Stability Question

That's a quality brand, and should be enough juice. If the PSU is going bad, that could also cause hangs, reboots, and instability.

Mellon Head said:

I just noticed the type of RAM. I had two sticks of the same RAM for my new build and they went bad in about two weeks. Both sticks, one after another.

Random BSODs, reboots, freezing. It was a nightmare to troubleshoot. Good thing I had RMA insurance on them. I won't be buying the Gold series from OCZ anymore. Platinum, Reaper, yes, but no Gold for me. It kind of soured me on OCZ RAM, and I've never had trouble with it before. Looking at the OCZ forums, I wasn't the only one with problems with the Gold series.

I've run memtest86+ on them for more than 10 hours and there were no errors. Doesn't that mean that there is no issue with them?

Also, what do you make of the fact that the BSODs seem to occur almost always while playing a game?

[QUOTE=jalebi;946133]

Mellon Head said:

Also, what do you make of the fact that the BSODs seem to occur almost always while playing a game?

That's why I was pointing towards your power supply, since you already testedt the memory. Gaming is an increase draw on the PSU, so if that I failing, or you have one of the lines overloaded, it can cause those issues. Heat issues can cause freezing and reboots as well, considering your temps will rise to their highest point during a gaming session.

If you are getting BSoDs, those should be pointing you into the right direction in terms of what the fault is.

My next step would be to check airflow in the case and maybe swap out the PSU with another one to test.

A failing video card will also cause these issues during a gaming session. Just another point to consider.

[QUOTE=DeaconFrost;946160]

jalebi said:

Mellon Head said:

Also, what do you make of the fact that the BSODs seem to occur almost always while playing a game?

That's why I was pointing towards your power supply, since you already testedt the memory. Gaming is an increase draw on the PSU, so if that I failing, or you have one of the lines overloaded, it can cause those issues. Heat issues can cause freezing and reboots as well, considering your temps will rise to their highest point during a gaming session.

If you are getting BSoDs, those should be pointing you into the right direction in terms of what the fault is.

My next step would be to check airflow in the case and maybe swap out the PSU with another one to test.

A failing video card will also cause these issues during a gaming session. Just another point to consider.

I've run Furmark to stress test the GPU and get it to high temperatures. Everything went well, no crashes or BSODs.

Someone in another thread suggested it was Device Verifier that was causing all the problems. I've now switched it off. Could this program (ironically designed to prevent drivers from causing damage) be causing the BSODs - i.e. does it have a great influence on the system?

Is Device Verifier a third party program?

Dave76 said:

It's a MS tool.

Driver Verifier is included in Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 to promote stability and reliability; you can use this tool to troubleshoot driver issues. Windows kernel-mode components can cause system corruption or system failures as a result of an improperly written driver, such as an earlier version of a Windows Driver Model (WDM) driver. This article describes how to use Driver Verifier to isolate and troubleshoot a driver in the system.

Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users

It stresses the driver to try and cause them to fail, if a questionable driver is found or forced to crash it Blue Screens (BSoD) and makes a report so you can update or replace the offending driver.

jalebi, have you checked your temps during testing and games?
Have you checked/cleaned your case?
Your max temp is 73c, check here:Processor AMD Athlon™ II X3.

Is your RAM in ganged or unganged mode?
Try unganged if not selected already.

How many RAM sticks? 2 or 4?
This may affect how your RAM is preforming.

Have a look at this thread: VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's and RAM SPEEDS

Read his first post on page 2, he made a clarification on ganged and unganged.

You may need to change your RAM to 1066 Mhz to get stability.

It would be much easier for everyone to help you if you would fill out your system specs.
Someone with a similar setup or familiar with this issue might be able to help with a little information.

I will check the ganged vs unganged issue as soon as I can (different computer at the moment). I do this in the BIOS, correct?

The RAM is 2x2gb sticks.

During graphics stress tests the GPU gets up to a maximum of 52C. It is 32C when idle. I haven't checked the CPU temps but I don't think its particularly high. The same problem persists even when using a house fan for extra cooling so this leads me to believe its not a temperature issue.

The computer is only a few weeks old so it is definitely clean.

I will update my specs to make it easier for people to help me.