peted347

Hi , I have a long standing problem with a system I built some 3 or so years ago.Upon completion the system suffered from constant reboots and freezes.After going round in circles for a while, I gave up, until a few days ago.After doing a considerable amount of reading in various forums, I have come to the conclusion that the psu supplied with my case is a pos. no name 425w lump of tin. All 3 voltage ratings seem low at idle. 11.7v , 4.9v and 3.1v. I've tried running memtest and with all but the videocard connected the system reboots on almost all tests. My specs are as listed below and was wondering if a: my conclusions are right and B: could someone please point me in the direction of a good solid PSU , one that would allow me to start trying the OC malarky. many thanks in advance.
Asus P4c800ed ,Intel P4 3.2 Northwood
Corsair XMS3200 ddr400 512x2 matched
ATI 9800xt , Audigy 2 zs Platinum
2x seagate 7200.9 160gb
lite on cd drive , Plextor dvd burner. and case has 6 fans.

Tumbleweed36

If you plan on upgrading in the future and doing some overclocking, I would suggest that you go with the Antec Trio 650. Now, do understand, you could get by with this rig with a smaller supply like a 500 watt unit. However, when you want to add something, then you would have to start again and buy a bigger power supply, so might be a good idea with the small price difference to do it now.

peted347

Thanks Tumbleweed thats a psu i have been looking at amongst others on newegg. Do you think that the dodgy psu I have was causing all the problems I have always had?

Tumbleweed36

I don't have knowledge of all the problems you have been having, but a cheap no name power supplly can cause a mirad of problems. You should get a decent supply and then if the problems keep up, come back on and we can try to help yo with them.

Again, you could probably run that rig with a real good 450 or 500 until you start things like overclocking....buy for the future and you won't regret it. My spare rig is very similar to yours and I have run it with an Antec 450 with no problems. For the few bucks more, i would still put an Antec Trio 650 in there. I recently put a Seasonic 600 in my spare rig.

peted347

Thanks again Tumbleweeds , I really appreciate your advice and quick response. I'll post again when I have it installed. Thanks again .

peted347

well I have managed to get hold of a thermaltake tough power 750w psu to continue sorting my system out. Testing with memtest still gives me the same problems .( corsair 2x512 twinx 3200pt) funny enough it does sail through memtest when i change the bios settings. Effectively underclocking the cpu and over clocking the ram, which I can't figure out at all??????. With a setting of 333 on my dram , fsb set at 180. so 2.96ghz. DDR462 according to memtest. But at the settings of 200 fsb and 400mhz memory settings and latency settings of 3-3-3-8-- 2.75v (corsairs settings) Memtest reboots constantly and prime95 finds errors within a few seconds. This whole things has me scratching my already confused head. Any thoughts or directions to turn to would be great. thanks pete.
ps. installed scythe katana cooler and arctic cooling accelero 2 + turbo module for graphics card so temp is not a problem cpu idling at about 31 and card at about 45.

Tumbleweed36

First of all, what a great power supply you picked up. That baby is one of the best and should last you through another two builds or so.

As mentioned, I have that board in my spare computer with a 2.8 Northwood with stock cooling. If it were mine, I would set everything to defaults for now until you get your rig running properly.

You need to know that this board is so, so, so, picky about memory. If your memory is not on the QVL list the manufacturer provides, then you are in for a rough road and may not get all your issues taken care of.

BTW, I just checked my manual and it doesn't list the in my manual as on the QVL list, but you may have a newer manual.

Have you tried just one stick of memory at a time to see if it is stable with that setup?

Do you know what bios revision you have? Some times they change things and it takes an updated bios to keep the thing stable. I don't know without checking what is the newest bios at this time, because I never fix mine if it is not broken and it is not.

peted347

Thanks for the reply Tumbleweeds. I have bios revision 1023. Yeah i have tried one stick and it is better but still won't pass memtest at 200/400mhz. Only seems to pass memtest when i run underclocked at 266 or 333 which throttles my cpu down from 3.2 to 2.4/2.6 and even then i get countless errors on test #7. I think I'll order some more memory ( the correct type) and see how i get along. Funny enough I checked on corsair's website and it is recommended by them but I have to say it is now in their archives as Its 3+ years old . Thanks again for the advice and i'll post when I get new ram, hopefully in a few days. Thanks again

Tumbleweed36

Might be a good idea to run down to Bestbuy or Staples and purchase some and if it doesn't work, then take it back for a small restocking fee. That way, you don't gamble on something that you have to keep. Make sure it is on the motherboard manufacturer's QVL list to be sure.

BTW, you should not have to underclock this board at any time. Mine is running a very old bios revision (I don't fix what is not broken) and I have never had a problem with my computer memory. (can't say that for my head memory). However, after working with this board in my shop for a long time, I know about the precarious memory problems. I am running Infineon memory in mine BTW and no problems from day one.

peted347

Just as an after thought , i am planning a new build and wonder if you might possibly offer your thoughts on my build list.
intel q6660
Asus p5ke with wifi
2x2 ocz pc6400 ram (vista upgrade)
2x HIS 3870 iceq3 crossfired
Thermaltake 750w toughpower
2x seagate barracuda 7200.11 500gb sata
and either arctic cooling or thermaltake cpu cooler
thanks again for the ram advice
btw i currently have the ram running dual channel in memtest at 333mhz fsb at 185 giving me 2.96ghz at ddr462... its run through 3 passes with no errors. lol

1 g0t 0wn3d

I would say drop the dual cards and go for a g92 8800 gts

Tumbleweed36

I agree with what 1 g0t 0wn3d has told you about dropping the dual cards and picking up the 8800gts. Also, I am not too keen on the OCZ ram.

peted347

thanks guys i appreciate your comments

peted347

Hi again I just noticed something that may or may not be causing a problem. Whils running Everest stress test cupid tells me that my cpu voltages is 1.442/1.457 and at idle 1.536. I understand that when loaded the voltage will drop but that seems pretty low. I have also read that the p4c800e deluxe suffers from voltage droop and was wondering if those voltages could cause a problem when trying to run at 200/400 speed??. Any thoughts ....thanks Pete

Tumbleweed36

Those may be the result of a power supply that is not strong enough and not the board. I am not aware of any real reported problem of this board having a droop problem and I own one of them. Mine has never shown that problem If you have a decent power supply and good memory, that should not be an issue.