Got A couple probs

ApokStatik · Post by **ApokStatik** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:39 pm

I built a computer its a dfi nforce4 ultra d mother board with and fx-55, 4 gigs of corsair and kingston ram (2 each), a XFX 6800 ultra, creative labs aound blaster audigy 2 sound card, and 2 Western digital 200 gig hd's running a raid-0. The main problem im having is my computer loves to crash on me when im playing games. some times i get an error, sometimes i dont, sometimes it just shuts the game off, other times it it reboots the whole computer. ive made sure ive got all updated drivers. and im using my motherboards temperature gauge so i know its not overheating. does anyone have anyclue on how to help me fix that?

Also, on my raid-0 it says i only got 372gb of hd space but i should have 400gb. How can i fix that?

Last question is, whats dual cahnnel ram (i think thats what i bought) and how do i make sure im running it in duel channel mode, not single channel?

Please ay help would be much appreciated.

smb · Post by **smb** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:05 pm

#1 - Sounds like a week power supply. DFI's have been known to fluctuate badly with voltage.

#2 - After you format your drives you will only have what you currently got.

#3 - You run dual channel when you put the memory in matching slots. Usually Slot 1 & 3 and 2 & 4. Only way to be sure is to download CPU-Z and go to the memory tab. It will tell you if your running Dual Channel. You may have to go into your bios to enable dual channel.

ApokStatik · Post by **ApokStatik** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:46 pm

Hey thx for the info on question 2 and 3. i just didnt really know. Number one though shouldnt be the problem because i bout a 600watt power supply...unless it went bad. Another thing is my ram is different mhz. the corsair is 400 mhz (which is what my board supports) the other is 533 mhz (which i bought by accident). cauld the 533 mhz kingston ram be screwing it up?

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:25 am

Welcome aboard !

Sounds like a PS or a heat issue. Pushing all that ram and that CPU is thirsty work. a lot of p0wer supplies are rated way beyond what they can do. I have a similar mobo with 2 gigs of ram and I eventually had to put in like a 465 enermax. The difference in ram speed shouldn't make a difference as long as you are running a 400fsb. sounds like you are running 4x1mb which is really kind of overkill - I would start by pulling 2 sticks of ram and see how that goes. Heat on the vid card or other components can also cause random restarts...if pullling the ram doesn't work, pull the side off the case and put a floor fan next to it and see what happens - that will let you know of it is a heat problem

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:33 am

I'm leaning more towards it being the two different brands of memory not getting along.. Try it with the corsair alone first, then the Kingston, if it's still doing it, try it one stick at a time. GL

eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:50 pm

WELCOME TO PCA!

Mixing different brands of RAM is a bozo no-no on a modern dual channel mobo. IDEALLY you should only have TWO matched sticks. Four sticks will usually work, BUT all four sticks need to be matched. You buy matched sticks in pairs. Certain manufacturers like Corsair specifically sell a matched pair in a kit for dual channel boards.

Frankly unless you're a power Photoshop user, there's no reason to install more than 2Gb. I'd stick with the two corsair sticks. 2Gb is more than adequate - even for serious gaming.

If you install the pairs in the proper sockets (see the mobo manual) then it'll automatically run in dual channel. Most mobos will tell you it's running in dual channel mode during the POST screen right after it shows how much RAM is installed.

Be aware that Corsair memory is VERY fussy about timing. It's performance memory and as such, the default BIOS timings sometimes don't work properly. I'd email Corsair and ask them for the ideal timing settings for your specific mobo.

The 400Gb hard drive showing up as 372 is perfectly normal. That's overhead for the file system.

Hope this helps...

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:39 pm

DITTO what FP said. I actually had to turn my timings down lower to get my machine to run stable(Corsair xms). And yeah, that is a boatload of mem for what your doing........

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:03 pm

What they said plus DFI mobos need a good power supply. Just because its 600 watts doesnt mean its a good one. Might want to do some reading at the DFI forums Lots of good info there.

ApokStatik · Post by **ApokStatik** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:36 pm

Thx everyone for all the help. I pulled the kingston and the computer ran great, then just for test i put it back in and started a game and it shut down immediatly. So its gotta be some kinda of ram problem. Again thx everyone for your help.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:48 pm

I am willng to bet there's nothing wrong with the Kingston RAM, it just won't co-exist with the Corsair. You can test this by pulling the Corsair and installing just the two Kingston sticks and see if it's stable.

Even if it's not, it doesn't mean the RAM is bad - just that it doesn't like that mobo (it MIGHT be bad, but you'd have to test it on another rig to be sure).

Also, even if the Corsair SEEMS stable, you should run MEMTEST86+ all night (at least 12 hours) to make sure it's truly stable. 1 memory error every day or two can be real annoying. You may still need to adjust the memory timing (as I said, Corsair is notoriously fussy about timing but an email to Corsair tech support with your mobo model will get you the proper memory timings. They're good about that.)