F2-8800cl5q-8gbpi

[dell720h2c]

Dell 720H2C, Dell MoBo (680i chipset)
Intel Core 2 Extreme 6850 OC'd at 3.667MHz
8G GSkill RAM @ 800 MHz
Dual NVidia 8800 GT's w/512MB DDR3 per card
windows 7 64bit
5-5-5-15 @1.9v

am well aware of the touchy memory controllers on this mobo, which is why i bought the g.skill to run at 1.9v. Installed the new 64bit os, then the memory, set it in epp to run at 1066 and played intense games without incident for a few hours. Then bsod would kick in while the pc was idling at the desktop. It blue screens consistently when i am web browsing, but has never frozen or died while gaming. odd. I set it back to standard 800mz, and it is still blue screening at the same rate. Is my hd corrupted? Hopefully the settings can be tweaked because when it works, the performance is outstanding.

[wevsspot]

dell,

have you ran memtest 86+ version 4.10 to confirm that your memory passes ok?

have you tried running a smaller amount of memory (i.e. 4Gb) and see if the problem persists?

it may be an issue with chipset voltage - but i don't even know if you can adjust the chipset voltages in the dell bios?

[dell720h2c]

can't adjust voltage as far as i know on this mobo, but 1.9v should do the job... I haven't checked each individual stick in each slot so I will test them all out this evening to try to isolate/rule out potential causes. Will update asap.

[wevsspot]

ok, that's a good starting point

[dell720h2c]

memory tested out fine

tested all 8gb with win7 mem diag and latest version of memtest 86. 0 errors after 8 hours of testing. The blue screens seen random and have different explanations each time. Should i reinstall my os? Also, is there a protocol to installing memory sticks, i.e. should i install two first and boot up at 800, then shut down and oc, then install the other two; or all at the same time, and if so, then at what speed (standard or epp) and at what point (during initial bootup or after?)

also, tried two sticks at both speeds and got blue screens in different slot configurations. It also surprises me that i get blue screens when running two or four sticks at 800mh. that's what makes me think there corruption somewhere...

does it matter which dimm slots i use when plugging in only two sticks?

[wevsspot]

There is almost always a preferred set of slots for installing 2 modules, 4 modules etc. and those are specified by the motherboard manufacturer dependent on design. I know that you have a Dell computer, but Dell didn't make the motherboard. Any information you can give us on the motherboard would be helpful. Manufacturer, model number and revision level would be grand. But if you can't get anything else at least get the model number and we can cross-reference that to the manufacturer.

[GSKILL TECH]

What are the blue screen errors?

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[dell720h2c]

the system is an xps720h2c, intel core2 QX6850 3.0 factory oc'd to 3.7, quad core. 680i nvidia sli chipset. bios allows only standard and epp memory positions. when switched to epp, the 8g of memory runs at 1066 at 1.9v. without having to manually change anything other than the epp setting

The blue screen errors are different every time but i will start to write down each one. There has been every error i associate with bsod (page fault, irq not equal, etc.) They seem random and haven't happened once during intense gaming. only when the pc is chilling at the desktop with an internet window open.

[wevsspot]

And the BSODs ONLY occur when your using your web browser?

What browser are you running?

[dell720h2c]

not completely sure my web browswer is alwys open when bsod occurs, going to test it out 2night to confirm...its IE8 by the way

[davemc]

7 huh

I run the same RAM under XP and Win 7 x64 on a 780i platform using the 8Gig of the 8800 memory.

XP runs fine on all parameters (but can't see all the ram of course) but I get the same random blue screens with 7 x64 as well. Same BIOS settings too btween XP and 7.

It's so irritating that I have almost completely gone back to XP.

Not all is lost however. I use a RAMdisk package that lets me use all the RAM above the 3Gig mark on XP x86 and I use it for the virtual memory. A significant boost to XP performance.

Between random bluescreens and 7 not updating so I cant toss a file I just opened (i.e. movie) until I launch another movie so it will release the previous one, I have decided 7 is just too raw to be pleasantly useable.

[dell720h2c]

spent the weekend running mem tests on the individual sticks and in different configurations after reinstalling win7 64bit, but still had this scenario: os runs fine for first twelve or so hours without a hitch, then the next day, while browsing or playing poker online(i.e. nothing intensive), the bsod appears with one of these errors ( irq not equal; modification of system code; page fault; system service exception). The appearance of the blue screens seems to accelerate or worsen over time to where it happens multiple times per day at random intervals.

whats especially strange is that even with no mem errors, i get the blue screen when i drop down to two sticks running at 800. four sticks at 800 should be stable but are not. Two sticks should run easily at 1066 with stability and do not.

Dell replaced this motherboard with one that the service tech thought was 'new', because he had to format it after popping it in, which surprised him.

Does the two stick instability point to the board as the culprit?

[wevsspot]

If you're familiar with the Win 7 error log you could browse it and see what type of error reports are being generated in either the Application or Systems logs.

Does Dell have a newer BIOS revision available than the one you have right now? If you're not using the latest BIOS I'd try updating it as a first step.

[dell720h2c]

update: spent a week running the pc at 800mh, taking care to put in into sleep and/or hibernate immediately upon finishing use. Did not have a single blue screen. Switched on EPP to run at 1066, and have gone almost another week without any errors. It's weird, I've been using the pc two or more hours a day and at a time, and the only difference is that i haven't been installing and playing all the older games i own that i initially booted up to test the memory upgrades.

I'm not sure what to make of it, except that at the moment I'm very happy with the performance. I will test it with one game at a time ( i was playing three or four concurrently initially) to see if one in particular freaks the board or memory out. I'm not sure this is the case though, because i got the majority of blue screens while web surfing(which i'm doing now without incident) or when the pc was idling at desktop.

anyhoo, thanks for the replies. Is there any chance ms slipped in a hotfix or autoupdate that might have made the system more stable?

[wevsspot]

You just never know with Microsoft. Hard to tell.

But I'm happy that your issue seems sorted. Congrats!