UGH comp is rediculous. Power/stability?

[Solaris17]

tay so im having trouble iv had my 2 9800GTX's for awhile and they both work and i figured out after 1 whole year i got my rig to enable sli in vista!!! now if any of you watch respond or read my threads you know iv had trouble with sli in vista you know iv had to return 1 9800 and 7 9600's my faith in BFG has dwindled but everything seemed fine....my problem is i cant play any games some will freeze others will play inbetween 5-20min. now if any of yo read the thread i made when i was going to get the 9800's you know i doubted my psu or a bit ...700w OCZ gameXstream 4 +12v rails 18amps a peic with 72A total we decided she could handle it so i went for it...and all was good rig booted etc.....but even in XP i ran into these problems no games.....so here were my theorys.


at first i thought card instability...i bealive in my PSU but maybe it couldnt.....but even OC'd she would complete 3dmark 06...my score was low however at 15k i was expecting 20 so maybe it was a proc problem...but super pi 32m sciencemark winrar compresses etc all passed with flying colors......so since my proc was stable and 3dmark passed i figured ok....well their unstable working together?....but the 3dmark tests both...so im confused i decided next temps...games will stress the temps of both prob more than 3dmark so i shut my room up and kicked on the AC to high..my room reached 60F....my proc was idling at 33c and my cards at 45c so i ran the tests agian..they didnt get hot 50c proc...66c cards..i let them cool back down...and tred games....simple games work all the time...nwn1 etc run no prob same with morrowind...but more graphically challanging games do not..oblivion works sparatically 5-20min b4 crashing...but desktop is recoverable....crysis crashes almost instantly...COD2 wont run at all...black screen second it laods the level...COD1 works fine for hours......Halo1 works but freezes ALOT but you can play it for ours if you like 45sec at a time lock ups every 5min....everything under the graphics intensity of Halo1 works fine anything over fails...halo1 is the kinda sorta failing stable point...but i cant nail it...fresh OS fresh installs everything updated defragged and cleaned....i just cant nail it....indavidual tests work no artifacting etc....ruled out overheating and 3dmark works which stresses both....but games are just a no no and thats with 2 diff OS's so i know it isnt a vista prob...WTF is going on? iv even ran ram tests and diags...all pass with flying colors..iv diagnosed tested and have come to the conclusion that every part in my rig is in tip top working order but games are something it wont do...and my rig....if i may say so should handle anygame i feel like installing no problems....so what gives...? my e7200 should be coming today i thhink do they deliver mail on labor day? at anyrate that might help...my mushkin 4GB 800 kit is coming as well..i mean hell im changing out parts now hoping for the best because i think its hardware though they all pass with no problems...and my software os etc...all pass verious tests and diags along with my tweaks b4 and even after they still wont run....i just dont get it..i mean my rig looks pretty but i kinda built it not just for looks..

[Fastmix]

I found this yesterday...try it..might help..can't harm.

Remove Unused Devices



This is a slightly trickier procedure, but it won't be harmful if you follow the instructions here. If you have had several Catalysts installed on your system in the past, or even an Nvidia card installed previously on the same Windows install, not to mention any other previous items of hardware which you no longer use, then this tip lets you remove them from the registry.



To view unused devices in Device Manager, do the following:



1. Open a Command Prompt by going to Start>Run and typing "cmd" (without quotes). Once the Command Prompt is open, type the following lines, pressing return after each:



Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1



Devmgmt.msc



2. In the Device Manager window that opens, go to the View menu and select 'Show Hidden Devices' - this is very important if you want to see the unused devices. Now expand each of your devices and look through all the sub-components listed. You will see that some of the devices are shown in a lighter grey color.



3. For the purposes of this guide, what we need to look for are entries under the Monitor and Display Adapter device categories. Under Monitor there should be at least one darker monitor entry for each monitor on your system. If there are any greyed out entries, you can remove them by right-clicking on the entry and selecting 'Uninstall'. Do this for all greyed out entries under the Monitor device.



4. Under the Display Adapter device, if you find two entries - a main one, and another one which has 'Secondary' next to it - these just indicate that your graphics card is capable of two separate outputs to two different display devices. You should keep both of these. Do not attempt to uninstall the dark entries under here. You can however uninstall all other greyed out entries under the Display Adapter device list, especially those which relate to previous graphics cards you had on this system.



5. If you're feeling game, you can go through some of your other device entries and delete greyed out devices which you know for certain are no longer connected to your machine, or are traces of a device which has been moved around a few times. For example, under Human Interface Devices you may find multiple greyed out entries for a mouse which you may have moved from one port to another. As long as there is a solid entry for the device when it is still connected to your system, you can uninstall the greyed out ones. However I do not recommend uninstalling devices which you are not sure about. Most importantly, do not uninstall any greyed out Microsoft (or other Codec) entries under the Sound, Video and Game Controller device, and be extremely careful about entries under the Non Plug and Play Drivers, and Network Adapters device list. If in doubt, do not uninstall a device.



If you do happen to uninstall a device which is still connected to your system, it's not the end of the world. Windows will usually re-detect it upon reboot and look for drivers to reinstall it. If not, then remove and reconnect the device, and/or reinstall its drivers.

[Solaris17]

actually i do that with every fresh install i have a batch that enables invisable devices for me and i delete them

[Fastmix]

I didn't know about it but reading your problem it sounds like a mb bios upgrade can take care of that but you probably have done that already.

[cdawall]

you shouldn't be running to high on that PSU maybe its something silly...i had this issue with xfire for a while took a complete uninstall and some prayer to get it to work....

[ascstinger]

I've heard some gamexstream's had some issues with 12v-line noise. Maybe the vregs on your cards are getting stressed out and they shut down?

I had a similar problem with a hiper psu, that was killing off ram a lot, didnt figure it out until I went through 4-5 sets. also, have you tried uninstalling the physx card (long shot there, but its the only other thing i could think of)

[Solaris17]

ya iv uninstlled the physx card for now....iv reinstlled countless OS's i do it like every week so im not formatting again if i havent got it this time it isnt the OS. iv uninstalled and reinstalled the cards a bunch of times im running the latest bios...iv rewired countless times just incase its a voltage prob and it still wont run....

[newconroer]

"700w OCZ gameXstream 4 +12v rails 18amps a peic with 72A total"

Where in God's green earth did you ever get the idea that you had 72A, hell, 4X12 is only 48 and you still aren't getting 48.

Your OCZ does not have independant 12v rails.


So, if I'm reading you right, you haven't tried another PSU?

[Solaris17]

your assuming. my PSU has 72A total im not a tard i was giving you technical specifications it was not like this


Me: hey i have a 3500+

You: lol your proc doesnt perform at 3.5Ghz


that isnt what i said and it WAS NOT how it was ment. these are for clarification purposes only no i havent tried another PSU i have the most powerfull in the house and only a few spares genera brands that are like 300-400w please do not assume im retarted that aggrivates me you can talk to me like im on your level its fine.

[will]

Originally Posted by newconroer

"700w OCZ gameXstream 4 +12v rails 18amps a peic with 72A total"

Where in God's green earth did you ever get the idea that you had 72A, hell, 4X12 is only 48 and you still aren't getting 48.

Your OCZ does not have independant 12v rails.


So, if I'm reading you right, you haven't tried another PSU?

Actually its 4x18 which is 72amps although you are right, obviously there aren't 72 amps total on the 12v rail, probably not even 48. Even so, there should be enough to power the cards. It could be some hardware fault with the PSU, only showing up under some conditions i dunno... My main guess though would be motherboard, have you tried any other mobos? I couldn't quite work out from your description if your PC works fine with just one card, if so it narrows it down a bit (maybe defective 2nd PCIe slot?)...

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by will

Actually its 4x18 which is 72amps although you are right, obviously there aren't 72 amps total on the 12v rail, probably not even 48. Even so, there should be enough to power the cards. It could be some hardware fault with the PSU, only showing up under some conditions i dunno... My main guess though would be motherboard, have you tried any other mobos? I couldn't quite work out from your description if your PC works fine with just one card, if so it narrows it down a bit (maybe defective 2nd PCIe slot?)...

thats what im thinking honestly is a bad secondary slot....or inadiquite cooling on the fets or something....i have another AMD mobo but its all disassembled and boxed up. but i did run it with my dual 9600's and when i got the asus they worked fine in this as well. Im thinking mobo honestly im pretty sure my psu can handle it but i was wondering if anybody had some ideas i could test before i went out and bought a new mobo...because im aiming for 780 or 790 and all but 1 of my HDD's are sata which means with one IDE slot ill have to not use them which blows because i use them all for seperate tasks...

[will]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

thats what im thinking honestly is a bad secondary slot....or inadiquite cooling on the fets or something....i have another AMD mobo but its all disassembled and boxed up. but i did run it with my dual 9600's and when i got the asus they worked fine in this as well. Im thinking mobo honestly im pretty sure my psu can handle it but i was wondering if anybody had some ideas i could test before i went out and bought a new mobo...because im aiming for 780 or 790 and all but 1 of my HDD's are sata which means with one IDE slot ill have to not use them which blows because i use them all for seperate tasks...

hmm you could try just one card in the second slot and test it out, but if that works ok it could still be the mobo... do you know anyone with a spare sli mobo who could lend it to you for a few days? if you go out and buy a new 780 or 790 board and you still have problems you will be kicking yourself! from the sound of it though it definitely seems likely to be a motherboard issue.
as a side thought, have you tried using a different sli bridge connector? also have you tried having some fans blowing onto the cards and/or mobo (although i doubt it is an overheating issue due to how quickly some of your games crash)?

[PVTCaboose1337]

I think in order to find out if you have a secondary slot issue, just put one card in the second slot and see how it performs. That would be a real help.

[Solaris17]

Ya iv used 2 diff bridges and iv ran them independently....you know....the mobo has always had a prob accepting cards in the second slot i bet you thats it before i got my 9800's working i had to reinstall them all the time beore the one in the second slot stopped artifacting ...but the 9600's worked ....then again the 9800's do now the 9600's had the same problem...but after i got the 9600's to work at least that played games.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Shot in the dark... Maybe you damaged your PSU with the dual 9800s. Too much power. I doubt it, but if you did, that could be it.

I personally bet on bad motherboard more times than none. When looking at some, the biggest problem is blow capacitors. Take a look for those just above the PCI slots. That is the place I most often see problems.

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

Shot in the dark... Maybe you damaged your PSU with the dual 9800s. Too much power. I doubt it, but if you did, that could be it.

I personally bet on bad motherboard more times than none. When looking at some, the biggest problem is blow capacitors. Take a look for those just above the PCI slots. That is the place I most often see problems.

good call ill look for bad caps when i feel like leaving the living room.......i dont think the psu is damaged but im thinking either mobo problem or under powered now....so if it isnt the mobo i might actually trade my 9800's for a GX2 i think those have a lower powerdraw anyway becase their not two physical cards. However if it is a bad mobo and theirs no bad caps im running a single GX2 were id rather run 2 cards and all on the same bad mobo....this is a tight situation. though im leaning tword bad second slot becase they would artifact and if my psu couldnt handle the power draw at idle the card wouldnt even attempt to start because they hav status LED's that warn you about power issues. and it would artifact at idle ie flash fils etc..

[PVTCaboose1337]

I doubt the bad PSU as well. Pray that it is not, Capacitor Plague!

[Solaris17]

hmmm the ones near the pci and pci-e slots are all solid states so i cant tell but their appears to be no damage no leakage or distorted or warped appearence...to make sure i inspected the whole board and non of the others are bad all look fine and the solid states look the same as the solid states near the slots.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

hmmm the ones near the pci and pci-e slots are all solid states so i cant tell but their appears to be no damage no leakage or distorted or warped appearence...to make sure i inspected the whole board and non of the others are bad all look fine and the solid states look the same as the solid states near the slots.

Break out the multimeter! No, but seriously, if you don't see fail, chances are there is not any. Dude, you really need to get a replacement board (borrow one!) to see if it is not another component.

[Solaris17]

well i need to build the GF's rig ill start tomarrow when i take my rig apart for the proc switch....and ill set hers up with the amd sli mobo and ill run my cards to see whats up.