Stable in everything but games?

[Cookeh]

Hello,
I recently overclocked my P4 to 3.8 GHz, and it was fully stable during a 3 hour test yet whenever I loaded any game (didn't matter which is was) it crashed after 10-15 mins.
After removing the overclock it was fine again.
I cant understand why it would be fully stable then crash repeatedly in games. it was the same with every overclock I used
Any ideas?

Spec:

Socket 478 P4 @ 3.2Ghz
Asus P4C 800-E Deluxe
2 GB DDR PC-3200 400mhz 184 pin RAM
ATI Sapphire Radeon HD3850

Thanks,
Cookeh

 

[Cookeh]

you've answered your own question; it's not stable.

just because a pc can run mersenne primes for a few hours doesn't mean it's going to use every part of the chip, where games will use different parts.

a good way to find stability is to run prime/linx etc etc BUT to run games to test as well.

In that case it cant be overclocked then.
Every single setting and speed has the same result

 

[Cookeh]

The trouble with things like Prime is they totally ignore the graphics card, when you run a game the graphics cards draws more power and pumps out even more heat into the case.

Do you have the PCI-E bus locked?

Its an AGP board

As far as I can remember I kept the RAM at its normal speed

 

[Cookeh]

Furmark is what I use for stressing graphics cards. Certainly, it takes it several degrees higher than folding does. Try running it at the same time as Prime/IBT.

k, thanks

That's odd. You have a CPU from 6+ years ago yet a high-end graphics card from 2 years ago. Slight power imbalance there, methinks?

And yeah, but what choice do I have? The other graphics card I had (a nVidia Ti4400 ) died - thankfully might I add, was crap xD.
So had to get a new one.
Figured seeing as my cpu is so poor, Ill get a decent graphics acrd to try and pull it up a bit

 

[Cookeh]

Thought Id post some stuff up to give you a better idea of my system and its limitations:

Cookeh

 

[Cookeh]

Fair enough. Are you using stock heatsink, btw? Though if you are, it's probably not worth buying a better one as it would cost you about the same to pick up a second-hand low-end C2D system

Nah Im not.
Got massively oversized zalman fan - nearly touches the ram

 

[Cookeh]

Like this one?

Okies, so its not OVER the RAM
its just nearly touching XD

 

[Cookeh]

Your memory is running its 166 timings at 200mhz

If you look at your CPUZ window the numbers under 200mhz are higher. It looks like you are running it near its limit anyway, try loosening the timings.

3-4-4-8

instead of

2.5-3-3-8

that you are running now. The ram is pretty rubbish tbh, I had 2-2-1-5 at 230mhz out of my old stuff but it was BH-5 and BH-6.

Then again your modules are pretty large for DDR1.

Sorry for what will seem like a daft question, but how do you change RAM timings?
New to the whole overclocking scene xD

 

[Cookeh]

If your board has overclocking it should have at least basic controls, or options for CAS etc. Alternatively if it doesnt reset the BIOS with load optimal/safe defaults or the like and see if either change those values. Power/RAM are your issue not the CPU methinks.

Got a 480W CM psu - Im not short on power, got 2 and a half times more than I need

The RAM was a cheapo budget stuff, but I didnt see the point in spending a tonne on dead hardware.
That said, I still havent upgraded

 

[Cookeh]

Ok looking at the manual (see page 86, latest revision from website) go to the advanced tab, then chipset, then set configure DRAM timings by SPD to manual.

You should then get DRAM cas# down to DRAM Burst length.

Change the first 4, they should be in the same order I listed above so cas 3, ras 4, cas 4 and prechange 8.

Did nothing but cause a bluescreen about 20secs after each boot