My current system: Asus P6T Deluxe GTX470 heavily overclocked (higher voltage) i7920 @ 4ghz (less than stock volts) 2 x 2TB Samsung Spin Points DVD Writer 6GB DDR3 XMS3 @ XMP Corsair HX520 The above setup has been perfectly stable for months under any circumstances (can't remember the last crash). 520watt PSU might seem small given today's massive PSU's, but the original HX line were immense PSU's and could handle a hell of a lot, not to mention most big PSU's are just plain overkill. Now today I added another 6GB of memory (12GB total), although this isn't an exact match (Patriot Viper) it does match stats-wise and both sets run on the same XMP profile. Since adding in this ram I've experienced 2 system lockups - the screen freezes like a screenshot and nothing moves, crt-alt-delete doesn't work, and a hard reset is necessary. My first thought was the ram - but 4 passes of memtest later and it's fine! So I'm wondering if I've finally overloaded my psu? Anyway to tell?
I experienced similar problems when I added extra RAM to an old Evesham PC years ago. Replacing the PSU did correct the problem but we are talking about the rubbish that came bundled with the case Vs a Seasonic!
I'm assuming they are all 2GB sticks? If so try having the original 6GB plus maybe 2GB of the new sticks, if that's stable try adding another 2GB until you add them all, where it starts crashing could be where you hit your peak?
Yes, 6X2GB sticks. I'm doing a PRIME95 on maximum heat and memory strain right now. 10 minutes in and it's all fine and my CPU has stayed at a nice 55-57c on all cores, which is nice. I'll let it run for 20minutes, but really there's not a lot out there that can push a system liek 20minutes of prime.
Sod it, I'm taking the extra ram out for now, it's not worth the the worry, 12GB doesn't seem to actually improve a damn thing anyway!
If you bought from retail it can be returned for a full refund including delivery postage if you've had it for 7 working days or less starting the day after you took delivery of them under the Distance Selling Regulations assuming it was bought on-line! Read my signature!
Sounds very much like a PSU overload. Buy your self a plug in watts reader to see what your pulling from the wall under full load.
it's been in a draw for about 6 months, and that's exactly where it is now. I seen to have lost my overclocking lust - I've had a decent stable clock for a long time now and have lost the desire to faf with my pc for hours!
That, the QPI. Or lower it's frequency if it's anything like the bug generating HyperTransport on this rig
More than likely the extra ram is stressing the on board memory controller and the overclock has become unstable. You need to run Prime95 blend or LinX All memory for much longer to rule out the overclock, that or go to stock settings and see if it still crashes. More QPI/VTT voltage is usually the cure as mentioned.