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placeboing wrote on 2011-04-18 04:31
Based on the 1st page posts and your current one, I would take a wild guess that your GPU is dying. Not overheating, but dying. It can lead into other system errors when this happens. Its how my old GPU died. But I haven't read the middle pages and I only skimmed what I did read, so this is just a guess. Personally I would have just gotten a $30 video card (which can be returned when done) way earlier on in the troubleshooting process, and as you said, the troubleshooting itself might have caused other problems by this point (such as many hard shutdowns causing possible HD errors), but who knows. Computers can be annoying sometimes.
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xJac wrote on 2011-04-18 20:13
GL with your computer, can't really help much since I am no expert.
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Yoorah wrote on 2011-04-18 20:30
Wow, I just read this thread and it looks like you went through a lot over a long period of time. D: You should have posted it in the general tech help section. u_u;
My typical analysis would be to first blame the video card, especially if it's a NVIDIA chip, as they commonly die after a few years, even if you do not overclock them. It's the part with probably the highest failure rate in the PC. Like placeboing said, it would be best to buy a cheap one at BestBuy or a similar store, and return it after testing.
My other concern is your RAM, however. You've said that essentially a third of your RAM was never accessible. Since you've replaced both the motherboard and the RAM modules, the only part remaining that has to do with RAM is the memory controller--this is built into your CPU. If you think about the i7-920's memory controller architecture, it's a triple channel RAM interface. It's very likely that the memory controller is broken and is only operating 2 of the 3 channels, hence you can only access 2/3 of the total RAM you install. It's likely that your CPU was defective from the start. :\ The only other factor that could possibly affect RAM is your PSU giving low quality current, but I think that that's an unlikely scenario. I guess you can try resetting the BIOS to defaults and see if that'll help, but I kind of doubt it.
The multiple, unrelated problems made this a nightmare to troubleshoot. u_u
And just for the record, liquid-cooling systems require constant maintenance, unless they are specifically designed and marketed as no-maintenance solutions (I don't think yours is). You're supposed to flush the coolant every once in a while, and whatnot. I don't have any experience with those, you should check the manual.
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TA wrote on 2011-04-20 00:09
Well, when I got my i7 920 the RAM was controlled by the northbridge (motherboard). Only the later models control it within the CPU. At least, that's what I've heard.
I suppose what I'm going to try now is, my HDD replacement comes tomorrow, so I'll go to Best Buy and pick up an eVGA GTX 560 Ti, put that in and try to clone my hdd. If it doesn't artifact/freeze at all during that process and I successfully get my HDD replaced then I can further try some things to see if it's still artifacting and freezing. If so, it won't be quite as pressing as a failing hdd. But, I'll try the PSU next. If that too doesn't fix it then the only real option at that point is to just scrap the build and restart. I mean, I could keep the hdds, GPU & PSU, but the only thing left to replace would be the CPU and it'd be silly paying full price for an old CPU when I could get a new one, and if I did that then I'll have to get a new motherboard as well, and at that point I may as well just change the other stuff as well.
This is an expensive problem which has really grated my nerves and stressed me to the limit.
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Yoorah wrote on 2011-04-20 21:56
A very expensive hassle. :(
But just so you know, all Core i processors always had an integrated memory controller, yours included. The "northbridge" is built into the CPU.
I hope the new graphics card will resolve things as far as stability is concerned.
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TA wrote on 2011-04-26 14:55
lol, well this is just wonderful... I finally got the new video card installed, cloned my C HDD to the replacement WD sent me, but the new one sounds a bit like it's going too. That, and my liquid cooling system doesn't sound like it's doing so hot... at all...
edit: I'm not sure if the new video card fixed the artifacting/freezing problem. So far, it hasn't happened yet though. So, I'm hopeful that maybe it did.
The LCS & new C HDD sounds worry me though. *sigh*... The battle continues.
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TA wrote on 2011-04-27 20:37
Well, I tested on Mass Effect 2 and Vindictus. I don't want to call it too soon, but it looks like replacing the GPU really did fix the artifacting/freezing problem. Gawd, and it was my first suspect, but those damn video card people convinced me it wasn't just to cover their own asses... akdfkjk
My LCS is still making wonky noises, and I guess I should probably RMA this RMA'd HDD too, but I guess after I get everything all reinstalled, I'll be back to normal and able to start Vindictus again.
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xJac wrote on 2011-04-28 19:55
Gratz.
What kind of sound is it making btw? My laptop starts making noise like one year ago (the fan i think), and it still works really great since then, no issues.