A strange tale....?

[ghost_of_war]

OK, new system build. The problem I am having is when I play games like COD4 or UT3, the game either locks up or crashes to desktop after a little while. COD4 mainly locks up and I have to reset the PC with the switch. All latest patches/drivers installed. Below are my specs:

1)ABIT IN9 32X-MAX LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
2)Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6850
3)mushkin Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) with EPP Profile Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996535
4)XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P4 750W ATX12V 750W Power Supply
5) (TWO) EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Now, the memory range on the BIOS was set at 1.85 - on the sticks (and from their site), it says to use 2.2 to 2.85 I believe. I adjusted that and I have the same problem.

I also tried SLI enabled and disabled. Now games like Company Of Heroes and Crysis play fine - and all other functions of the PC are working fine as well.

Do I have a heat issue? Help... appreciated!

[doubledragon5]

down load memtest 86 and test the ram.. Also reset everything to default in the bios..

[ghost_of_war]

Memory good and reset BIOS to default - same issue... ???

I looked at the system temps and everything is in range but I did notice the CPU temp was 195F - seems a little high, no?

[Alaron]

That is 90C, right at the threshold for Intel chips. Are you sure the heatsink is clamped down properly?

[ghost_of_war]

I assume they are. It's hard to tell with those stock 775 socket fans. All four corners seemed to be locked into place. I'll take another look at it.

[ghost_of_war]

OK, I corrected the fan and now I am stable at 127F + or - a few degrees, but nowhere near 197 like before. However, I am still experiencing game lockups....

[Alaron]

Is your RAM running at the correct speed? To be 1:1 sync'ed with your CPU, you only need it at DDR2-667Mhz. You can run it at 800Mhz as well. Try both.

Also, you said the RAM was good. Did you test each stick individually with Memtest?

[ghost_of_war]

Found the problem - quite silly actually. I set the graphics settings back to default in the game and it worked fine. For some reason on COD4 and UT3, I cannot have my resolution maxed out or it will crash... I don't understand that being a new build.