Video card vs motherboard

[sic wil]

Lately I have had some problems with my machine rebooting itself while playing graphically intense games, ie CS:S and HL2. I don't overclock. I tried new drivers, and I tried all sorts of hints and tips I've found on the forums, and none of them worked. So I diagnosed the problem as the video card itself. So I went on Newegg and bought a Leadtek 6600GT and waited. I put it in and I get the same problem. I'm RMA'ing it today to make sure.

Now the inevitable question surfaces. What if the next video card I get does the same thing? Then it can't be the video card. The rest of my system is as follows:

Antec 450w PS (18A on 12v rails)
Tyan Tiger K8WS motherboard
Opteron 146 2Ghz w/Thermaltake heatsink and Artic silver on the chip
2 sticks of Corsair XMS pc3200 memory
120 Maxtor SATA HDD
Audigy 2ZS Gamer
Gainward FX 5900xt (old card) and Leadtek 6600GT (new card)
2 intake fans and 2 output fans

So what could it be? Is my motherboard wasting my money? I've been eyeing an ASUS SK8N, but I just spent money on a card ... Any help would be awesome. You guys / girls rock!

side note, how do I tell if my memory is registered? If it wasn't, then surely my computer wouldn't even start, correct? Since this board only takes registered memory...

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
Opteron 146 2Ghz w/Thermaltake heatsink and Artic silver on the chip
2 sticks of Corsair XMS pc3200 memory
Gainward FX 5900xt (old card) and Leadtek 6600GT (new card)
2 intake fans and 2 output fans

side note, how do I tell if my memory is registered? If it wasn't, then surely my computer wouldn't even start, correct? Since this board only takes registered memory...

I think your memory will have some numbers then x64 if it's not, or x72 if it is registered. Look for "ecc" somewhere on it too.

Which thermaltake heatsink are you using? Is the cpu completely covered with the artic silver? Is it a powerful enough fan?

To see if it's your cpu overheating, play until it reboots, then hop into the bios real quick and write down the temps and post it here. Also could run memtest86 to see if your ram is going bad. I bought some new parts the other night and almost purchased the same (unregistered) memory that you have, but some of the reviews stated that their memory was bad and had to be rma'd - it failed memtest. I saw that from 2 or 3 different people so I played it safe and went with mushkin.

 

[sic wil]

Alrighty I'll give a run on memtest tonight. So you're saying that even though my board says it needs registered memory, it'll run unregistaered memory?

That's interesting...

 

[MellowMan]

download prime95, and run the torture test. Just to make sure that your Cpu and Ram (not to mention mb) are ok. if it can run for atleast 4 hours or so without a error it should be fine.

 

[sic wil]

Sounds like a plan, I'll try those

 

[sic wil]

I tried prime95 and it stopped after 52 minutes, and then I ran memtest86+ and it's still running after 12 hours and it's showing 49 errors...

So can I get a consensus? Is it the RAM? I really want to single out the culprit ... and I wish i had another machine to swap stuff into to test, but i don't.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
I tried prime95 and it stopped after 52 minutes, and then I ran memtest86+ and it's still running after 12 hours and it's showing 49 errors...

So can I get a consensus? Is it the RAM? I really want to single out the culprit ... and I wish i had another machine to swap stuff into to test, but i don't.

Take 1 of the sticks out, rerun the test. The swap the sticks and rerun it again.

Sounds like the same problems that I was reading on the newegg reviews for that particular ram. Based on this and the fact it was rebooting even with another card, I think it's the memory. Did you already RMA the card? Were you going to keep it anyway?

I'd get yourself some of that registered memory. Does the Tiger K8WS use dual channel? If not, then just get 1 stick of ram.

 

[sic wil]

Thanks much for your reply. I wish I was reading reviews and researching this stuff way back in July when I got all this stuff, hehe.

The tyan board does use dual channel, I bought an opteron and the board and the 2 sticks solely for that purpose. Looks like I'm out another 150 bucks.

Any RAM recommendations?

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
Thanks much for your reply. I wish I was reading reviews and researching this stuff way back in July when I got all this stuff, hehe.

The tyan board does use dual channel, I bought an opteron and the board and the 2 sticks solely for that purpose. Looks like I'm out another 150 bucks.

Any RAM recommendations?

How much do you want?

Don't worry, I made the exact same mistake the first time I bought a Tyan Tiger board. I got some OCZ memory for it and it wouldn't boot. After finding out how much the registered stuff was going to be, and all the other expensive stuff I had to get to support this board, I was fed up and sent the board back and got a single cpu epox instead. The tiger is basically the slimmer version of a server mb.

Here's this one by ocz: OCZ 2x256

For ECC and low latency, that's a pretty good price. But the first time I bought OCZ I had a really bad experience. But that was 4 years ago... anandtech and some other reviewers have been endorsing ocz so I must have just had bad luck with it.

Here's Tyan's Tested Memory List for that mb.

 

[sic wil]

Gotta love learning as ya go, right? Best way to learn!

I need enough RAM to game, so that's most likely going to be a gig. I newegg'd some registered memory and they were spitting out figures in the high 200's ... which of course, made me crap my pants

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
Gotta love learning as ya go, right? Best way to learn!

I need enough RAM to game, so that's most likely going to be a gig. I newegg'd some registered memory and they were spitting out figures in the high 200's ... which of course, made me crap my pants

Well, run that memtest on 1 stick at a time, find out if it's only 1 bad stick, and RMA it or replace it with the same brand.

 

[sic wil]

You've been a big help, man. Thanks a ton!

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
You've been a big help, man. Thanks a ton!

FYI I'm learning as I go too, I'm definitely not an expert - just see how many threads I started this past week about the new system I'm trying to build.

 

[SagaLore]

I just had a thought.

Maybe you should get the new RAM anyway. Your board supports registered only, so you will have better luck with it. I did read on older Tiger boards that you could get way with the 2 sticks of unregistered, which is why it's working for you now.

What games do you play that require more than 512mb of memory?

So I guess it's up to you if you want to try a new stick of corsair or go with that ocz (unless you want to sell a kidney).

 

[sic wil]

Well I tested the sticks individually and found that 1 stick is bad and 1 stick is fine ... so I don't know what I should do. I guess I could get away with 512 MB of memory until I'm ready to just throw out my junky tyan board and pick up an ASUS SK8N

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: sic wil
Well I tested the sticks individually and found that 1 stick is bad and 1 stick is fine ... so I don't know what I should do. I guess I could get away with 512 MB of memory until I'm ready to just throw out my junky tyan board and pick up an ASUS SK8N

Great news. So are you going to keep the new video card, or just go back to using your old one? If you don't want to put anymore money into that board, I'd send the card back myself.

 

[sic wil]

I RMA'd it two days ago...but I figure I can throw the new card in the new board once I get it. How would I find out if the ASUS SK8N takes registered or unregistered memory?