Stability!?

rik81h

rik81h

rik81h

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Joined
4 Nov 2009
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81
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Stoke On Trent
Hi guys,
I'll cut to the chase my system has become unstable, that meaning it was more so but no real changes within to warrant this. The clocks are slightly lower now than in my signature. I can run prime95 and memtest with no problems yet i get random bsods and game crashes along with frame drops. I know most would say downclock but i want more not less lol. Are the any other areas i should be stress testing or programs i could be using to track down the problem?
Thanks Rik
 
Have you got anothert psu you could use for s while?? That would only leave your motherboard and graphics cards as suspect.

Have you also checked for virus and cr*pware as they could also cause bsod etc. Have you updated drivers lately? Also something that could cause sudden instability.
 
I had the exact same problem when I first started overclocking my i7, was fine in Prime95 at 3.8GHz but after maybe one level of Crysis It would crash, lowered the clock to 3.4GHz and it was fine.
 
Use LinX or IBT instead of Prime95, they're both based on Intel's own LinPack benchmark and find any instabilities much easier than Prime95.

Just remember to assign plenty of memory for the tests but not so much that paging occurs.
 
Last edited:
Hello rik81h :)

rik81h said:
  • my system has become unstable
  • I can run prime95 and memtest with no problems
  • yet i get random bsods and game crashes along with frame drops
Click to expand...
I think your system was most likely always unstable once overclocked but didn't reveal itself to you . .

Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9300
  • 2497.5 (7.5 x 333)
  • 3375.0 (7.5 x 450)
Once you venture past 400MHz-FSB you are entering the "wildlands" and cannot expect everything to just work without a little manual intervention . . . if you can set the system to 3.0GHz to confirm everything is working perfectly?

  • 3000 (7.5x400)
I'm not that familiar with your mobo based on the Intel® X38 Express Chipset but AFAIK it should be able to get a 45nm quad up to 450MHz-FSB with a little "tweaking" . . . I may be able to help you further or maybe someone else who is familiar with that chipset can guide you further? . . . I'm thinking the problem lay in the NorthBridge if you are having problems with games even after Prime95 has passed? (what prime tests did you run BTW? Small FFTS? Blend? etc?) . . .

For the moment can you tell us what voltages you changed when trying for 450MHz FSB? . . . and what speed the memory was running at etc! :cool:
 
Wow thanks for so many replies already guys, i've been out so only just got them, i shall reply to all asap with the appropriate info. Thanks guys
 
@dfour Hi, i don't have another psu i could try unfortunately however it wqas new for this build as was the gpu but the mobo was manufacturer refurb and cpu 2nd hand. I recently had a nasty virus but i have gotten rid of all traces of it now and i had the problems before it anyway, and there not any worse now. As for drivers i've updated ati twice but both times gone back to 10.6 as the latters had issues as they did for many people.

@HW91 I can eat through Crysis and Warhead no problems other than the carrier level which had to be done in dx9 for nearly everyone so i believe.

@mmj_uk Thanks for the suggestions i'll give them a try.

@Big.Wayne I shall get back to you on voltages after a reboot however specs at min are as follows which are lower than in sig as first stated - cpu 3248, fsb 433, ram 1444 7-8-7-19-1T, gpu is same 900/1300 as changing made no difference in game stability. In prime i was running blends.

Thanks again
 
it could be a number of things causing the problem.

but the fact it runs fine under the stress tests and crashes in games would indicate the problem is GPU related not CPU related (althou not always the case)
this could be a bad overclock on the GPU, bad drivers or insufficent power at full load.

for a simple test, u could try underclocking the CPU and seeing if it still happens, would help confirm if it is indeed your CPU at fault.

also what message do you usually get on the BSOD?

also try to underclock the GPU and test that as well
 
@Cycrow i tried down clocking the gpu it made no diff in games or out. I'd hope my psu is enough for one 5830? The bsod are very random errors i couldnt say one more than another but usually something to do with memory. i think i may try the cpu on 3000 tomorrow for the day and see how it goes it just does seem to have gotten more unstable over time and i've currently got a level of avp i just cant play-bummer.
 
Lol and then saying that i've now just completed that level of avp with no problems all on full settings and same clock yet yesterday multiple reboots and couldnt get it to run... very strange
 
rik81h said:
cpu 1.38125, cpu pll 2.00, fsb termination 1.50, dram 1.66, nb 1.73, sb 1.2, clock overcharge 1.00
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Hi rik81h,

Are those voltages on [Auto] or have you manually set of of them? . . . would it be possible to put all the volts back on [Auto] and set the clock down to the following to make 100% sure everything is working fine . . .

Big.Wayne said:
if you can set the system to 3.0GHz to confirm everything is working perfectly?

  • 3000 (7.5x400)
Click to expand...
 
Hi Wayne, there manually set. Yes no problem i'll set them on auto and cpu to 3000 for the day tomorrow and see if any problems arise but i think it could take a couple of days to see if anything crops up as its extremely random, as i say i've just done the level on avp that it'd have none of yesterday. I'll keep you up to date with any occurences, is it worth doing any stress testing whilst on these settings?
 
So were down to 3000 and volts on auto and so far issues are explorer crashing i'll post if any other things crop up. Maybe just a format is needed?!
 
and then desktop management crash then frame drop and crash in game. I've altered the ram timings slightly see how that affects things to 7-7-7-20-60-1T but on this cpu clock the ram only runs at 1334 anyway, bloody thing lol
 
completely random ones dom, seen memory module and memory management a few times rest are very random as is everything thats happening
 
Hello rik81h :)

rik81h said:
So were down to 3000 and volts on auto and so far issues are explorer crashing i'll post if any other things crop up
Click to expand...

That's gonna be one of two things:

  1. Yet another unstable overclock
  2. bOrked O/S from a previous bad overclock
If you fully reset the system back to stock and the crashes go away and windows behaves perfectly you know it was an unstable clock . . . however if the system still spits out the dummy even running at stock you know the O/S is toast! :(

Always good to keep a nice clean backup of your O/S on another partition/disk when overclocking just in case! ;)

rik81h said:
Maybe just a format is needed?!
Click to expand...
 
Yeah thats very true, i'll knock everything back to stock and see what occurs. My feeling is it'll still be the same and will need a format, just hate it as need another hdd and its such a pain. Let you know if it magically becomes ok at stock.
 
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