(Old) Rig help... replace?

Discussion in 'Tech Talk' started by Eskara, Jan 4, 2013.

  1. Eskara
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    Basically my old rig is now used by my sister to play WoW and LoL.

    Running:
    Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E
    Q6600
    4gb RAM
    8800GT
    580W Hiper PSU

    The graphics started flickering yesterday and going random colours and slowing to basically 1FPS which leads me to think that it is dying off. (It even did this when left on desktop for 5-10mins)

    Now I ordered a replacement Sapphire 7750 for it with help/advice from a couple of guys. But heres the catch, the card does not work in the above rig but does in mine which is 12 months old. I'm guessing that the motherboard is just too old for the card? Or is there another explaination for it? (My 6950 does work in that rig so I'm not sure :S )

    Either way, I reckon it might be a case of getting some new components and upgrading it since it is 5+ years old now. If anyone is able to help put something half decent together using the 7750 that we have it would be much appreciated. (Can send that card back and get something else if neccessary but would rather not...) Budget is not set in stone but at the end of the day the only games really played are WoW and LoL.

    www.ebuyer.com
    www.overclockers.co.uk
    These are the 2 main sites to use over here in the UK.

    Thanks in advance guys :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2013
  2. Sogetsu
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    Should be no reason why the mobo wouldn't run that card. It's still pci-e.

    Need to just do a full upgrade, bud.
     
  3. EniGmA1987
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    Its a PCI-E 3.0 card, but it is still backwards compatible with your old PCI-E 1.0 slots. The only thing that would make it not work is if your MB is so bad (which wouldnt surprise me being that low end nvidia chipset) that it doesnt actually even have 16 pci-e lanes in the slot for the GPU. The card should work even if it only got the 8 lanes minimum, but it might have a problem if that is the case simply because it is such old tech and not providing enough lanes. Either way you have a big bottleneck problem with the old MB because PCI-E 1.0 wont have enough bandwidth for a latest gen card, even a midrange one like that.
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2013
  4. Eskara
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    I figured that might be the case. It is PCIe 16x and works with my 6950 which is what i thought was a superior card. Anyway, guess its time for a upgrade then :) Any suggestions?
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2013
  5. EniGmA1987
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    The 6950 is a far superior card. It is at a minimum twice as powerful in every category. But the card is also PCI-E 2.0 and the 7xxx is a PCI-E 3.0 card. It still *shouldnt* be a problem according to specifications.

    But seeing as your chipset architecture was designed in 2004 when PCI-E was barely even invented, and PCI-E 3.0 uses slightly different and more efficient data transport algorithms it is understandable that there may be a problem communicating. Old PCI-E uses 8b/10b encoding, the newer PCI-E 3.0 uses 128b/130b encoding. It has much less overhead.
     
  6. Sogetsu
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    Get us an estimate budget and we can set you up well. :3
     
  7. EniGmA1987
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    If you are looking cheap(ish) and just want the rest of the basic parts to get a new one up and running then here are some suggestions:

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383
    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-069-AK&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046
    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-338-AM&groupid=701&catid=1967&subcat=1825
    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA

    Those arent top of the line by any stretch, but would be considered upper midrange and definitely faster than the specs listed in your first post.
     
  8. Eskara
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    Thanks Enigma :) going to go with the links above but not getting a new PSU just yet. Going to see if the current one is fine since its a 580W.
     
  9. Doxy
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  10. EniGmA1987
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    I didnt look very hard for the ram. I just was trying to find something under $50 and the Samsung was the first thing that popped up. Besides, it is the best overclocking RAM I have seen in the past year. It will hit 2133MHz guaranteed and most people top out around 2400-2600MHz. You should read the reviews on them :)

    Oh and I have two kits of that memory sitting here by my desk, it it fun to play around with. I was able to hit 2550MHz stable and was able to post at closer to 2700MHz
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2013
  11. chrisbeebops
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    Get the Samsung ram, you can set it 2000MHz CL9 1.5V and be done. It's not always stable faster than that, just depends on if the CPU's memory controller can handle it too.

    EDIT: Was going to suggest an i5 build but the Intel cpu's are really expensive from those websites. An i5-3570K is almost 2x as expensive as what I can get it for in USA.
     
  12. Eskara
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    Yup, Stuff over here is expensive all round and those 2 websites are generally the cheapest!

    Anyway, 1 issue to sort... PC was working fine yesterday evening, built it up and it sorted all the drivers etc, was used for around 4-5 hours of gaming after that without a hitch. However today it just hasn't been running right with random restarts at any point...

    EG:
    When clicking the start menu on desktop just after loading up or after a 20-30 game of LoL.

    Its completely random. Tower stays switched on but just restarts before bringing up the options to 'start windows normally' etc

    Since we haven't replaced the PSU yet I'm kind of leaning towards that being the issue, but its so intermittent I'm not sure since I wouldn't expect it to run a game for 30 mins and cut out when it cuts out just as easily on the desktop.

    Any ideas? :S Thanks in advance guys :)
     
  13. EniGmA1987
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    So you got all the new hardware I linked to already then and that is now what you have running?

    It could very well be power stability. Hiper is not know for great power supplies. It is possible that your memory is not configured right. If you have your timings on auto then maybe from one bootup to the next the values changed a bit and the new ones are unstable. Not likely, but a possibility. I always set my timings manually. Did you overclock the RAM or CPU at all yet? and if so, what are your settings?
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2013
  14. Eskara
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    Yup, Got the stuff you linked - except for the PSU - and got it running yesterday. All was fine for 4-5 hours yesterday but today its been playing up :/

    Not changed anything at all. I dont do overclocking as I dont know where to start lol. Didnt change anything in the BIOS. All I have done is use the disc supplied with the motherboard and downloaded the latest ATI drivers for the 7750.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2013
  15. Doxy
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    try updating your bioses/drivers from the site instead of a cd - site usually has newer n more stable drivers.
     
  16. EniGmA1987
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    Go into the bios and look for a voltage area. Set the DRAM voltage to 1.35v
    Look for a DRAM frequency setting area and verify it is set to DDR-1600 as well (or maybe called 800MHz)
    The look for a timing sub menu, probably in the same area as the voltages. Set the CAS Latency to 11, RAS to CAS to 11, RAS Precharge to 11, and tRAS to 28. tRC could probably be set to around 40 to start as well. Set the command rate to 2t to start with, although on that processor I can almost guarantee it will work in 1t mode perfectly fine as well.

    These could also be called: CAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, and CMD



    Run like that for a while and then report back if there are problems or not.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2013
  17. Eskara
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    Okay, cant see a area where i can change the Voltage but its running at 1.35v anyway.

    All the other settings were on auto, Changed them to Manual and they were as you stated above. I also changed the frequency setting from auto to manual 1600 so will see if that changes anything. Will see how it goes. :)
     
  18. EniGmA1987
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    k. You should also download this ISO image and burn it to a disk. Boot it and let the test run till it gets to 2 or 3 complete passes. Usually best if left overnight. That will check RAM stability and help you narrow down if the problem is memory related or not.
    http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
     
  19. Eskara
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    Not sure the PC would even stay on long enough sometimes lol

    Anyway, i think I've figured it out. Took my 900W Antec out of my desktop and put that in. Ran for 1-2 hours without a hitch so ordering a new PSU 650w Antec to replace the 5 year old Hiper. Its done well xD lol

    Thanks for all the help guys, Appreciated. Hopefully this is the last post I need to make here ;)
     
  20. EniGmA1987
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    Fine then, dont talk to us anymore :(




    :p