possible memory/mobo errors, recommendations for mobo/cpu upgrade?

O

oblivionx

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
112
Hi guys,

I was not sure where to put this post as I have a few issues, but I figured general hardware is as good a place as any.

Firstly, here are my current main pc specs:

Gigabyte N650-SLIDS4 mobo
e6600 cpu
2x 2gb,2x1gb patriot ram ddr2 800
2x 8800 gtx

running windows server 2008

Now, my first issue is that I am experiencing random lockups. Memtest usually returns errors after several passes, but in an inconsistent fashion. I have 2 other 2gb patriot chips that I have rotated out, along with testing various combinations of the 4 chips in, and I can't seem to isolate either a bad chip or a bad slot. The issue is not severe, the lockup usually happens maybe once per week, usually less. It seems to happen more frequently at high cpu/ram usage, and it also occurs more frequently when I have 8 gb in rather than 6. Once it locks up, it will start lagging severely for about 20-30 seconds, then finally completely lock up. Once the process starts it is irreversible, and requires a hard reset.

Unfortunately this is also my main work pc, so I have limited time to run tests on it as I can't get any work done. However, my secondary pc in the living room has been dying, and I figured this would be an opportune time to upgrade my pc, and then resolve the problem on my current board in the other pc whilst giving it a nice upgrade.

So first, what are the steps I should take to isolate the problem on this board? Right now, it seems like its either a bad chip, a bad slot, or possibly a blown capacitor. Could anything else cause random lockups?

Next, anyone have any good recommendations for a good value/dollar mobo/cpu upgrade?

I'm looking to spend < 400 on the pair, though more like 300 would be nice. I do a lot of virtualization for different dev environments, but I also like to play games when I find the time so I'm looking for something fairly high performance. In the past I've found that there is generally a point where the amount you pay for small increments in performance shoots up exponentially around the 350-450 range, so I'm looking to stay just below that.

Finally, my friends are pitching in to buy me an SSD hard drive for graduation. They all know I've been wanting it for a while so that's pretty cool, but I've told them to get the Intel X25-M, as my reviews have lead me to the conclusion that this is the best one. Anyone have any thoughts on other SSD drives?

Thanks in advance!

Kevin
 
The best way to determine whether or not you have memory problems is to run Memtest86+ on your memory. Depending on the error you get (assuming that you get one), you may be able to confirm whether or not the memory is causing you problems. It would also help us to know which PSU you were using and how old it is. There are other troubleshooting steps that you could take, but they're listed in the troubleshooting sticky (on the first page) and require some sort of time investment.

For a $300-$400 upgrade, get an AMD Phenom II quad core, DDR2 memory, and a motherboard that supports both out of the box. NewEgg has several combo deals that you could take advantage of in order to keep costs down. For example:

$240 - AMD Phenom II X4 940 & G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 1066 combo deal
$80 - Asus M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+ ATX motherboard

If you really want an SSD -- I personally believe that they're too immature technologically and that their price/GB ratio is too high -- the OCZ Vertex and the G.Skill (I forgot which model) are lower priced alternatives to the Intel X25-M.
 
This is the psu:

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - Copper 750W Continuous @ 40°C (825W Peak) EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703008

I've run several runs of memtest, with different combinations of chips, but whenever I thought I isolated a bad chip, errors would start popping up elsewhere. Right now it almost looks like 2 slots or a chip AND a slot, but to me that sounds fairly unlikely, especially given that the freezes are quite rare. The problem is of course that I can't take this machine down for extended periods of time to do successive memtest runs, which is why I figured I'd take this time to upgrade, and I can then do the tests on a secondary pc (right now this is the only one with ddr2 memory).

I'll take a look at the board/cpu you mentioned. I haven't been keeping up with cpus lately (I tend to do a lot of research around upgrade time, ie, now) - what are the top of the line intel and amds? intel i7? amd..? and the midrange?

As far as the SSD goes, I've heard that the vertex is pretty good, but from the research I've done it seems the intel is still far and away the best one. anandtech has a pretty good comprehensive article on various SSDs and their performance, and his conclusion was pretty much that intel is way ahead of the curve. he did mention something about an upcoming article with a new ssd though, but I don't know that it has been published yet. I know the tech is still early, but everyone I've talked to who's used them on high performance machines say the performance increase is quite significant. Obviously they are ridiculous expensive $/gb, but its a luxury upgrade, not a necessity

Thanks again
 
oblivionx said:
I'll take a look at the board/cpu you mentioned. I haven't been keeping up with cpus lately (I tend to do a lot of research around upgrade time, ie, now) - what are the top of the line intel and amds? intel i7? amd..? and the midrange?
Click to expand...


Top of the line: Core i7. Requires a budget of a minimum of $550.
Mid-range and Best Bang for the Buck value: AMD Phenom II CPUs
 
In addtion to what Danny and tiraides mentioned... The Phenom II's perform on par with their Core2 price-equivalents, which makes them, as Danny mentioned, better bang for buck. Core2's platform has reached End of Life, so no new CPUs. So, if you don't plan on upgrading the CPU, and just love to throw money at Intel, then Core2 is for you. Otherwise, go AMD Phenom II (AMD's top of the line... no, they have nothing to compete with i7).

As for your current system, I'd hit up the FS/T subforum here and replace that nForce 650i mobo... they weren't very good to begin with. Look for a used P35/P43/P45-based board for under $65 shipped, preferably Asus or Gigabyte. Is your current RAM 1.8v? If not, do you have any 1.8v sticks you could test in your 650i board? Do you have the latest BIOS?

Intel SSDs are the best, but at a steep price. They're also optimized for desktop usage, so they have lower sequential write speeds as opposed to the Vertex drives. The new Samsungs are good, too, but hard to find and expensive (newly released). The OCZ Vertex, G.Skill Falcon, Patriot TorqX, and Super Talent UltraDrive ME all use the Indilinx controller, and give you the best bang for buck as far as SSDs go. The 120GB+ models are typically faster than their smaller brethren. Here's some benchmarks on my Vertex drives... there's also links at the top of the page to check out...
http://alphaq.org/enginurd/hdd/ocz_vertex.html
 
My current board BIOS is up to date, but the memory is not 1.8v, its speced at 2.2v. I originally thought this might be the problem. I tried bumping the voltage up, but the problem still occurs. Right now I believe I'm running the memory slightly slower than spec at 2.0v.

Also one thing I forgot to mention, I'd like the board to have SLI, as I do have 2 8800 gtxes. Can anyone recommend any specific SLI phenom II boards?

How does the performance of i7 compare to phenom II with regards to multi threaded applications and virtualization? And in gaming? I've got several tabs open and am looking through some benchmarks now, but if anyone has some quick opinions that'd be great. I pretty much base all my computer decisions based on feedback from this forum anyway, lol.

Looks like my friends have ordered me the Intel, it's in the mail now..so I want to buy this mobo/cpu in the next day or two so I can do a nice upgrade at once.

Thanks again!

Kevin
 
I don't do it often, but yea I do use it occasionally. Whenever I play a newer game I enable SLI (I disable it most of the time to use 3 monitors). I've been using it less and less with more work, but I'd like to at least look into SLI supported boards.
 
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