Computer Lockups

[dek]

I also posted this in General Hardware but I thought I could get twice the response.

I recently built a computer and it contains the following items.

Processor : AMD 64 3400+ 2.4ghz
Memory : generic (from old pc) 1gb less than pc3200 i think, it doesn't say :x
Video : Geforce FX 5700 Le OC
Motherboard : EPoX 8KDA3+ nForce3 250Gb
Sound : Creative Audigy 2 ZS
HDD: Western Digital 120GB 7200rpm

The problem I have is this, my computer will freeze a few times a day when I play some of my older games (wc3) and very often when playing some newer games (cs:s). I'm not entirely sure that its a problem on my end for the freezes in css. However my computer does freeze when playing wc3, and I am forced to restart.

I have downloaded the latest bios, nvidia display drivers, nvidia nforce drivers, creative sound drivers, and directx 9.0c.

I've tested with normal clock speeds, overclocked speeds, and underclocked speeds. When I was overclocked I ran prime95 for only 11 hours, but my system reported no errors. I'm not exactly sure why my computer is doing this, or what steps I should take to fix this problem. I hope that you can help a poor gamer. Thanks.

 

[bo3bber]

Since it freezes during game play, and not during prime95, I would suspect two things.
1) Power Supply. If it's marginal, playing games will often push it over the edge, giving you random errors like this.
2) Bad RAM. Since the RAM doesn't say what it is, and is generic RAM, which isn't nearly as reliable as name brand.
Also, if you don''t know what it is, you might be overclocking it accidentally, which will be bad.

Generic RAM is probably not a good choice for the 3400+, read the Tom's Hardware RAM roundup, some of their name brand RAM didn't run reliably on a similar Epox board (2 of 12 brands failed to run).

If you have any spare parts around, try swapping out those components first.

Good luck...

 

[Lithan]

download memtest86 and run it (It makes a bootable floppy or cd).
Make sure you are set to 2t.

 

[dek]

well my power supply is a

470 watt noisemaker enermax

i'll try memtest and get back to u guys. and thank you for the input

 

[effee]

Umm..is the name really Noisemaker lol?

 

[dek]

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=17-103-496&depa=0
yup lol