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Hardware problems, looking for advice on where to go...

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torin3

Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
I've got the system in my .sig. And I'm not happy with it. Yes, the games play well, but I've hit several walls. My max stable overclock is 3.25Ghz. Anything higher and it goes wonky on me.

Plus even running it at stock settings, I've got got a wierd problem where after 3 days of uptime I start getting "nvlddmkm.sys has stopped working" errors. Shutting it down and removing power for 10 minutes fixes this. I first thought it was heat related, but cold room and open case and running stock takes almost the exact same time as closed up, warm room and running max overclock to start getting errors. And all it needs is 10 minutes off and it is good for another 3 days.

Plus I'm unable to reinstall Vista on my 10K RPM drive. I can restore from backup with Acronis, but I can't do a fresh install. I'm not sure if my DVD is bad, or something else is going on. I've been meaning to try the other media I have around the house, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Also, I can't overclock my video cards very much. 590/960 is about all I can get. One of the cards will go up to 640/1050 for sure, but both of them together is limited by the lower one.

So, I'm wondering. Should I sell one of my cards (it looks like I should be able to get about $300 or so for it out of the classifieds and then use that to by an Intel chipset motherboard? I'm not sure which is likely to get me the most overclock.

I've been enjoying SLI, but it seems to be really restricting me. I know I'll take a hit on the video benchmarks, but from what I see, I should be able to OC up to 3.6 or higher on my chip. I've got really good RAM.

Also, once I switch boards, I should be able to sell my motherboard as well. Other than the weird Vista problem it seems to be a decent board, just not that overclockable with a quad core. And I'm not sure the problem would even show up in XP.

To sum it up. Am I missing anything obvious as to why my overclock isn't better? If I'm not missing the obvious, then is my plan of selling on card and buying a different board a good one? And which one should I get that will give me the most boost for my overclock to make up for losing the card. Any other suggestions would also be appreicated.

Thanks!
 
Hi torin3

Sorry to hear about your quad. As you've already mentioned, your motherboard is causing that. Since the nvidia chipset + quad doesn't seem to work well togheter with many users.
What stepping do you have on the quad?

Check out this topic about nvlddmkm.sys :) very common problem in vista. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=518749

About the vista-reinstall, first i'd try to reset the cables to your DVD-rom or even change out the cables to ensure it's not them causing any problems and last switching out the dvdrom. If it isn't that, it may be one or several of your crucials that are bad, have you tried memtest86 on those, one by one?

Or did you mean that your vista installation DVD is kaputt? my english isn't perfect, hehe.


Overclocking your GPU's is as you say, limited to the one that has the lowest speeds, that's logicall as they run in SLI. You can't overclock them individually in SLI mode.


If you're looking to OC both your Quad and RAM and still have a rock stable system, you'll be more satisfied with a p35 or x38 board.
I'd recommend gigabyte p35 ds4, abit ip35 pro or asus p5k-e or any other with the x38. depending on your own usage.
One board i DON'T recommend is gigabyte x38 dq6 thou, as it has problems with using 4sticks of 1066mhz or higher.

What's the highest FSB you can reach with the multiplier set at 7x AND 9x on your 680i? Just curious.

Good luck!
 
Hi torin3

Sorry to hear about your quad. As you've already mentioned, your motherboard is causing that. Since the nvidia chipset + quad doesn't seem to work well togheter with many users.
What stepping do you have on the quad?

It is a G0.

Check out this topic about nvlddmkm.sys :) very common problem in vista. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=518749

If you will notice, I've actually been somewhat active in that thread. Mostly on page 4 I believe.

About the vista-reinstall, first i'd try to reset the cables to your DVD-rom or even change out the cables to ensure it's not them causing any problems and last switching out the dvdrom. If it isn't that, it may be one or several of your crucials that are bad, have you tried memtest86 on those, one by one?

Interesting thought there. Haven't noticed any other problem with the DVD drive, it is a SATA. I'll swap out the cable on it. And the RAM has tested out ok, as a group and 2 at a time. I could test them individually though.

Or did you mean that your vista installation DVD is kaputt? my english isn't perfect, hehe.

Not a problem. And yes I did think that the installation DVD might be damaged.


Overclocking your GPU's is as you say, limited to the one that has the lowest speeds, that's logicall as they run in SLI. You can't overclock them individually in SLI mode.


If you're looking to OC both your Quad and RAM and still have a rock stable system, you'll be more satisfied with a p35 or x38 board.
I'd recommend gigabyte p35 ds4, abit ip35 pro or asus p5k-e or any other with the x38. depending on your own usage.
One board i DON'T recommend is gigabyte x38 dq6 thou, as it has problems with using 4sticks of 1066mhz or higher.

What's the highest FSB you can reach with the multiplier set at 7x AND 9x on your 680i? Just curious.

Good luck!


Thanks for the recommendations. I'll have to look at my notes as to what the maxiumum FSB was, but it wasn't that impressive if I remember. I tried dropping the multiplier and got no improvement at all...
 
It is a G0.



If you will notice, I've actually been somewhat active in that thread. Mostly on page 4 I believe.

I see, i have no clue what to do then, so it's to bad it still crashes :bang head :(


Interesting thought there. Haven't noticed any other problem with the DVD drive, it is a SATA. I'll swap out the cable on it. And the RAM has tested out ok, as a group and 2 at a time. I could test them individually though.

Doesn't hurt to try, so yeah :) try it out!

If your RAM was running fine in pairs and all togheter, then there's no need to test them one at a time!

Hmm, what brand is your SATA DVD ?

Not a problem. And yes I did think that the installation DVD might be damaged.

Ok cool :)
Well, it doesn't seem better than that, if it doesn't show up that you have a sony optiarc DVD.


Thanks for the recommendations. I'll have to look at my notes as to what the maxiumum FSB was, but it wasn't that impressive if I remember. I tried dropping the multiplier and got no improvement at all...

NP.
Yeah that'd be great, i'd like to know! I'm trying to establish a connection on where the nvidia chipsets says no go for users OCing quads.
 
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