X58A-UD3R V 2 Random crashes

[nlrd]

X58A-UD3R V 2 Bios FE
Win 7 64  Home Pemium
 i7 930 o'c 3.885,  watercooled EK HF 1.344V,  Bus speed 185,  Multiplier X21,  QPI 3330.0
GEIL 6 X 2Gb 2200 @ 1480 MHz 9-10-9-28  1.66V
2 X XFX HD6870 in Crossfire GPU 935, memory 1100,  Catalyst 10.12
Rocketfish 900W modular
2 X 640 Caviar Blacks in Raid 0

I've had this setup running at 4.2 MHz but it over heated when running Prime 95 or Intel Burn Test until I added the EK watercooling .  The EK solved the over heats but it still remained unstable.  So I kept lowering the bus speed.  Now I'm getting BSODs, random lockups, and failures to boot.
MemTest has been run with no failures on each individual Ram stick.
Catalyst drivers wouldn't cause the boot failure.  They have  caused lockups but not usually BSODs
One reboot failed to find the drives.  Yes the raid was in force in the bios.
Another boot stopped after the Ram test.

Any suggestions? 
Regards  Nigel

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

What ports are the RAID drives on ?

What stop codes are you getting on the BSODs, 124 ?

[nlrd]

Raid ports 03, 05  The DVD ( optical drive) is on the raid array but running in IDE I think.  It is a SATA only drive
I haven't been recording the error codes.  I remember them as being different ever time

[Dark Mantis]

Well just for good measure I would recommend moving the optical drive onto a controller of it's own.

Try and make a note of what stop codes you get in future.

When you say it overheated, exactly how much did it overheat ?

[nlrd]

100C

[nlrd]

the latest BSOD read  0X0000001A (OX0000000000000031, 0XFFFFFA800D80B800, 0XFFFFF8800905E000, 0XFFFFF8A008D74D6D
I think I got it all correct

[F5BJR]

*
found google for yor eror 0x0000001A ... :

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7repair/thread/b6a6b71c-1e96-45b1-9c6b-641c05e1c78a

Problem is with Memory Management

test your computer with another memory or look for modify memory parameters also reinstall default BIOS parameters  with no overclocking

CPU temperature : 100C ... very bad !!

Pierre

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I am inclined to agree with Pierre there especially about the 100C tempertures not being healthy. It is possible that either the CPU or the motherboard has been damaged.

From what you have described so far it does seem to point to a memory problem, but as I just said it could just be that the damaged component could be mishandling it.

[nlrd]

Pierre, you mean push the bios reset button and run it like that.  Geil says to run the memory at 9-10-9-28 and 1.65V.  The bios reset resets the raid as well.  What else should I either ignore or reset in the bios?
Apparently i7 chips don't suffer until 115 C and it never ran very long at 100 C anyway.
I suspect you're right about the memory.  Who makes FAST memory that's compatible with this chip/motherboard combination?

[Dark Mantis]

If you want top of the range probably Mushkin is best, but Corsair and Crucial both do top quality memory too.

[nlrd]

I just got the 124 you mentioned earlier.  Mobo toast or processor?
Yes I reset the bios to default.  Intel burn test ran maximum with no probs.  Then tried Ram at x6 instaed of x8 and multiplier at x185.  Next at x200 which is when windows wouldn't boot and I got the BSOD --124.  I'm writing this at x195 and x6 for the ram.  So what's next?
Thanks

[Dark Mantis]

BSOD stop code 0x00000124 = incorrect QPI/Vtt voltage ( to much/not enough)

The Uncore should be set at 2 times the memory multiplier or maybe 2 times +1 or 2. So if the multiplier is 10 the Uncore would be 20 to 22.

Uncore voltage should be no more than 0.5v lower than the memory voltage although it can be closer.

You could try slackening off the memory timing to10-10-10-30 but whether it will run happily at 1.66v I don't know. If not you will have to increase the voltage to 1.68v.

[nlrd]

So the Geil ram is the limiting factor.  It won't support the chip running at x185 and 3885 MHz.  Geil's documentation says 2200 for this ram which is one reason I bought it.  Mind you their one return e-mail said they could get it to run around 2000 and that I should turn down my processor speed.
Mushkin makes a PC 16000 3X4 GB.  Will this support my desire to OC my chip above 4GHz or am I just wasting my money trying to get some real speed out of this processor?  Watercooling the ram a waste of time?
Thanks for all your responses o retired one.  Nigel

[Dark Mantis]

It is normally the memory that is the limiting factor when overclocking and although I expect Geil were being truthfull when they said they could run it at 2000 that was probably all they were concerned with and weren't worried about what the rest of the system would perform like.

The thing is when doing any overclock, anything you get must be treated as a bonus. Unless you are prepared to chuck stupid amounts of money at it you just have to settle for what your system will happilly work at. The thing is apart from bragging rights (which are all very nice ) there is hardly an application that needs more power than the standard CPUs can provide at the moment. Right now we are in a situation where the hardware is leading the software and by quite a bit.

My advice would be to get what you can out of your present setup and then enjoy it!! Stability is more important than speed.