ABIT AN7 stupid question

[RenegadesRemors]

systems specs:

AMD 1700+ XP (palomino core) *LOCKED*
512mb Kingmax SuperRam (pc3200) DDR 400 dimm 1 ( http://www.kingmax.com/product/pro_superMPXC22D-383.htm )
abit AN7 NFORCE 2 ultra 400 motherboard (its a piece of crap I know)
zoltrix 128k ISDN TA
western digital 440bb 40gb 7200 rpm (i retired my ibm deskstar to the cupboard)

(CPU at 30 idle and 37 load)

windows XP NO SP1 and SP1 (tried with both)
directx 9.0b
nforce forceware 2.45 / 3.13
soundstorm drivers 2.45 / 3.13 / 3.75 (tried all of the above)

bios:

abit an7 bios 1.3

cpu interface enabled
pci enhanced performance enabled
fast writes on
voltages at default

ram @ ddr 400 (default vdimm)
timing 2/4/4/8 2.5 (by speed)
fsb at 133

my problem is that every so often apps and games (in my case game - CS) crash to desktop with no error messages. The system is rock stable cant make it crash for ****. I've spend hours checking forums and newsgroups and its seems this could be caused by running my fsb and ram async rather than run my ram at 133. this seems strange since on my kt133a system i ran my ram async from my fsb and had no problems.

Now i've been tweaking, overclocking and modding for a while (486 dx/2) but this is my first DDR system and now i'm stumped with bios setting i've never really seen before. This NFORCE chipset seems very touchy.
I've tried every forceware driver out there , even beta sound drivers and no change.
I've resinstalled windows xp,
reformatted the harddrive
ran with dx 8.0a and 9.0b,
had sp1 and no sp1,
disabled all services,
disabled onboard sata adaptor.

all this leads me to believe its either my PSU (300w) or a bios settign -> everything is pointing to the ram (i'd run a memtest86 cept i dont have a sitffy drive). I've checked the voltage both with the abit EQ and my trusty multimeter and they are all above spec.

it msut be the bios and /or ram settings (or a ****ty motherboard), could it be from running the ram async to the fsb? maybe the vdimm isnt enough, perhaps my timings are wrong (kingmax has no info on the recommended timings) or something else.

please help, the CS pro league is starting in 3 weeks and i'm having difficulting practicing when my game keeps crashing every 10 / 15 minutes.

_________________
Proud supporter of the nforce crash to desktop scenario

 

[CCW]

I would say its because you are not running your RAM in sync

512mb Kingmax SuperRam (pc3200) DDR 400 dimm 1 ( http://www.kingmax.com/product/pro_superMPXC22D-383.htm )

You need to run it in sync with the FSB, which is called 1:1, By SPD or sync depending on the BIOS of the board. i had constant game crashes until I done this. This stuff its rated for DDR400 but good luck ever getting it there.

Craig