Ram problem?

[jk008]

I just built a new rig and haven't overclocked anything.. but lately its been freezing and locking up randomly when I'm installing large programs sometimes. I ran memtest with no errors. But when I run prime95 my pc locks up after 5 minutes like what happens when I'm installing large programs or when loading alot of stuff.

Rig:
Vista Ultimate SP1 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.5GHz
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 (PC2 8500) 1066mhz @ 800Mhz (due to mobo)
EVGA NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI FTW
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896-P3-1265-AR
2x 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Zalman ZM850-HP 850W PSU

My motherboard reads my RAM as 800Mhz so would that cause this problem? Or could my CPU be bad? When I'm running prime95 my CPU's first 2 cores go up to 61C, is that normal? My heatsink might not be mounted well enough, It was hard to install. I'm hoping its my RAM and not anything else. I set my BIOS to optimize performance auto settings too btw. Should I go in set my BIOS up manually? IF so what are the best settings for my rig?

I'm really new at this and would really appreciate any help, thanks

[redduc900]

Check the VID of your quad using CoreTemp...

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

... or RealTemp ("Settings" page) - Post the Core VID from the "Min" and "Max" fields:

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

The Vcc (Vcore) as read by a program like CPU-Z while under a load, should match or be slightly higher than the VID of your chip. For example if the VID is 1.300v, and the CPU is under a load like when running Prime, the current Vcc should not drop below the VID. You would need to increase the Vcore in the BIOS to compensate for things like Vdroop or Vdrop, which would cause the current 1.3v Vcore (default VID as read by the BIOS) to be lower than what's required to be stable in Windows. The VID as read by CoreTemp will be lower if you have SpeedStep (EIST) / C1E enabled in the BIOS, so in order to get an accurate reading either disable those options, or put a load on the CPU w/ a program like Prime or SuperPI.

[18 is # 1]

what's your tRFC?

[jk008]

Check the VID of your quad using CoreTemp...

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

... or RealTemp ("Settings" page) - Post the Core VID from the "Min" and "Max" fields:

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

The Vcc (Vcore) as read by a program like CPU-Z while under a load, should match or be slightly higher than the VID of your chip. For example if the VID is 1.300v, and the CPU is under a load like when running Prime, the current Vcc should not drop below the VID. You would need to increase the Vcore in the BIOS to compensate for things like Vdroop or Vdrop, which would cause the current 1.3v Vcore (default VID as read by the BIOS) to be lower than what's required to be stable in Windows. The VID as read by CoreTemp will be lower if you have SpeedStep (EIST) / C1E enabled in the BIOS, so in order to get an accurate reading either disable those options, or put a load on the CPU w/ a program like Prime or SuperPI.
Thanks for the response, my VIDs:
Min = 1.1500
Max = 1.2250

I had to disable C1E because cpu-z was showing it too low. But after I did it showed it correctly. I ran Prime95 and it never went under 1.1500 under 100% load so I guess thats not the problem. Are my temps okay? They usually are like this:

Core Temp
---
core 1: 57C
core 2: 57C
core 3: 37-39C
core 4: 45C

Under 100% load:
core 1: 60-61C
core 2: 60-61C
core 3: 48-50C
core 4: 53-54C

Real Temp
---
core 1: 52-53C
core 2: 52-53C
core 3: 32C
core 4: 39-40C

Under 100% load:
core 1: 55-56C
core 2: 55-56C
core 3: 41-42C
core 4: 46-47C

Big difference in temp reading for those programs..
But I'm using the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme CPU Heatsink so I hope its mounting okay.

Also I'm still thinking its my RAM maybe..
Its 1066Mhz ram but my motherboard reads it at 800Mhz. What do I have to change in my Bios to make it stable at 1066mhz with my 750i board?

what's your tRFC?
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7352/ramjk1.jpg

[18 is # 1]

Your tRC should be ~50-65. This is the most common cause of instability with 2x2GB Powerchip based RAM. You may want to download Memset to allow you to see and possibly change subtimings from Windows: http://www.tweakers.fr/memset.html
Typical timings would be more like this from my Mushkin 2x2GB Powerchip based RAM:


http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/oo280/rkduncan/Memset2.jpg

[jk008]

[COLOR="Yellow"]Your tRC should be ~50-65. This is the most common cause of instability with 2x2GB Powerchip based RAM. You may want to download Memset to allow you to see and possibly change subtimings from Windows: http://www.tweakers.fr/memset.html
Yeah its been at 51 with my stock settings.

For some reason I was able to run prime95 for 2 hours until windows locked up. It seems random, sometimes it crashes/locks up windows after 10 minutes. Any ideas as to what might be the problem? Like CPU or RAM or Motherboard?

[redduc900]

Thanks for the response, my VIDs:
Min = 1.1500
Max = 1.2250

I ran Prime95 and it never went under 1.1500 under 100% load so I guess thats not the problem.
Increase the Vcore so that the voltage doesn't drop below 1.2250v, as this is your chip's VID.

[jk008]

Increase the Vcore so that the voltage doesn't drop below 1.2250v, as this is your chip's VID.It doesn't go below 1.2250 at full load, I was just saying that it also doesn't go under the min VID. So I don't think thats the problem.