SOLVED Freezing/crashing issue

[Ruthless]

I just had my PC build up and everything is nice and all, but i am having annoying freezing issues that i would like ask help for. This is my first build PC so i'm quite new at this. First of all, here is my build:

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor (6M Cache, 3.30 GHz)
Graphics: CLUB 3D HD 6870 PCIE 1G DDR5 2XDVI+2X DP
Power: Antec High Current Gamer 620 W
Cooler: Cooler Master V8
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB
SSD: Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD
Memory: 2 x 4gb Corsair 1600 mhz DDR3
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO

The problem is that sometimes my screen just freezes for no apparent reason. It has done so when i am just reading Overclockers forum and it has done so when i tried to run through 3DMark11 test program. When the screen freezes, i can't do anything but reset my PC, anything that i do with the keyboard has no effect at all. And two times my computer rebooted by itself, once during 3DMark test and once when i tried the framerates in Warcraft. I have done the 3DMark test only twice now and neither one went all the way through.

I am fairly sure that i have every available new update, BIOS is also the latest version. I have CPUID Hardware Monitor running and it shows every temperature under 40 celsius, CPU at 60. I had this computer together two days ago so it shouldn't be any dust issue and i haven't yet even started trying to overclock the system.

As i am new at this, i didn't build the computer, the person that did it has done quite a few so i doubt that there is any problems in connections.

To me it sounds like a faulty video card, but i would like to ask for some advice how i should try to identify the exact problem. I can ofcourse change the video card but if there is some way to make sure that it is the one that is causing the problems, i would like to know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dejo]

with that being a z68 board you could try to just run the onboard graphics and see if the issue is still present as that would eliminate the gpu as the cause. it could be that the psu isnt feeding the gpu properly as well. but with the gpu out of the loop you could narrow it down anyway.

 

[wingman99]

You could run prime95 stress program, to see if there is a problem with motherboard or CPU.

 

[Ruthless]

Thanks for the advices. I tried Prime95 3 times and my system froze 2 times and booted once

I'll have to try z68's own graphics tomorrow, i would have never thought of that myself thanks!

 

[Cigarsmoker]

Bet you it's the SSD. Pretty common problem with these drives.

Here's the Corsair forums, lots of posts on this. SSD are far from plug and play, it's important to have certain settings, driver and firmware right.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=188

 

[Ruthless]

Thanks!

Reading those forums made it indeed seem to be the problem, i'll have to check it once i'll get home.

 

[Ruthless]

Ok, now i updated my SSD firmware and took out the video card. Prime95 works a little longer, but the screen still freezes. And this time the screen was all scrambled at the same time. Is my processor or motherboard faulty now or what might it be?

And i just had my first BSOD few minutes ago

And also now that i took away the video card my system seems to be crashing much faster. My friend suggested that as i am using onboard graphics, it might put more stress to my processor wich might mean that prosessor is not working properly. Does that sound accurate? I have now installed the video card back and no crashes yet, system seeme to work only couple of minutes without the HD6870.

 

[Cigarsmoker]

Onboard video is fine for finding faulty components at stock settings. First and foremost if you are OCing, don't, until you find the problem set everything to stock speeds. You need to isolate the problem to one component at a time. Then and only then can you start to address the problem, otherwise you'd be running around in circles without really knowing where the problem lies.

At stock settings and ensuring all drivers are updated. If you suspect the video card, swap out the video card (which you've done), if problem persists my guess is it's not the video card. If you suspect a HDD or SSD, swap it out. That's how I found my problem, swapped out my Corsair Force 3 SSD with an old HDD I had lying around. And viola no BSOD for a week. Swapped the SSD back in and back came the BSOD. Do the same for RAM and anything else you got hooked up to the system. I'd also disconnect all non-essential accessories, external USBs, etc. Stripe it down to the bare essentials.

Once you find the problem, fix it, test for stability at stock, then and only then should you OC.

 

[killerkid]

Go into your bios, load optimized default settings and see if you still have the issue. When testing new components ALWAYS test for stability first before overclocking. *That's one of those do as I say not as I do things lol*

 

[Ruthless]

Now that i got my build up and running i just wanted to thank you people for adressing this issue. It was because of faulty prosessor and that graphics card swapping helped a lot to find out the real problem. Thank also for cigarsmoker for asking me to check the SSD as i did have some problems with it afterwards, but as you said, it really isn't just plug and play kind of hard drive. I had to study some but now i think i have everything running ok