possibly PSU problem.

My system (in sig) is orthos stable for 8 hours but I can make it crash if I do small ftt and 3dmark01 at the same time. orthos doesn't crash, the SLI graphics card monitor (running 3dmark01) goes off, my secondary monitor (on a geforce mx4000) stays on for a few seconds (i can even see orthos still going) but then the system reboots. I can game all day long without orthos on and am orthos stable, does this sound like the power supply unit?

See i'm thinking the PSU may be flipping off because it knows its stressed or the graphics card shuts off when it is not getting enough power?

Okay, I tried another more powerful power supply and still have the same problem. The system should be able to run a 3d application like 3dmark01 and orthos at the same time but it shuts down suddenly. The system passes 8 hours orthos blend at 3.4 ghz and i'm running 3.2 right now and it still does it. The video cards and ram are not overclocked.

So it can do orthos or game all day long but it can't do both at the same time.

Anybody have any idea what the problem could be?

Are you running dual orthos or single?

Did you tried doing that when running stock speeds?

I used orthos which runs 2 instances, it is both blend mode and small ftt mode stable for at least 8 hours at 3.4ghz and 3.2ghz.

I tried what would crash it higher up at stock speed and at 2.5ghz and had no problems.

I'm trying to figure out what component it is and see if i can stabilize that at a higher speed. If anybody has any suggestions I am listening.

Try running memory slower or with more

Also what power supply are using and were trying to use?

the memory runs on its own clock frequency seperate from the bus, it can be stuck at 800mhz no matter what the fsb is. First i was using ultra X connect 500w and now i'm using 650 watt antic true power trio.

I don't have more memory to put in but I have tried loosening the timings but no difference. The memory doesn't appear to be the issue it passes mem86 and orthos blend mode.

Instead of running 3dmark download atitool and run artifact scan while running orthors and see if shuts down. Might a program related

Been doing orthos duel core stressing and ATI-tool artifact scan for 45 mins now and no problems. I'm going to keep going and see if it can go for an extended period of time. I am starting to think it may be system memory or memory controller bombing out so i'm going to adjust that.

No problem on this one.

Adjusting the memory timings, voltages, and speed makes no difference at all. I can run 3dmark2001 just fine as long as orthos isn't going. I can do 3dmark05 with orthos running with no problems or play a game. I wonder if anybody with 680i or 650i chipset can also reproduce this the problem with orthos and 3dmark01.

i'm about to take the power supply back, they said i could return it if it didn't solve my problem. I'm thnking maybe the problem is related to the 7600GS not having a PCI express power plug on it, so the board might not have enough power for both cards while the overclocked CPU is sucking away power. This doesn't happen in other 3d apps as the FPS isn't so high, perhaps it doesn't have the same power requirements. Its speculation; however, it is the only cause I can speculate. If anybody else has any possible reasons why it would occur I would be happy to hear.

I'm just looking for opinions or ideas as to why small FTT stress that is 100% stable would cause the machine to crash only while running 3dmark01. I know that the graphics system and RAM and CPU are stable.

My guess is that the motherboard cannot supply enough power to the graphics cards when they are under full load while the CPU is sucking tons of power, hence lower clock speeds are stable because it is using up less power. I'm sure tehre are other possibilities but it doesn't make any sense to me that it should crash because of added CPU stress that is isolated from everything else.

Well if you can run 3dmark of 05 and ati tool artifact scan with orthos then it might not be psu. 3dmark01 is more cpu dependant whlie 05 stresses more gpu. The atitool artifact scan draws more power out your gfx than 3dmark01.

Also trying running one small ffts and one large in prime.

Been doing prime95 1 small ftt and 1 large ftt for like 2 hour now, also I played GTR2 at the same time with no problems for over an hour. I'm gonna wait for 8 hours on the prime95 stuff though and try out some different games at the same time.

Okay so I let that go for 17 hours 30 minutes and played LOTS of different games during. For example I ran a 25 lap race at imola and then a 220 kilometer race at Nordshlief in GTR2. I also ran the artifact tool while not playing games and tried out some game demos like stronghold legends.

I also ran 3dmark01 looping by itself for about an hour but with no CPU tests going and it was fine. The thing is is that it happens very quickly when both small ftt and 3dmark01, like in the first few games. This surprises me a great deal as the system would appear to be 24/7 rock solid and then the combination of the two can crash it in just a few minutes.

I mean small Ftt threads really are designed to isolate the CPU, so while those are running, why would it effect 3dmark01 unless it was truely an unstable CPU or that the motherboard can't provide power for a card that lacks its own power connector while the system is under such a huge load. I mean I could see this happening if RAM was a problem but I feel that i've ruled that out as well.

Well, I think that its just something funky, as long as I don't do that particualr 3dmark01 and orthos, nothing else can make it crash so i'm going back to 3.4ghz.

I think it might something relating to your sli setup since 3dmark 01 is pretty old