World in conflict--> better stablility checker than orthos/prime?

[big4x4]

On two of my overclocked computers that are 48hr orthos stable/occt stable when I play WiC the game always freezes w/ stock video card settings. I just got the game yesterday and tried it on both computers and both of them lock up. When I decreased the clocks everything runs just fine. Could it be something else other than the overclock of the processor?

 

[aigomorla]

no, i have it running fine on my computer. WinC does not use 100% all 4 cores.

 

[big4x4]

What is the problem then you think? Drivers?

 

[Foxery]

The trouble with a game is that you have no way to narrow down which component is at fault, since everything is in use at once. Seperate utilities for CPU stress, RAM stress, and Video stress are what allow you to answer that question.

 

[geoffry]

While I agree with Foxery that the specific stress tools are helpful in narrowing down what component is giving the problem, I do agree with big4X4 that games can be more stressful.

For example, I had my system seemingly stable for 4 or 5 months, never had a bsod or any other hint of instability, it was orthos stable for 12 hrs and OCCT stable for 5 hrs.

I would load up Assassin's Creed and I would get a BSOD sometimes in under 10 minutes, but I don't think it ever took more than an hour.

It turned out to be the CPU. Although in my "stable" period I played WIC and it never crashed for me.

 

[toadeater]

What I have noticed over the years is that for a true stability test with high FSB overclocks, you need to test not just RAM and CPU, but I/O as well. This exposes any instability in the southbridge, PCI(e) bus, etc. It's the combination of all the components being stressed at once that makes the difference.

You might want to use something like 3DMark for this, if you don't have any intensive multiplayer 3D games. Otherwise, load up a few apps, stress the video card (ATITool?), the HDs (HD Tune?), and the network while running Orthos or OCCT, etc.

 

[error8]

In my opinion Orthos or Prime95 are crap for testing cpu stability. Even SuperPI seems to be a better stability test tool for overclocked cpus then those two.
Sometimes I could run an entire hour of orthos test with no errors, but my system would freeze when I was just surfing the internet. These synthetic stability test programs are good for loading all your cores so you can see what is your full load temperature, but other then that, they seem to be useless.

Of course, by far, the best test for your overclocks are the games, for both cpu and videocard, like geoffry said. Your system can trick Orthos but it will never trick a very demanding game.

 

[nyker96]

that's a funny claim. I think it's probably a video driver problem you experience. prime95/ortho/occt don't test video related stuff. only memory+cpu. You actually want to do isolated testing not combo testing to isolate a specific part as been the problem. so something like a game isn't very good for component stability testing but alright after you done testing on each part and want to do some combo testing.

 

[big4x4]

Funny thing is this computer has been overclocked for almost a year with NOT 1 PROBLEM!!!! Memtested fine as well as ATI tool for hours so I guess I can see if it is really my computer and not something else is to lower my multi a notch. That would ensure that it is not any other component. I will report back.

Another thing that makes me wonder is that both computers have been overclocked for about the same time and never have crashed. Both are running 8800 series card with the same drivers (latest NVIDIA) but when I down clock the cpu both run fine

 

[twjr]

I have had similar problems with a "stable" overclock in WiC. At first i thought i had the graphics setting too high but turning them down did nothing. Anyway mine turned out to be a RAM related issue which hadn't been picked up anywhere else. I had always wondered about whether anyone else found this game to be a good test and i guess it was.

 

[bryanW1995]

crysis helped me expose some ram AND gpu weaknesses a few months ago.

 

[twjr]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
crysis helped me expose some ram AND gpu weaknesses a few months ago.

I think Crysis exposed GPU weaknesses in everyone.

 

[devilchrist]

Originally posted by: big4x4
Funny thing is this computer has been overclocked for almost a year with NOT 1 PROBLEM!!!! Memtested fine as well as ATI tool for hours so I guess I can see if it is really my computer and not something else is to lower my multi a notch. That would ensure that it is not any other component. I will report back.

Another thing that makes me wonder is that both computers have been overclocked for about the same time and never have crashed. Both are running 8800 series card with the same drivers (latest NVIDIA) but when I down clock the cpu both run fine

When you say prime95. which test did you run?

small fft? lage fft? blend?

from my understanding

small fft only stresses the CPU
large fft tests cpu, ram, but mostly the link between the cpu and ram
blend stresses the ram

so you need to pass all 3 of the torture test to have true stability

for my system. I can run prime95 on small fft all day long @ 3.9ghz but fails on large fft and blend.

 

[Zap]

My wife's system used to spontaneously reboot all the time... but only in Warcraft III. Worked fine everywhere else... tried swapping parts, dumping the overclock, video drivers...

Turned out to be the sound driver (onboard sound on Gigabyte GA-P965-DS3). Installed an updated one and went from guaranteed reboots to no reboots.

Sometimes these things happen.