Antec P180) and wireless network adapter are my original components.

System is as follows:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=BU-003-OB

In addition to Corsair 650W psu and Powercolor HD5870.

PakJai · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:27

It depends on your Bios settings, it could be the CPU settings, RAM or the voltage settings.

I would back up your bios settigns and then load the default settings. If you can run stable on default settings, then it's got nothing to do with your actual hardware.

steve1873 · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:38

Will try, but given that I bought a guaranteed overclock then, if the hardware is unstable at the quoted settings then it is in fact a problem with the hardware, surely?

PakJai · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:42

It could be that it wasn't tested throughly enough before it was shipped out to you. I don't think they will ship you a bundle with faulty parts in it

I guess is it's to do with your settings.

steve1873 · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:48

Yeah, I agree that there must be a setting at fault somewhere in the BIOS, but I haven't changed anything other than the boot order when I was installing Windows 7.

Anyway, thanks. Will try out your suggestion.

I am still leaning towards 1 or more of the sticks of memory being faulty/ unstable at the overclocked speeds, however. Would removing the memory and trying each stick individually be able to confirm this, or by doing so would the clock speeds be automatically altered dur to the lower RAM configuration? Apologies if that doesn't make sense.

Uther · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:54

I would get in touch with the shop!
A guaranteed overclocked bundle is just that,you paid a premium for it,and its only a couple of months old,so it should be stable.

PakJai · 30 Dec 2009 at 13:59

steve1873 said:
Yeah, I agree that there must be a setting at fault somewhere in the BIOS, but I haven't changed anything other than the boot order when I was installing Windows 7.

Anyway, thanks. Will try out your suggestion.

I am still leaning towards 1 or more of the sticks of memory being faulty/ unstable at the overclocked speeds, however. Would removing the memory and trying each stick individually be able to confirm this, or by doing so would the clock speeds be automatically altered dur to the lower RAM configuration? Apologies if that doesn't make sense.

Unstable at overclocked speed could be down to incorrect Dram voltage, latency or frequency settings. You must make sure that you don't end up overclocking you RAM to incompatible frequencies.

If you are to remove them and test them one by one, make sure that you are operating on dual channel/tri channel according to your motherboard type ie. P55 mobo requires dual channel config and x58 tri channel respectively.

You don't want to go the long way round to find out what the problem is. Just back up your bios settings on to a USB stick, then set the bios to its default values. Now reboot again and stress test your system. If no hardware failure was reported and everything works fine, then that's a good indication that it's something to do with your overclocked settings.

Having said that, I agree with the above poster. It should be gauranteed to work, hence the premium. Reason I wanted you to find out for yourself is to save yourself time RMA;ing and waiting for it to be tested and returned to you again.

steve1873 · 30 Dec 2009 at 14:03

Uther said:
I would get in touch with the shop!
A guaranteed overclocked bundle is just that,you paid a premium for it,and its only a couple of months old,so it should be stable.

Cheers mate. Definetly going to do this after the new year. But would like a starting point before contacting OC.UK customer service. i.e. it would be a lot more convenient if I could troubleshoot the problem and, say only have to return a faulty stick of RAM, as opposed to removing the motherboard and returning everything - not to mention being left systemless for however long it is away.

steve1873 · 30 Dec 2009 at 14:04

PakJai said:
Unstable at overclocked speed could be down to incorrect Dram voltage, latency or frequency settings. You must make sure that you don't end up overclocking you RAM to incompatible frequencies.

If you are to remove them and test them one by one, make sure that you are operating on dual channel/tri channel according to your motherboard type ie. P55 mobo requires dual channel config and x58 tri channel respectively.

You don't want to go the long way round to find out what the problem is. Just back up your bios settings on to a USB stick, then set the bios to its default values. Now reboot again and stress test your system. If no hardware failure was reported and everything works fine, then that's a good indication that it's something to do with your overclocked settings.

Having said that, I agree with the above poster. It should be gauranteed to work, hence the premium. Reason I wanted you to find out for yourself is to save yourself time RMA;ing and waiting for it to be tested and returned to you again.

Much appreciated fella.