The slack timings seems to have done the trick. It survived many hours of specific targeted memtesting as well as a combined over 24 hours of regular memtests, al without error. So I’m back on my main system.
I got the alternate ram today too, but that can now go in the X6 cruncher as soon as I bother sticking a 64 bit OS on it…
Nice!
Looks like you’ve cracked it Mackerel 
. Nice one m8!!`:trophy:
Only been… 3 or 4 months since I started the build. Between the SSD firmware issue and this ram error it has never been stable. However there’s still a test in that I’ll need to run desktop for 2 weeks before I’d declare it fully killed. This might not be the last time I think I sorted it where I haven’t…
Have you considered bolting a horseshoe to the side of the case?
What’s the power consumption of one? And do I go for an aluminium one for low weight, or a copper one for better heat dissipation?
Edit: fork it! Just had another screen blackout just after leaving this post! I guess I didn’t align the horseshoe correctly. Maybe the ram was just a co-incidental problem?.. guess I’ll put the other ram in now and start memtesting that anyway.
ahhhhh… you should write a book on it… The Trials and Tribulations of Mackeral, a true PC enthusiast!!!
Memtested the new ram for 10 hours and running system now. Got a tip from elsewhere to try disabling flash acceleration so will see if that helps. Maybe I’m grabbing at straws but two programs that sometimes crash when I get these glitches are FF and Live Messenger, both of which use flash, so that could be a factor.
Another blackout. So, it isn’t the ram, and it isn’t Flash player. Do I try an ATI gfx next?.. at this rate I’ll end up with enough duplicate parts to build another box!
Back here to check out when the last blackout I had was, since I haven’t had one in a while. Over two weeks! Best run in a long time.
Guess what my last attempt at tinkering was? I disabled GPU acceleration in FireFox. Most if not all the blackouts happened when I was on the web. 'nuff said? So it seems whatever FF is doing, my system doesn’t like it. I haven’t noticed any performance difference from turning off GPU support. I put flash acceleration back on as that does make a noticeable difference in some video viewing like youtube.
Weird.
Just had another one… when firefox wasn’t running. I was just on the desktop and hit F5 (refresh). I guess fundamentally there’s still some issue, but I think I got the frequency low enough not to be annoying. And I might have another system when Ivy Bridge comes out…
They’re still at it, at least as of a few days ago. They seemed to get more frequent when I put the latest nvidia 285 drivers on. Tried swapping the PCIe slot which did nothing. Updated mobo bios to latest didn’t make things worse but that shouldn’t make a difference as it was only to support new CPUs I don’t have anyway. I gave in and have now got a HD6850 in to diagnose if it’s just a reaction with the nvidia cards/drivers. A few days in and so far so good but as always I’d want two clear weeks before I start counting eggs.
:xfinger:s on that again Mackerel :nod:
Been about 2 weeks since I put the HD6850 in and no screen problems. Now, I’ve had two clear weeks before on nvidia too, so I still can’t say it is fixed but things look promising so far. If I go another two weeks clear then I might finally declare this one done. Again.
Long, long, long term test: the HD6850 did the trick and I’ve had zero graphical glitches since it went in. Have I really had my box for so many years? I just decided to order an R9 280X to replace the HD6850 to get a bit more GPU power. The 280X was chosen as it has pretty much the highest DP crunching performance of cards since both sides have taking to crippling their newer cards.
Coincidently last night I dug out 2x4GB DDR3 modules and put them in this box for 16GB total. I look at this thread and see my earlier posts about possible ram problems… maybe I should run memtest a bit longer… (passed one pass ok).
I’m actually looking up an old build thread as I’d like to try and bring some old boxes back up for crunching (heating!).
I’ve certainly left my main rig on crunching, beneath the front window and it’s certainly kept the cold draft away as well as providing some good numbers in Rosetta and SETI 
Got 3 crunchers going in my reptile room now. Really warm in there, rest of house still feels cold though.
Put in the 280X order earlier today, should be something to play with next weekend.
Nice. Let us know how it performs. I’ve kept my system at stock for now as I’m still having issues with the replacement Gigabyte mobo after the previous one failed and had to be RMA’d. Every so often it won’t start Windows when I’ve restarted the PC if it’s still warm and it sometimes says the BIOS is corrupted and it restores it from the back up. It’s one of those new-fangled dual-BIOS mobos and I don’t think the tech’s quite perfected yet. Might have to look at getting an Asrock mobo instead, if it keeps playing up, as the one I had before was rock solid and still works fine even though it’s getting on a bit. My average work between this machine and my lappy is currently 175 for SETI and 246 for Rosetta, so well ahead of my previous machines and currently 7 cores are devoted to the 2 projects leaving me the one for my work stuff. Well happy with that.
Will do. I found one of my old crunching PCs that hasn’t been used in ages has a flat battery, so that also loses all settings if powered off. Just ordered 10 off ebay for £2 and just wont turn it off until I get it