Hardware issue? Maybe? Win7

I have a hard time finding blame in windows for this one, even though I want to.

My PC randomly locks up. Yet after a few (20-30) seconds? All seems fine until the next time. There is no reason for it, meaning I could be browsing simply or on youtube or just in a simple text file.

Here are the hardware specs (no snickers, it is a backup machine. Plus remember when it was a killer one?)

MOBO ep-8rda3i (think epox went out in the mid 2000's)
2 GB (2x1) corsair cmc2 400 ram in single channel mode (matched set)
MX440 8x agp
athlon +xp3200 OC'd to 3 Ghz (very well cooled)



I thought at first maybe heat but I think 38c is plenty low for the cpu. So I went to stock speeds and still had the same issue.

Any input would be helpful.

Sounds like the video card is overheating and that will flat lock a computer up.

Pull the card and make sure the air passages are clear and I use 90+% alcohol and something like Q-tips to clean the fan blades. It does not take much on the blades to really kill the fans CFM.

That temp is fine if at idle, but you might want to really check the temps with OCCT while under load. My favorite.
http://www.ocbase.com/

No heat sensor on the vid card and no onboard to check. Maybe pull the HS and reseat it? It's not a glued on one. Gonna try and see if maybe that's overheating. Post back with results shortly (for once I wish I had onboard)

ok, cleaned the HS and GPU. Resat it (almost forgot thermal paste, heh heh) Runs better. Yes still the same issue though. Felt like it was glued on.

a couple months back I had an issue with it not running in dual channel. Ram tested fine, it was just the 3rd channel so it's stuck running in 64. I feel I'm safe to say that is a hardware issue and the board soon enough is going south. But could this affect the bus on the vid card? Card runs absolutely (for its age) wonderful in another machine.

You could well be right about the motherboard fixing to go belly up. It is a old Socket A motherboard after all.

By the way, I am in the process of upgrading from Socket A and believe me, the newer computers we can make or get are bunches better!

yeah I know, it just runs as a media server, so it's just storage. Send me your board? heh heh.

Good luck with that upgrade!

Thinking on the lines of a AMD FX 8-Core Processor .

http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...omparison.aspx

the 8100 looks nice, plus low wattage or step to some power with the FX 8120 and OC it?

FX 8150

Not a bad price either,
.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103960
only $30 more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ame=Eight-Core
Anyway the two I am looking at.

oooh not at all. now ya just made me order one, and get yelled at by the other half. Impulse buy, got the asus crosshair too. Hope they're putting their boards together better. Got the 3.1 but that will do 3.6 easy I'm sure. Now I'm gonna be like a kid on christmas. I blamed you anyhow.


Come on newegg!

I'm running the second one Train posted a link of, check my sig. I wanted the 8150 but didn't have enough funds at the time I bought the whole shebang.

Btw, I won't buy another Asus board. My last was a Dual Core, lasted just over three years old, and bam, it's dead. Six months out of warranty......not going there again. I went for my usual board this time around..Gigabyte.

MSI 970/990 series mobo most likely, or possibly a Gigabyte 970/990.

ASUS mobos have treated me bad in my book.

my 8NV8X-E is still alive and kicking but I have had a few problems with them over the last 5 years as well. I ordered 3 dead boards, and 1 with onboard video that didn't work. I was quite upset with them.