X2 3800 & 9npa+Ultra not as stable as I'd like... WHY?

[swamyg1]

Hey All! This is my first post... WOOHOO!

Ok here's my problem... I have a x2 3800 oc'd to 2.45 on my epox 9npa. Everything is stable dual prime and my temps are good at 31 idle with vcore @ 1.45. My question is this:

Whenever I decode DVD video and try to do anything else at the same time (like open another program or even import my favorites for example) my system will hang like crazy. Maybe not as much as on any single core processor, but it hangs to the point where I think the system might freeze... even when my x2 is at 2.4... that bothers me.

I have the AMD Driver installed my processor is set as ACPI in Multiprocessor. I also installed the recent Microsoft Hotfix. In task manager my cpu usage never exceeds 10% on each core and I have 1gb of mem, and there is plenty to spare, I can't figure it out. I thought these processors were supposed to let you play games and do other stuff while doing something else... I have two hard drives on the same IDE, along with 2 DVD-ROMS, could that have something to do with my problem?

I've tried raising the vcore a bit, Do I have to do something with setting affinity, or is there a bios setting that can increase performance? Do I need some more juice in my PSU? Is my mem controller bad? What gives here? I don't want to be disappointed when other peeps are hitting higher than 2.7 and stuff. I don't mean to be greedy... Should I just lower my expectations? Here are some specs:

E4 x2 3800 at 10 x 245 fsb w/ 4x multi
Epox 9npa+Ultra mobo w/ xp-90 & Panaflo
corsair xms 3200 at 2336 and 166 divider
xclio 450 psu
Win XP Pro

Thanks in advance and sorry bout the long first post.

 

[stevty2889]

Well if you are only getting 10% CPU usage during video encoding, someting is definatly worng. Having 2 IDE drives on one channel..thats gonna hurt performance, and could be causing a huge part of your problem..I would change your config, so that you have 1 hard drive, and 1 DVD drive per channel. Then when decoding DVD's use the DVD drive that is on the opposite channel of the hard drive you are decoding to. You might even want to get PATA to SATA adaptors and run your IDE drives off of the SATA ports, that will gurantee to eliminate the bottleneck from having so many IDE devices.

 

[biostud]

first troubleshoot: run CPU @ stock speed and see if problem still occur.

 

[swamyg1]

Ok, thanks so much for the suggestions... I will first run at stock and see what happens... then I will switch up my IDE config cuz I think I should have done that to begin with... Gotta wait til I get home from work tho.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[gfngfgf]

I also have the 9npa+ Ultra and I get lockups like you describe whenever I use a USB2.0 device. I actually had to go to BIOS and change my USB setting to "1.1 only" before my system stopped crashing all the time. I'm sure there's something wrong with my specific board, and I'm in e-mail contact with Epox support right now trying to find a solution, but I'm just mentioning that in case it helps.

 

[klah]

Does this only occur when your HDD is pegged at 100%? You can open up Management Console(Start->Run..->perfmon) and add a "% disk time" counter for each drive to watch this.

 

[swamyg1]

Thanks for the replies guys...

Well, I've switched up my IDE config and my system seems to be running fine for now. I was ripping and burning and my CPU usage went up to around 80 or 90%, it was pretty stable, I'll post again after I test it more tomorrow. I'll check out the Management Console to watch my drives too. I don't have any issues with USB as far as I know, but that is surely something I can try as well. I'll be happy with an OC of 2.45 if I can keep my system stable...

It's nice to see guys posting with a 9npa+ Ultra with x2 3800 combo here...

keep posting if you have any other suggestions!

 

[Doug117]

I was going to suggest checking your DVD drive settings since you say it hangs when you're decoding video and burning. I dont think its your processor thats the problem here, more of a IDE problem Especially if you are burning AND ripping @ the same time...