Hey Dark Mantis
I am still here posting from my trusty AMD 965/ Gigabyte FXTA-UD5 system
it really is a pal
now I didnt assemble the pc, but he tells me the UD7 board doesnt have pins but small mounds of copper,
all the i7's etc that I have assembled have pins on the motherboard so I think he must be mistaken, but you suggest that there might be a bent pin, so thats worth a look
stability has been helped by uninstalling any system monitoring software, including energy saving stuff that comes with the board, in fact the latest thing to crash the machine was an Energy Saving service that was left behind,
also we think his house's power is not very clean because it was immediately more stable at my place, and since he switched off his big laser printer his has been more stable too. the system is drawing up to 985 watts from his domestic supply
the psu is 1100 so has a small bit of headroom
I will be seeing him at a lan party tomorrow so will give him your suggestions
many thanks for the thoughts
and I would come to the dark side (I mean intel side) but my spousal credit controller wont allow