Homebuilt system locking up when playing champions online

[flyingpenguin]

Ok, I am not sure what forum this belongs in, but I figured you gurus can help me.

My computer is almost 2 years old. A friend of mine and I built it for me to play games with. It has been a great computer overall...very little problems.

Original config:

Core 2 Duo 3 Ghz
2 GB DDR 2 RAM
2 Raptor 10k drives in Raid 0
Nvidia 8800 GTS 512
750w power supply
Vista Ultimate 32 bit

Fast forward to recently.

I preordered the game Champions Online. In my excitement for the game I purchased an additional 2 GB and installed them. Once the game went open beta I started playing and it froze and locked my system after about 10 minutes of playing...this was a first for me...no other game (including games like Crysis and others) had locked up like this on a regular basis.

During one of my reboots something bad happened to may RAID controller and my computer died...so I wiped my hard drives, and bought a new video card. So my configuration looks like this now.

4 GB DDR2 RAM
2 Raptor 10k drives in Raid 1
Nvidia GTX 260
Windows 7 64 bit

Once I got everything up and running...same exact problem. I freeze about 10 - 30 minutes in.

I have talked to Cryptic (the developer) and they wanted to make sure that I had the right drivers (I do), and the last thing they told me was that I may be having heat issues. I have never had heat issues before when playing much more graphically intensive games (ala Crysis) so I don't think this is the problem.

A friend of mine suggested my onboard sound might be the problem, but that sounds odd. I can play the game on my wimpy laptop (also Windows 7), but it looks like poo in comparison to my gaming rig...

Anyone have any thoughts as to what it could be and how I can get around it?

Thanks so much for your help.

David

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Lets see, the problems started when you added more RAM. This certainly sounds like a RAM problem. Does the new RAM kit have the same speed/timings/voltage specs as the original RAM? Did you manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the recommended specs in the BIOS? If not, you should. You should also run Memtest86+ overnight to test for RAM errors. If it fails, try each stick by itself and run Memtest86+ to find the faulty stick.

 

[flyingpenguin]

Hey shortstuff, thanks for the response.

Here is the info on my RAM...when I bought the new stuff I just made sure it had the same pins and was the same type. Don't know much about voltage and timing.

Old RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220142
New RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134065

David

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The voltage specs on those RAM kits are quite different. The old kit required 2.2v and the new kit requires 1.95v. I'm sorry to say that you're going to have a hard time getting those two kits to play nice together. You'll either have to overvolt the new RAM or loosen the timings and drop the speed down. You could try manually setting the RAM to DDR2 800 with 4-4-4-12 timings at 2.2v, but I don't know how long the Kingston RAM will last with that voltage. You could also try 5-5-5-15 timings at something like 2v and see if it works. It's going to be a game of trial and error.

Running four sticks of RAM is harder on the motherboard and I'm not sure you'll ever get those two kits stable together.

If you really paid $20 per module, you would have been better off going with a 2x2GB kit for a few dollars more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000147%201052315794&Description=4gb%20ddr2%20800&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE

 

[flyingpenguin]

$!@#%!!@

Shows my ignorance...

So...if I just take out the 2 new ones and everything should be fine (albeit a bit slower)?

David

 

[flyingpenguin]

On a related note...if I am buying RAM, should I just go ahead and get 4 2GB sticks and have 8 GB, or should I just go with the 2 sticks?

David

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The latest gaming benchmarks show that there is not really any difference between 4GB and 8GB. The only time when 8GB would be useful is if you're using an application like CS4 that benefits from the extra RAM. 4GB is enough for a gaming system. If you're considering buying a new RAM kit, I would get a kit that has tight timings at a low voltage. DDR2 RAM prices are on the rise. These kits used to be cheap.

This is a very nice RAM kit. It runs at DDR2 800 with 4-4-4-12 timings and only needs 1.9v.

G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBHK - Retail $59.99

 

[flyingpenguin]

Great thanks!

I will remove my 2 sticks and see if I go boom. Will report back tomorrow.

David

 

[flyingpenguin]

Alrighty...took out the RAM and turned the game on...stayed on for over 3 hours without a hiccup.

Thank you so much shortstuff!!

David