xfx 680i memory problem

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

Okay...so lets all RMA our boards at the same time....LOL
Should we buy something else in the meantime? Enaberif and I have a three year warranty, what about you t0m? I couldn't find your board on NICX or DC. Oh wait...a limited lifetime warranty...GOOD!

But what are we going to do? What do we tell ASUS and XFX??? And do we want our boards back or maybe a better version...like the 780i??? LOL

[t0m]

well after a bit of testing on my machine i got both sticks of ram working again. they are only stable when i use the black slots, but i have been using the pc for a few hours now. i havnt tried anything too intensive yet, but at least its working. i thought this ram was fried :)

Dr. Silver - not sure what im going to do. the board was just purchased in october i believe, so i should still be covered by someone (retailer or manufacturer)...i would like to hear more about the 780i boards before i jump in on them, but right now they look like a good choice. have any hit retail yet? i see a few sites listing them but none have any in stock.

my biggest concern is getting back up with a stable machine for work. ill likely go get one locally tomorrow if i can find something decent, then try to rma this board and either sell it when i get it back, or the replacement, if the returned 680i is stable for a few months...its a tough call though, i would like to check out a 780i too

[3.0charlie]

I'm staying far from the nVidia chipsets for a long time. I'm happy with my P965 and P35 boards, for the time being. X38? No, not for me. X48? Hmmm, maybe...

[t0m]

what dont you like about the x38? i was under the impression it was just a p35 with more 'features' (extra sata ports, dual lan etc)?

as an update to my pcs condition, it survived the night being left on...so it hasnt crashed since i put the (formerly thought to be fried) ram in the black slots. still a bit confused as to why it wouldnt post, and now its 'fine' to boot...oh well im still glad my rams not fried.

what are the chances my mobo and/or ram was permanently damaged during this process? is there a way to easily find out if my ram is borked or if i can safely stick it in a new system? at the ocz forums i read a recommendation to force 2.1v in the 680i bios because it was overvolting ram, but i thought that was cleared up in a bios update a long time ago? either way thats what im running it at right now and its not crashing or failing to post.

[3.0charlie]

Originally Posted by t0m

what dont you like about the x38? i was under the impression it was just a p35 with more 'features' (extra sata ports, dual lan etc)?

You wrote it yourself: it's "just a P35". I'm very happy with my P35s, and don't see what the X38 has to offer.

as an update to my pcs condition, it survived the night being left on...so it hasnt crashed since i put the (formerly thought to be fried) ram in the black slots. still a bit confused as to why it wouldnt post, and now its 'fine' to boot...oh well im still glad my rams not fried.

Black slots, heh? That's interesting. Have you tried putting the ram back on the blue slots?

what are the chances my mobo and/or ram was permanently damaged during this process? is there a way to easily find out if my ram is borked or if i can safely stick it in a new system? at the ocz forums i read a recommendation to force 2.1v in the 680i bios because it was overvolting ram, but i thought that was cleared up in a bios update a long time ago? either way thats what im running it at right now and its not crashing or failing to post.

You can easily test your ram with Memtest86+, SuperPi 1M and dual instances of SuperPi 32M. If all 3 tests come out without errors, you're good to go.

[t0m]

when i built the system i used the blue slots and everything was fine until the first crash (3-4 weeks went by flawlessly). at that point i tried switching slots and sticks around, and the situation kept getting worse until i couldnt even post with one stick, and the other would boot to windows and bluescreen, in any slot. i tried the ram in another box and it was fine (single or in a pair), then tried it in mine again. back in my system, both sticks would get to windows and crash in the blue slot, not even boot with the pair in the blue slots, and both work fine (single or pair) in the black slots now. i havnt done any stress testing or changing my timings/settings yet, but it hasnt given me a problem now for almost 24 hours...

as for testing i survived two passes of memtest and dual instances of superpi with no errors

so now that i know my mem is ok, i can concentrate on what to do with my mobo. is it safe to assume that there is something wrong with it, or are these things just really touchy? anyone else with a 680i ever see anything like this?

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

Yeah...I guess now for me this is the same story! I NEVER had any issues with my board whatsoever....Hell, this baby brought my Pentium D 930 up to 4.5GHz!!!! Without any issues....not even overheating....

So here's what I wrote to ASUS Tech Service:

"After enjoying this board without issues for little over a year, it started to give me troubles.....I run this computer 24/7 and I do a lot of hardware testing(CPU/GPU/RAM testing) since I am a reviewer for several hardware sites on the internet. I always make sure I have the latest BIOS versions, however the new 1302 BIOS(beta) seemed very unstable to me.
Now I realize that the issue is not the BIOS, because I flashed it back to 1205 and the system is still unstable. I switch bteween Vista and XP(32-bit, not DUAL booting) versions and all hardware drivers are always up to date. Approximately once a month I do a fresh install of Vista or XP. Here is the problem: When testing different memory modules, from 512Mb, 1Gb or 2Gb in DUAL or single channel....the system becomes unstable....especially when trying to overclock the memory modules or the even the CPU, resulting in a lot of BSOD!
I have tested 4 different sets of RAM(all 800MHz) and one set of RAM died while in this motherboard and it wasn't even overclocked. All the memory was tested in another computer to make sure the RAM was good and to see what the sets are capable of.... Most of the RAM could do 900MHz and this CPU has reached speeds of 3.6GHz on stock voltages in this motherboard, but now overclocking, let alone running at stock is simply not possible due to all the BSOD and system shutdowns.
The previous CPU was an E6600 that I also never had issues with. My poor board always ran stable...even at high speeds. I have replaced the PSU already thinking it was that, but the new PSU was tested also and is fine. I do not want to be switching from ASUS because you make a good product. Please help me out."

Lets hope they come back with good news....

[t0m]

ill cross my fingers for you dr silver

[dukelod]

tOm I have almost the same system as you & after the first month it started to crash as well. It turned out 1 of my 2 sticks of ram went bad, the tech at ocz said to keep the ram voltage at 2.1 on the 680i mobo. Now with the new ram in it it's been a work horse, cpu and gpu oc'ed.

[t0m]

dukelod - cool. my ram is apperently still ok according to a few passes of memtest. i left the ram voltage on auto at first since it was to spec, but since switching it to 2.1 things have been stable. im still running the ram at really low settings though, while i wait for some arctic silver ceramique for the mosfets. maybe tonight ill see if i can turn some settings up a bit and push my luck...

thanks for the info, its good to know your mobo didnt need replacing.

dr silver - what was the ram voltage on your system when the trouble started?