Problem/Possible Upgrade Questions

[Toilet Duck]

It's probably a little early to even bring this up, seeing as to how I'm A) dirt poor and B) not really gaming as much these days, but I digress.

(Warning/Disclaimer - I am anything but a hardware genius. At best, I'm competent at installation/patching/gaming/etc., but when it comes to the juicy details I don't know crap. This includes compatibility issues, cost/performance ratios, and all the other stuff I should really get around to learning)

Current System

Abit KV8-MAX3
Athlon 64 3000+
1 x 1gb Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM
256mb Radeon 9600XT

I assume the rest of the components aren't so important. I don't have anything overclocked, either. I'm blissfully aware that the current video card is.. uh.. not exactly great (more on that later).

I figure I might as well tell a little story before asking the questions. I built this (first self-built comp for me) about a year and a half ago. Originally, I had a 512mb Corsair XMS and a 128mb 9800 Pro inside, but that comes later. Anywho, I had quite a few "newbie" problems, such as trying to simply toss an old hard drive into a new comp, or issues involving learning the finer points of driver installation/etc.

For a few months, things were... suprisingly smoothe. Then.. well, the Magical Mystery Bug showed up. You see, even today the Magical Mystery Bug still plagues this computer (to a degree), and is still pretty much a mystery. I can't be certain at this point, since it was long, long ago, but I THINK the problems all began when I purchased a second stick of 512mb PC3200 Corsair XMS or whatever. To summarize the symptoms: Games began crashing in a very specific patten: Graphics freeze, sound goes to "kshskskssssshshssh" screen goes black, flashes blue, reboot. In some games this never happened at all (a modern example would be World of Warcraft) no matter how long I played, while in others (UT2k4 solo/multi, HL2 multi, IL-2 Sturmovik) would crash after varying lengths of time. The most immediate of these were HL2 DM and UT2k4, who during the worst times would self-implode within 5-10 minutes of gameplay.

Now, I'll admit right now that I was and still am a hardware newbie. My first idea was that the problem was heat. Therefore, I went and got a newer, more open/fanned case. Problem persisted. Afterwards, I began to suspect the memory. I ran memtest86 (I think), and lo and behold I was getting an error or two every hour.. maybe more. Like I said, this was a while ago. One RMA to corsair later, and I had a new stick of RAM to replace my "newer" stick that surely was causing the problems. Problem persisted. More Corsair talkie led them/me to believe that it was two different revisions of RAM.. yet another RMA for two new sticks. Problem persisted. At this point, I said "fark it!" and removed one stick of RAM. That seemed to alleviate the problem, but not solve it. I suspected the mobo, maybe a dimm slot or something, but as of yet have been too unwilling to screw up my only functional comp testing the theory. The upgrade to a 1GB stick was done in order to get me back up to par, so to speak, on a 1 DIMM solution.

Still, after aaall those memory issues, and a few weeks of relative peace.. Wham! Mystery Bug, part 2! Games went back to crashing. Once again, I grudgingly accepted that it could have something to do with my video card, perhaps IT was borked. One aftermarket heatsink later, problem persisted Chances are I screwed up the install.. but that little event is what led me to the current 9600XT semicheap standby.

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Ok, sorry to put you through all of that boring drivel, but it's necessary for the sake of my questions. I'm trying to figure out if its really worth even attempting to upgrade this system at this point. It's a socket 754 mobo, so its not like it can really handle future upgrades well (on top of the possibility that the mobo itself is faulty, hence the supposed RAM/DIMM issues). The 3000+ isn't horrifically slow, but it's also not speedy anymore. The 1GB Corsair RAM seems peachy, but if I were to upgrade the mobo, wouldn't I want a dual channel solution? And finally, the video card. One thing is certain: I neeeeeed to get a different one. The problem is that getting a new video card at this point almost forces me into getting a new mobo, or rather I'd just have a hard time justifying purchasing another AGP video card at this point. On top of all of this, there's a minor possibility that my PSU is just a bit underpowered (Antec 350w) for the stuff I have (including 2 HDs and 2DVD/CDs, etc.)... so that probably needs an upgrade too.

Looking at the rather long and depressing list of possible "Mystery Bug" causes, I can't help but mention that it could, after all this time, be something as simple as not having formatted lately, or even worse, some odd BIOS setting that's just a smidgen off. In fact, that's part of the reason I think the system is as "stable" relatively speaking as it is today.. checking BIOS vs. what I should have, I noticed that my RAM was getting roughly .2v less than it should be by default. The advertised voltage was 2.75, but my BIOS didn't even have that as an available setting, so I settled with 2.7. Yet ANOTHER possible problem.

So, in short: Should I waste money getting a new video card to holdover this instable system (or, perhaps, try harder to figure out exactly what IS causing the Bug, leaving me with a relatively mediocre but stable system), or should I go ahead and replace the mobo/vidcard with things I can use later, or should I just say fark it, shove the whole machine to the side, save up my cash, and start aaaaall over with a little more knowledge/research going into what I get/how it should be working? At this point, I'm just tired of blowing money trying whatever quick fix I think will work... I probably should at least TRY to figure out the source of the Bug, or rather try harder than in the past, but every time I do I just end up buying something else that doesn't solve anything it seems...

Any suggestions would be appreciated, including the "God, you're an idiot, learn your hardware noob" ones.

 

[Buckus]

"God you're an idiot! Learn your hardware, n00b!"

Seriously, run another mem test, make sure you have the latest BIOS for the board, and also make sure you have the latest drivers for video and motherboard.

If it happens only on two DIMM's, could be a bad DIMM socket on the board. If you have three DIMM slots you could try using the third DIMM slot.

You're power supply is probably fine, and the voltage to your memory is fine, too. It sucks, but it could just be a bad mobo.

 

[Toilet Duck]

One of the problems could be memory, or a DIMM, I'm sure.. but as it stands, using a 1GB stick in 1 DIMM, memory doesn't seem to be causing any problems. That being said, I'll run some tests whenever I have a little free time with this stick/this stick + old one/ 2 old ones and see what pops up.

It seems odd to me that the computer will be as stable as anything for browsing/ printing/ low stress activity, remains stable for some games, and (currently) only crashes out after a good 40+ minutes of activity. I guess I didn't make that clear in my first post: After updating all drivers, switching to a 1 DIMM setup, and generally tinkering around (including the newer, cooler? video card), I can play most games for quite a bit longer before they crash. For instance, the Red Orchestra UT2k4 mod will run fine for about an hour before doing the "Black Screen, Kshkskhgkhskgs, Blue screen, Rebooty" dance. I'm almost willing to go out on a limb here and state that, if I felt like it, I could play for 45 minutes, close the game, go browse/waste time, and play 45 minutes more later without an issue. I can/could certainly play the Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst beta on high settings for 10 hours straight...

Considering that further browsing of these forums has led me to believe that the HL2 problems stem from software/Steam as opposed to hardware, I could almost narrow it down to a UT2k4 issue. Unluckily for me, though, I recently purchased Rome: Total War only to have it give the same crashes (albeit only after 2-3 hours of nonstop playing, and sometimes not even then).

So... yea. It's a doozy. I guess the only thing I can try now is exactly what ya stated: memory test. Does Memtest86 or whatever work well with A64 processor / stuff in my system?

Oooh, one last thing: I'm almost certain now that the problem isn't heat. Looking at the temp monitor built into the Overdrive screen for ATI along with Abit EQ or whatever, the highest my temperatures seem to get even at max stress are about 50 celsius across the board (Vidcard/CPU/System/PWM)... although Power tends to run a little warmer / System tends to run a little cooler than that number.

 

[Toilet Duck]

Sorry for the whole "posting after myself" thing. I'll try not to make a habit of it.. but, I figured an update on my situation can't hurt.

Well, I checked BIOS for the first time in ages (admittedly, I'd almost given up on hardware in general before stumbling onto this place), and noticed something a little quirky. From what little I've read in the AMD processor forums, a 64 3000+ is supposed to be running at 2.0 ghz / 200 mhz FSB stock. For some inexplicable reason, mine was set for 204mhz FSB, producing a 2.04ghz CPU with 204/68/34 FSB (or something very similar). I hadn't personally tweaked this setting at all, nor had I tried to overclock in the past. This setting is what popped up when I selected "Default 2000(200)" for some reason. Anyway, I switched to Manual mode, and now it's running 200 like I think its supposed to. I don't think this was causing the "bug" or anything, but who knows. Wait, you guys know. Any ideas?

Of course, I wouldn't have bothered posting after myself if I didn't have a little more information than that. I also managed to get Memtest86 running, after learning/recalling that my A:\ drive was busted.. heh. Yay for ISOs.. I let it run for about 2 hours, 3 complete tests, and recieved 0 errors. That's probably not long enough for 100% certainty, but I'm willing to say the 1st ram slot /1GB module are both operating just fine (side note, its 3-3-3-8 timing stock.. am I correct in assuming that's pretty, uh, bad?).

So, CPU settings were off by some weird tiny margin, RAM is functioning perfectly. At least that's two things I can mark off the list with reasonable certainty. Oh, yea, one other tiny thing: For some reason, even after setting BIOS, Memtest86 reported my CPU as 2005mhz, and my RAM as 200mhz(DDR441)... I don't think that's too relevant, since Sandra's reporting 2000 CPU, DDR400 RAM like it's supposed to be.

A quick question while I'm posting: Could my PSU be borderline underpowered? I'm using a "Smartpower" 350watt that came pre-installed in this Antec case to run the previously mentioned components, a DVD/CD/CD-RW drive, a DVD drive, two SATA HDs, and of course the video/sound/56k modem that isn't being used. I'm considering upgrading it anyway.. since if its a decent one I can just swap it into a new computer should I ever get one.