Built New Computer(frequent lock ups)

[Metatron]

I just built a new computer, it worked fine for a week.

The lockups all started at the end of a game of Supreme Commander Forged Alliance. The game was getting pretty laggy toward the end. The next game ran slower than I think it should have. After that it's been locking up alot (every 1-2 hours)more in games. Well I tried reinstalling drivers and even formating and starting from scratch(it seemed better after the format, but still locked in the second game of SCFA) Help!!!
I've been going rounds with the hardware companies. They've been giving me the run around with drivers and test programs and everything else. Nothing Works!
I just want my computer to work, It's a high end machine no reason why I should experience any lag let alone lockups.
Oh yeah and heat levels seem to be at normal levels
Please Help!

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI Mother Board

XFX PVT98UZHBU GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Rosewill RX850-D-B ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91 850W Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725032GLA360 (0A35411) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard

 

[Rob Williams]

The first two things to tackle would be temperature testing and also stability testing. You should download a copy of Core Temp or Real Temp and make sure that your temperatures are keeping within reason, because if your CPU is overheating, then slowdown would make sense.

The same applies to your GPU. Download GPU-Z and see if it accurately keeps track of the GPU temperature, as it's another likely component that can overheat very easily.

For stability, I'd run Memtest first, for about five loops, and then run Cinebench R10 a few times over to make sure both the CPU and memory are completely stable. Past that, you might want to check on the other components, such as the hard drive SMART information.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/cinebench_e.html

 

[Metatron]

The first two things to tackle would be temperature testing and also stability testing. You should download a copy of Core Temp or Real Temp and make sure that your temperatures are keeping within reason, because if your CPU is overheating, then slowdown would make sense.

The same applies to your GPU. Download GPU-Z and see if it accurately keeps track of the GPU temperature, as it's another likely component that can overheat very easily.

For stability, I'd run Memtest first, for about five loops, and then run Cinebench R10 a few times over to make sure both the CPU and memory are completely stable. Past that, you might want to check on the other components, such as the hard drive SMART information.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/cinebench_e.html

Rob, Thanks for the tips,
I tried the test and core heat programs
under testing cpu 0 hit a peak of 65c the others were lower, everything tested 0. I can't get memtest to work, don't understand how to make boot disk work right. I burned .iso file to cd and rebooted but it doesn't boot CD for memtest. During a test game, I watched usages and heat, CPU 55c and below, memory at about 50% usage when locked-up. I don't think the graphics card has anything to do with it, though I'm using a less accurate program by Nvidia to keep tabs on GPU heat, it is well below spec. (Still locking up I'm going to try yanking a stick of ram and try again then swap.)

 

[Rory Buszka]

Here's something else to try: Update your motherboard drivers and BIOS. In fact, if all your drivers aren't updated, then you ought to go device by device and update them all. Windows Update can actually be fairly helpful here. if you run a 'Custom' update search, you'll see that it also looks for hardware driver updates. I still recommend getting the driver updates for the NForce 790 and GeForce 9800GX2 from the NVidia site, however, just to make sure that the included software package is complete, and that you aren't just downloading a stripped-down display driver.

In all honesty, this sounds like a motherboard issue to me. If it were a graphics card issue, then the video driver would likely crash, sending the system into BSOD mode and a spontaneous restart. However, the only other component that I can imagine being stressed (aside from the CPU and memory) is the motherboard itself.

Metatron, what OS are you running? How did your RAM swap go?

 

[Metatron]

Here's something else to try: Update your motherboard drivers and BIOS. In fact, if all your drivers aren't updated, then you ought to go device by device and update them all. Windows Update can actually be fairly helpful here. if you run a 'Custom' update search, you'll see that it also looks for hardware driver updates. I still recommend getting the driver updates for the NForce 790 and GeForce 9800GX2 from the NVidia site, however, just to make sure that the included software package is complete, and that you aren't just downloading a stripped-down display driver.

In all honesty, this sounds like a motherboard issue to me. If it were a graphics card issue, then the video driver would likely crash, sending the system into BSOD mode and a spontaneous restart. However, the only other component that I can imagine being stressed (aside from the CPU and memory) is the motherboard itself.

Metatron, what OS are you running? How did your RAM swap go?

Rory thanks for the advice,
the ram may very well have been the problem. I've been running on stick #2
for 4 days now, no lock ups. I also dialed down the ram to 1333 per a review note on newegg(something about this ram won't run stable at speeds listed)
also newegg is letting me swap ram to corsair with no restock fee.(should have bought good ram to begin with *sigh*)
I know my motherboard and video drivers are up to date, per your advise I'll quit ignoring the updates pop-up. I think the original lockups were driver related. After doing a complete reinstall, still doing it, but with no sound stutter, I think they may have been do to ram being unstable(because I recalibrated it to OCZ spec before reinstall)
Thanks for the help guys, I may be getting close to having a stable machine. If I keep having problems, I'm in danger of becoming a computer nerd (learned a lot since building this computer)

 

[Metatron]

Rory thanks for the advice,
the ram may very well have been the problem. I've been running on stick #2
for 4 days now, no lock ups. I also dialed down the ram to 1333 per a review note on newegg(something about this ram won't run stable at speeds listed)
also newegg is letting me swap ram to corsair with no restock fee.(should have bought good ram to begin with *sigh*)
I know my motherboard and video drivers are up to date, per your advise I'll quit ignoring the updates pop-up. I think the original lockups were driver related. After doing a complete reinstall, still doing it, but with no sound stutter, I think they may have been do to ram being unstable(because I recalibrated it to OCZ spec before reinstall)
Thanks for the help guys, I may be getting close to having a stable machine. If I keep having problems, I'm in danger of becoming a computer nerd (learned a lot since building this computer)

I guess I spoke to soon
so far I worked out a deal with new egg and now I've replaced my ... with new video card 280 GTX new coolmax 1200W power supply and new DDR3 1800 Corsair dominator ram. I thought it was running ok for a few days, then it crashed again(same problem, stuttering sound, freeze frame) I'm running outa hardware problems it could be. CPU or motherboard? could be software I suppose the game could be corrupting the drivers or something(but why would the game run fine on my wife's computer? a far cry less peppy than mine)
Maybe my CPU voltage settings are not to spec(default currently)
also I did a CPU test 10 mins no errors temp peaked at 66c is that too high?
the highest I've ever seen it in a game is 56c.

starting to piss me off (maybe I should have gone AMD)

P.S. I noticed James Crysis may be having the same problem in one of his threads "Weird Lockups"

 

[THUMPer]

Have you flashed the mOTHERBOARD BIOS to the newest version? There are a lot of issues resolved for the 790i BIOS's. If you call EVGA that's one of the questions they would ask you.