And new computer is OMG

[JaoSming]

So, I've had 6gigs (2 2gigs, 2 1gigs) of RAM in my computer for some time, and recently bought two more 2gig sticks to bring it up to 8gigs, the max my mobo can handle.

My first two sticks had to be RMA'd, but it appears the second set are working fine just fine.....problem is, my computer is randomly locking up with all 8gigs in at a time. However, it looks like if I take one of them out, I'm not going to be having any freezing issues. With all 8gigs in, sometimes the computer will boot and I get some time with Windows (where I can confirm in Windows, and in BIOS, that the computer is recognizing all 8gigs), other times it crashes before the Win7 splash screens.

I know it's not the mobo's inputs, since I had all 4 of them taken up with the previous configuration. And I know for a fact that my maximum capacity is 8gigs (4x2gigs)

I have a 700W PSU with 1 Harddrive, 1 560Ti, and 2 DVD Drives powered.

And all of the 2gig sticks are the exact same model, from the exact same company, and all look the same etc etc etc.


So, what can I do to have 8gigs of RAM?

[benji]

http://www.memtest.org/

You got the same type right?

[Patr1ck]

If the kit of 2GB sticks have certain timings, they may only be rated for those timings with only that kit. Once you pt in another kit, you may have to increase the timings. I ran into that issue 5 years ago when I bought a 2 kits of 1 GB pairs for 4 GBs.The system ran well for several days and would eventually bluescreen. Increasing the timings got the system stable. Look up the jedec timings using cpuz, and make sure the new kit it's the exact same model. Sometimes they have different revisions.

[JaoSming]

if its conflicting timings, why is it working right now with both new sticks in and one old stick? 4th slot is open currently

[Patr1ck]

When a kit is rated at certain timings and frequencies, it's only rated for just that kit installed, not 2 kits like what you have. But just like other equipment, those are stable timings, it doesn't mean they can't be pushed or overclocked, etc. When I had 2 kits it was working fine for the first couple of months. Once I loosened the timings, it was working fine for a couple of years, then one stick failed, then the other, and eventually the motherboard did not accept any of the sticks.

It's also possible you have a bad stick or a bad slot.
Have you tried loosening the timings or cpuz or the memtest? The best idea is to rule out any problems with the sticks.

Since they were working before, it could be a timing issue, or even mismatched pairs trying to run in dual channel mode. Check your motherboard manual for which slots are paired, put the old sticks in one pair, boot up, check cuz for the timings, reboot into bios, set those timings manually, then increase them a small amount, save, turn the CPU off, and insert the new kit into the other paired slots and see if it's stable.

[JaoSming]

It's also possible you have a bad stick or a bad slot.

All slots have been used properly in the past, all sticks work fine as long as I am running 6gigs. I've tried multiple combinations with all 4 sticks.

I ran CPU-Z, all voltages and frequencies and timings and settings, etc are the same for all 4 sticks. However, the dates that show up are off by a few weeks (08/12 are the new ones, 38/11 for the old ones. Week/Year)

The Memory Tab says my Channels # is Single, so there shouldn't be an issue with pairings, but currently (the stable method) is new, new, old, open. The RAM shipped.

[benji]

What motherboard do you have?

[JaoSming]

I'm confused after reading this (same board) http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/23237 ... o#t1612876

[JaoSming]

so even when pairing the RAM properly to enable the dual channels (old, new, old, new or new, old, new old) the computer still would do the freezing.

Currently running my 6gigs (2, 1, 2, 1) in dual though....I have no idea why they would ship this in single channel mode though....(1, 1, 512, 512)

[JaoSming]

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So, to update. Running in Dual Channel still gave me issues, so I gave up and put it back into Single Channel. The past week and a half I have had no blue screens or issues at all.

Then today, the blue screens came back. Now, my wife's laptop and brother in law's laptop have been dealing with overheating issues, but judging by the air coming out of the fans, the temperature gauges on my case, and sticking my hand inside the case, overheating is not an issue.

Went down and got lunch, came back up, and the computer had crashed, restarted, and was stuck on the "do you want to load a previous windows restore" windows recovery page. Said no, tried rebooting. Quick blue screen during the loading splash (just a flash) and restarts. Tried again, frozen on windows splash screen. Restarted, BIOS, everything is being recognized fine, restart, splash blue screen, this time a nice long one with the memory address STOP: 0x0000001e (0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000). Finally, after letting it sit for a while, I started it up, and nothing showed up on my screen, mouse and keyboard didn't get power (both USB), and the disc didnt spin up.....so mobo, right?





Soooo, let's just think positive and look forward to a new computer. Again, I have a 560Ti, and a 700W PSU that I can replace crappier components with. My main issue/questions are with processors. I know Intel has been doing stuff with standardizations with Sandy/Ivy Bridge, but I never kept up with it. I would like to keep the Intel/nVidia combo going btw, unless someone can really sell me on AMD/ATI

budget is ~ $1,500


So, I guess the main question is what processors should I be looking at for gaming?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 106-5.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 107-7.html

Also, anything good here or here?

[JaoSming]

fuck homework on a laptop, I need GAMING

here is the candidate for my new computer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883229338


Intel Core i7 3770k(3.50GHz) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 106-5.html
8GB DDR3
1TB HDD
AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB (will be replaced with my GTX 560Ti 1GB) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 107-7.html

also comes with a 500W psu, which will be replaced with my 700W probably.

Also, I plan on getting more ram in the future, and possibly internalizing one of my current 500GB harddrives.

[Patr1ck]

if you are going to but more of the same ram that comes with the build, you might as well do it now so you don't repeat what we both did. That way you will know if it works or not, early. If you have to wait, once you upgrade, go for a full set and sell the used 8 gb. If you can, get a power supply with more ways and keep your 700 as a backup.

Never mind, just realized it was a whole desktop. Do your homework. Games will always be there to play.

[JaoSming]

Homework's been done, wasn't being serious.

Anyway, decided on getting a computer built through Cyberpower

CAS: In-Win Mana 136 Mid-Tower Gaming Case
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans f or y our selected case
FAN: * Cooler Master Hy per 212 Ev o Gaming Cooling Fan
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
FREEBIE_MB: GIGABYTE GC-WB300D Exclusiv e Bluetooth 4.0/WiFi PCIe
HDD: 120 GB OCZ Agility 3 SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 525MB/s Read & 500MB/s Write
HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX/SLI] GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H Intel Z77
Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, Ultra Durable4 Classic,
7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 3x Gen3 PCIe x16, 3x PCIe x1 & 1 PCI
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsof t® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 700 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: None
TEMP: None
TUNING: None
TVRC: None
USB: None
USBFLASH: None
USBHD: None
USBX: None
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card
VIDEO2: MY current GTX 560 Ti 1GB for SLIness
VIDEO3: None
WNC: None
_PRICE: ($1,312)

Found some codes online for 5% off and free shipping too. Yea, I'm happy,

[Patr1ck]

Very nice.

[formx]

That's pretty awesome. The SSD is pretty damn fast I bet!

[JaoSming]

blah, the removed my "rush" order (5 day build -> ship) and its going to take 3 weeks now. I still got this laptop which will get me through the summer semester, but that sucks....

[Andrew]

Nice.

[volsey]

Nice build, you could save yourself a >$100 by going with an IB i5 instead of the i7. There is no difference between the two for gaming, I have a very similar setup, couldn't be happier. Newer motherboard and SSD for your OS make the computer incredibly fast. Going to an SSD is easily the single most noticeable speed improvement hands down.

BF3 time once your computer's in.

[JaoSming]

w00t, they built it early, coming Tuesday

[JaoSming]

So I got it, and I had some Windows Updates to do, so I hit restart, turned around to goto the bathroom, walked out of the room, saw someone was already in there, came back, and thought the computer didn't restart. SSD = Amazingness, Pretty much power button to homepage in 10 seconds.

Also, 2K12 never ran better, nearly instant load times, capped 60 fps, and full size fraps recording (to the 2TB drive) at a flawless 30fps (capped).



But hell, it was not a good day for all of it....the original plan was to UPS intercept it this morning, but it went from New Hampshire to delivery so I never got a chance. Decided to get some homework done then, before it came, and balls to that, my great-great-aunt-in-law had some furniture to move.
UPS guy was an hour late though, which w/e, can't control that....but watching him flip the box end-over-end "rolling" it down the truck really got me pissed. I pointed to the "FRAGILE" stickers all around the box, guy just said 'Well, they usually pack them really good'. We did pay for the extra package protection though, thank god....basic foam around the smaller boxes, and the PC was stuffed, but they also put this foam stuff inside the computer to keep the components in place, which was cool. My keyboard/mouse box was bent though, looks like someone tried really hard to cram it all into a smaller box, bleh. Also, one of the foots of my case was broken off, so I had to duct tape that shit back on (lol).

Anyway, the thing runs great, a bit louder than the last computer due to allll of those extra fans, but fuuuuck, I'm happy

Hoping to painlessly getting my old computer's HDD and 560 Ti in there (came with an SLI cord, even though I bought an extra one) sometime after my paper (due in 24 hours )........


...yep



whoops, forgot the worst parts of this. First, Zynga bloatware, Zynga bloatware that was trying to download games everytime IE tried automatically starting.....yea, F that.

also, they created a "dummy" Administrator account on the computer. So when I couldn't add files to 2K12, despite being an "admin" account, I knew something was up. I had everything all setup, and had to do it again for the "real" admin account....then, after I did that, I had to log into the account when the computer restarted with a password that doesnt exist. All good now, but that was a headache.


Took me ~5 hours to get this all setup to my liking.

[Andrew]

The delivery/packing stuff aside, sounds simply awesome. Jealous.

[shadowgrin]

Real men assemble their own desktop computer.

[Jayson Silverio]

Nice set up sir

[Patr1ck]

Real men assemble their own desktop computer.

Real men get other people to do it for them.

[JaoSming]

Real men assemble their own desktop computer.

Real men get other people to do it for them.

Yea, I was going to respond with something like that, but the headache that was my first "gaming" computer build back in 2004 wasn't worth repeating.


The 10 second boot is a lie, I did a stopwatch on it, and it took 40 seconds until the homepage was loaded, 35 seconds for windows to be loaded. Something about seeing that Windows 7 splash screen not even create the logo before going to the desktop just gets me giddy though.

Also, I did a test with 2K12 without v-sync, consistent 120-130fps, that processor is a beast (yes, processor, 2K12 is a fantastic port remember)

40-60fps for FiLTH Showdown though, everything on max, 8x MSAA, gotta get that 2nd video card in there......if my PSU can handle it