vCore2 issue -- heeelllllllllp!

[TechnicalNewbie]

Okay, now that I've gotten your attention (many thanks for it, by the way), I can get down to brass tacks. The stinking system that I've put together recently keeps locking up at the most off-pissing times. Usually it will lock-up during a video-taxing moment, but not always. Every now and then it'll do it while I'm browsing the internet.

It'll lock up while I'm playing pretty much any of the more modern games that I play (Star Wars Battlefront 2, Battlefield 2, GTA San Andreas, etc.). While playing the game, the screen will simply freeze--sometimes with an annoying high-pitched sound coming from the speakers (not the hardware), but once again, not every time. Only shutting off the power and restarting will get it back up and running--no ctrl-alt-delete action here.

The point at which it resets is pretty inconsistent. Sometimes it'll happen right after the game starts, sometimes after 15 minutes of play.

Now, I've tested the memory, re-formatted the HD and re-installed Windows XP (sp 2), disconnected any extra power-draining peripherals and much, much more. The CPU temp. consistently is at/around 32C, and the video card is usually near 40C.

Here are my system specs:

-Thermaltake Tai-Chi case with liquid cooling
-Pentium D 830 Dual-Core
-Twin 512 MB Corsair DDR2 5400UL modules
-GA-8N-SLI Royal mo-bo
-BFG 7800GTX 256MB (manufacturer OC'ed)
-Soundblaster Audigy Platinum (whoopie!)
-Hitachi Deskstar 160GB + Maxtor 250 GB HD (of course not striped)
-Memorex DVD R/RW
-Windows XP Professional w/service pack 2
-Dell 2405FPW LCD (guess this doesn't really matter--durrrr)
--ULTRA XConnect 500W power supply

Guess that about does it. I've done no overclocking on the system myself and no weird/sophisticated modifications either (other than using the @BIOS utilty to flash the BIOS via the internet). I just assembled this sucker within the past week and have had no issues with it other than this. No worms, Trojans, viruses. . . nuthin'. Runs like a charm--fast and efficient. So, what could it be?!?

Could it be possible that all this just stems from a faulty power supply? I hope to goodness that's what it is. <sigh>

Thank you for your patience and your help (if you choose to give it).

 

[TechnicalNewbie]

Okay, I have a little extra info on my situation:

My vcore2 voltage is pretty darned high, and I haven't done anything that would cause it to go that high. The first CPU vcore is usually between +1.39 and +1.43. Not bad. But the vcore2 is always between +1.72 and +1.75! Why the frack is this happening? Bad capacitors on the motherboard?? Or could it be the power supply like I mentioned before? Remember, I haven't OC'ed the thing, so the voltage shouldn't be that high. And strangely, the CPU temperature is quite low, which is odd since increased vcore voltages usually mean hot hot hot! Oooh! And I forgot to include that my system shuts down when I'm transferring large amounts (about a gig or more) of data from one HD to the other. <sigh> I hate comps sometimes.

 

[Bobthelost]

It's not the motherboard capacitors that are screwing you around. Think about it, the CPU takes power from one source for both cores. Sounds like you should be RMAing your CPU to me.

 

[TechnicalNewbie]

Yeha, I guess I'm just free-associating right now. I mentioned the capacitors just in regard to the freezing part. The vcore2 problem may not have to do with the freezing, but could come into play later and be somewhat of an annoyance.