Win7 and vid card issues, want to rule out system ram....

[rbarr110]

I am having some issues with a new PC build and I am trying to rule out the system ram. I have run MEMTEST and did not get any errors there.

System Specs:
Processor: AMD Phenom x4 955BE
Motherboard: MSI 890GXM-G65
Video Card: Gigabyte GV-R585OC-1GD
PSU: Corsair 650W Power Supply
RAM: 4 GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ

Problems:
New system build and I only play 2 games right now, Warcraft and BFBC2. I am constantly getting the Win7 TDM errors "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered" when playing warcraft. When I play BFBC2 I get a gray screen crash where game sound is active and I can exit the game via taskmanager.

I had set up the ram with the 4:1 multiplier to get to the rated 1600 speeds. The motherboard defaults the voltage on the ram to 1.6V. According to CPUZ the ram is running 9-9-9-24, I hav not set timing manually, only the 4:1 multiplier. Whe I change the multiplier to 3.33:1, down to 1200, the display driver error only happened 2 times in 3 hours, where it was previously every few minutes, which makes me think maybe ram is potentially an issue. The lower ram settings did not change the BFBC2 issue.

I'll post some BIOS screens on what I am planning on changing, and am asking for recomendations on what other changes I should try to rule out the ram.

[rbarr110]

EXPAND RAM OPTIONS



Any other settings to try?

[rbarr110]

More settings, change anything here?



And voltages, defaults to 1.6, should I increase it?

[GSKILL TECH]

Your changes so far are fine. In addition, set NB Frequency x11 2200MHz, CPU-NB Voltage +0.1V, then let me know how that goes.

You can also test them one at a time to see if one will cause that problem while the other one does not.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[rbarr110]

Well I made all the changes, inlcuding the NB recomendation.

The result: I was finally able to launch BFBC2, select a server to join, play about 3 rounds before the same gray screen crash. Also, the "display driver stopped responding" error only happened 2 times in about 3 hours, instead of once every few minutes.

So adjusting the memory settings made a substantial difference, however the issues still remain. Now I have no idea how much of the problem is the video card, video card drivers, and/or system memory.

[GSKILL TECH]

Definitely want to check out video card drivers.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Joebakb]

I am having the same issues with the F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ and am trying to narrow it down, myself. I've been talking with XFX, ASUS and some with ATI. At this point I'm pretty convinced that the motherboard has a problem.

I've been trying to work this out for almost a month now with the following specs:

Motherboard: ASUS m4a79xtd evo with latest bios (2003)
CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 1055t
Video Card: XFX HD-577X-ZNFC 1G
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W
OS: Windows 7 64-bit

I've tried every video driver back to 10.1 plus the new 10.5 using driversweeper between each install.
I've tried the clock settings that you have listed here, as well as the 1333 settings as well as the auto settings.
I tried switching ram slots on the board with no results.
I've RMA'd the video card for a new one with no results.
I had a Phenom II x2 555 installed at first with the same problem.
I had a different PSU installed with no results.

I installed my old Geforce 8600 GTS 512MB and it works just fine.

I've run Cinebench, Passmark, prime95, 3dMark06 and Vantage. They all run perfectly fine.

I've run a memtest for 7.5 hours on 1600 MHz settings with no errors and 2.5 hours on 1300MHz settings with no errors.


Problem(s):
WoW crashes within the first few minutes (mostly within the first 30 seconds) and the computer restarts. There used to be multiple driver crashes, but now the whole system goes down.

Dawn of Discovery video driver crash/resets over and over.

These are the only two games that i've tried to play recently and I'm 0 for 2.

[rbarr110]

UPDATES:

I have RMA'd the video card, based upon the gray screen crash in BFBC2, from what I have researced it is believed to be a bad video card.

I have continued my testing with the onboard ATI 4290, and get the same errors when trying world of warcraft. When running the system memory at 9-9-9-24 1600, display driver error happens every 2-3 minutes. Change the setting in the system ram to 9-9-9-24 1333, the driver error happens every 10 minutes or so.

So the memory setting does affect the problem. I have a few mor BIOS setting to try regarding the onboard video and the system memory sharing. As well as letting the motherboard run all the settings as "AUTO".

If there is no fix after these attempts, does G.Skill offer in kind of trade in and swap program? I think I would like to find the memory that has for sure been tested with the motherboard rather than try the particular model number that I have again.

[GSKILL TECH]

NB Frequency x11 2200MHz
CPU-NB Voltage +0.1V
NB Voltage +0.1V

See if that helps.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[rbarr110]

NB Frequency x11 2200MHz
CPU-NB Voltage +0.1V
NB Voltage +0.1V

See if that helps.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

Thanks, tried the settings but it did not help. I did get the issue resolved, here is what I did...

For whatever reason the memry I purchased G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1600-PC3 12800 9-9-9-24, even though set to those specs, would cause the error every couple of minutes. I dropped the memory down to 9-9-9-24 1333 and the error still happened but rather than every couple minutes, it was once every 10 minutes or so. I dropped it again to 9-9-9-24 1200, and the system now runs stable.

I should have bought slower ram, based on the motherboards tested lists, few modules were approved at 1333 and 1600. They also had a disclaimer and said others may work but since there are so many makes/models of ram out there they all cant be tested, apparently what I got (if it had been tested) would be on the fail side at 1333 and 1600.

[GSKILL TECH]

Should not have to set these at DDR3-1200. There must be something holding you back. If you can post up BIOS pictures we can see if anything is set incorrectly.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[rbarr110]

Should not have to set these at DDR3-1200. There must be something holding you back. If you can post up BIOS pictures we can see if anything is set incorrectly.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

Basically everything in my first couple posts show what I had changed. I did make the frequency adjsutment and voltage adjustments you recomended as well. However, after I updated the motherboard to the latest BIOS, I could not set the tRAS to 24 manually anymore, the only thing it would let me choose for that is AUTO, but CPU-Z shows it running at 24.

I have also tried running in AUTO for all the setings, when I do that, in CPU-Z it is seen as running 9-9-9-24, 40, 1333. But I still got the display driver errors, not as often but still get them.

Also at the current 1200 speed, I did get the error two or three times in about 1 hr 20 minutes of playing. I am at a loss as why slowing the ram down makes a big difference on how often the errors happen. I have some older spare memory, but all 1 GB sticks I am going to try out and see if that makes a difference or not as well.

If you still want pics of the actual manual BIOS settings still, I will do that this evening. Its been very frustrating having a new system that on paper so much better than my old one, but in the end, the old system runs so much better at the moment.

[rbarr110]

Well I am slightly more depressed about the whole problem, I have been going over the newegg reviews and found a person (Cepak 5-24-2010) who is using the same motherboard and zero problems. He has a a phenomX6 where I have an 955BE x4. Not sure what videocard he is using, but with the issues I am having and the less frequent errors at the slower settings, makes me think maybe something is wrong with the memory.

[GSKILL TECH]

Send it in for new replacements and see how the new set works.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH