Vista - Help - At my wits end!

I recently got a new pc and installed vista ultimate 64 bit. It was going
fine until I started playing games (this has happened on every game I tested
so far). I'd be able to play for about 10 minutes to half an hour and then
the entire computer freezes. It also happened once while i was compressing
files to a .rar archive. I re-installed the drivers multiple times, installed
the service pack and all updates, nothing I tried would work.

I then in my frustration reformatted the entire computer and only installed
nvidias drivers without updating anything (or service pack) and I still had
the problem. It's really frustrating me and it makes my computer unusable as
I'm primarily a gamer. If somebody could help I would really appreciate it.
Here's the system specs just in case

Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Intel Quad 2 Q6600
8gb ram
(2) 8600GT running in sli mode (didn't fix my problem whether it was on or
off)
ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard

Hi,
Sounds to me all like a matter of temperature! Consider about a cooling water system. If not, check Memory cooling, CPU, Graphical Cards, North and South Bridges cooling. Whats the power of your (i don´t know the name in Inglish for it) "battery"?
Having it all cleared out of dust, isn´t enough, the ceramic component may be wasted, wich instead of spreading or conducting the temperature of the processors to they´re blocks of refrigeration, usualy suportedd by vents, just increases more the temperature. System chuts down so far for self protection aguest temperature, so far you didn´t burn out nothing, but its on a high risk of happening.
Open all clean the blocks and processors, aply new cover of ceramic grease (find it at a especialized pc shop) mount all back and thats it. Analize your vents, can you get more power of air circulation trhu the blocks then what you have now?

Cheers!

Hi,
I believe and i´m quite sure its hardware fault, being a new pc you got 2 years of garanty, they must fix that.
Have you build up the system or you got it like that?
Some memory modules may be mal function or the graphic cards are boiling, feell each one of them carefully with your fingers, don´t get burned, temperatures can reach more than 80 Celsius degree´s before switch off or burn dead, you will spot the problems like that. All new pc´s, mainly graphic cards, usually come with dried component between the block of refrigeration and the processor, from fabrics to ower hands, few people cares about that but its what makes fail and waste hardware. If you do that on your own they call up that we touch the seal of garantee and tell us good by, they wash they´re hands from they´re obligation but don´t let that happen. There´s memory refrigerating clips avaliable out there also you should consider to protect your investiment.

Cheers!

Thanks ribeiro, I don't think it's a matter of cooling considering it's a
brand new system, but I could be completely wrong. The power supply btw is
750W from memory. As for the temperature, could you tell me how exactly I
could monitor these things and how hot is too hot? Thanks for the help, I
really appreciate it.

"ribeiro" wrote:

sounds to me like heat trouble . download coretemp at Core Temp . this will show you your temps.
if the temps are high then your heatsink may not be set right or your cpu
fans not working.. scrooge

Hi, Scrooge said it, Core Temp its helpfull. Don´t know if Power supply its about 480W or more 510W, if so, 480W for that pc configuration its unstable. Don´t take less than 400 abouts, consider 5xxW power supply. Hot its like us having our body temperature of 37 or so, and the components being at 50 celcius. 60 its to worry, 70 its to read warning, 75 it´s bad, very bad, all short cuircuit, the heating gets the molecules run wild and the electrical impulses get spread and lost, the channels of energy conduction are full lungs open reaching a melting point, the sistem switches of meaning trouble. Components get tired, and vicious like mobile battery, but in computer matters, if graphic card its to much burning, get it back to shop and change for a new one on they´re charge, its fabric malfuction.

Cheers!

Ignoring your choice of 64 bit Vista:
Crashes you describe are most often due to heat, power supply failure, RAM
failure or hard drive failure.
Heat can be tested by removing the side panel of your presumed desktop,
making sure the CPU cooling fan is spinning and aiming a small electric fan
at the motherboard.
Hard drive failures and RAM failures often generate random blue screens
before they die, which you do not describe.
My bet is that your power supply is a dud. This is a very frequent and
underappreciated problem. Most power supplies that come from OEMs,
especially in lower priced boxes, or with a case are poorly made and unable
to supply anything near their rated power under demand, like when playing a
game. Hence replacing your OEM power supply with another like one will not
solve your problem.
If you can afford it you will probably be best off spending the money to buy
a decent 500w power supply from a reputable vendor, particularly if you are
using a high end power hungry video card that requires its own power cord.

The choice of 64 bit vista was so that I would be able to utilize more than
half my ram. As for the power supply, I double checked and it's a 650W one.
Is there a specific test to see if you're right about the power supply? I
somehow doubt that it's the power supply (although to be fair, if I did know
I wouldn't be coming here). It happens even in games like Morrowind which are
very old, i.e 2002 and I don't think would put a strain on anything much.

"dullpain" wrote:

Hi Angrynfrustrated,

Open the side panel of your PC case, work with your PC for a while after 15 or 20 min and check manualy the temperature of the components inside the case. Also, look at all the cooling fans, are all they working and free of obstacules like wires, etc? Your SLI mode do they both run cooling fans, and how equal or diferent are the temperatures?
Did you tweak or overclocked your BIOS? If so get it back for the standarts.
Is it all well conected and well fixed at place? Check it out, unplug and plug all again, don´t just look at it.
The motherboard battery, for the last, should work for 4 or 5 years but we never now if its wasted, sometimes the electrical static may play tricks. If the acess for the BIOS its good, fast and corrsponding well for key strokes, the battery its fine. If BIOS navigation stucks, freezes, etc, the battery needs to be changed.

Cheers!

"Angrynfrustrated" <Angrynfrustrated@xxxxxx> wrote in
message news:CD96319D-4263-4BD7-9E9E-165C6A1F9825@xxxxxxNobody here is going to be able to offer more than initial suggestions
unless you start answering questions.
Have you measured your system's CPU and case temperatures both at idle and
while gaming? What were the readings? Who built the computer? Do you have a
warranty you can exercise?
What brand and model is the PSU? What are the ratings on the +12v and +5v
rails? Are there multiple 12v rails?
Just because the PSU says it's 650 W means very little. A hardware setup
like yours could easily overstress a cheap OEM PSU rated at 650W.
Have you run a memory stress test to see if you have any memory issues?
MemTest 86 is a good one:

http://www.memtest.org/