BSoD when screen saver trying to start

That should be fine. :) Post back how the test goes.

writhziden said:

That should be fine. :) Post back how the test goes.

I ran Unigine Heaven 3.0 (See: Heaven DX11 Benchmark | Unigine: real-time 3D engine (game, simulation, visualization and VR)) and the FurMark showed that the GPU temperature goes up to 104 degrees celcius

I got a FPS of 30.8 and scoring 777.

See attached picture.

And no BSoD and still running now.

In the future, you may want to keep the temperature from reaching over 100 C. I usually try not to exceed 95 C on my card, and it is a similar model to yours. Also, check your graphics card for dust clogging the fan. That caused mine to get to higher temperatures, as well.

Blow dust out with compressed air from a can or an electronics duster; never use a vacuum on the inside of the system because the static buildup and discharge from the vacuum can fry components.

No kidding. But it looks like system is fine and the BSoD is fixed and it is indeed a faulty card? The above is a test done with the card that was not flickering.

I would see if the other card works as well. Sometimes problems result from running two cards instead of one, so both cards may be fine, but together they cause problems.

writhziden said:

I would see if the other card works as well. Sometimes problems result from running two cards instead of one, so both cards may be fine, but together they cause problems.

Now I have the "other" card in the PC. Will call this card A (the primary suspect) and card B (the secondary suspect).

Issues without / before stress test:
1. I noticed that no matter what I do, I cannot bring the temperature down to below 83 degrees Celsius.
2. That said, card A when idling (nothing is running) has a steady temperature of 86-87 degrees. Card B has a steady temperature of 83-84 degrees. My room temperature has not changed much.
3. The FurMark Burn-in test has a "furry object" setting. With it on, the GPU usages goes way up to 100% and temperature goes as high as 107 degrees. With it off, the GPU stays around 36-37% usage for card B and 47-51% for card A.

Will retest both cards to verify the GPU usage percentages and repost / edit this post.

Hang on - ignore the FurMark GPU usage numbers above.

Let me start over with the same set of parameters.

Ok, after some stressful tests and endless night with FurMark, Memtest (Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool), BlackBox Test, IntelBurnTest, etc., I believe I have located the problem.

The two graphics card are fine. They had tons of dust collected inside the vents and now their normal idle temperature is 83-84 degrees. See attached screen capture.

CPU seems stable. See attached IntelBurnTest result screen capture.

The issue, I believe is in one of the 2GB RAM module. See attached photo file name IMG_0970.jpg (sorry being upside down, took it with my phone). When being tested with Memtest alone as the only module, it had 9 errors. When tested with its twin as a pair, it had 1 error.

So NOW, I took that pair out and running on only 4GB RAM (I had 8GB). If nothing else, hopefully, I can send the memory in question back to Kingston and get a matching set of modules with the other modules that showed no error.

Hopefully, now this machine will not BSD ... it has been fine for about 6 hours in which there were numerous tests above, Battlefield 3 sessions with and without CrossFire (can be fun ), and screen saver no longer flickers.

That said, these DDR2 memories are more expansive than the DDR3 but my Asus P5Q-E does not support DDR3.

Definitely appears that you found the problem. Did you test the slots to make sure it was not a bad slot and was definitely a bad module?

I believe I tested the two pairs and individual unit in the same slots ... there were actually less errors when the unit in question were tested with its twin pair.

So as such, I would assume I need to test the pair in question on the other two slots just to make sure - at least.

I hope it is not the motherboard.