Now, lately I have been having a problem. I asked this over in the gaming forum and got some help, but I'd like a second opinion. Now, I have a RADEON 9800, an Athlon XP 2800+, 512MB PC2700, and a SOYO KT600 v1.0 Motherboard. Now I bui8lt my system like 3 months ago and everything was fine until about a month ago. Up until then I had been using a PCI GeForce MX 440. (Ok, go ahead and laugh), and needless to say this held my system "back". So I went a bought a RADEON 9800. Now here is my problem. In the BIOS, when I set the AGP speed to 8x, the first time everyday when I turn on my computer, once it gets into the desktop and I start doing something, it will lock up, beep, and then I must reboot (soemtiems it will recover or VPU recover comes on). Now, if I leave it at 4x, everything is fine. Now, also, When I try to set my FSB to default (166) then when I start playing games, after a while, the screen will just go black. Just ,nothing, and sometimes the sound will stay on for a while. Now, the higher I clock the FSB, the faster this occurs. (Like at 190, it happens real fast), but now if I underclock to 160, everything is fine. No black screens or anything. I would just like some help to try to determine what it is. I have tried doing this with only one of my 2 sticks of 256 and interchange them, but it still does it.

P.S. : the symptoms seem to have gotten worse with time and/or changed

Also, just to rule one thing out. It is not heat. I have 3 case fans, plus the 120MM fan in the bottom of my new 400W PSU sucking air out.

I just want to fix this.

I gotta assume you did not uninstall your previous video card prior to installing the 9800. I also gotta assume you had some problems before the 9800...

Let us know more if you can.

Skip

Yes, I'm pretty sure I uninstalled previous video card before I installed the 9800. It is gone in Device Manager. If there is some way that you can think of that I can tell if it's still installed or not let me know. Oh, and I had no problems before, but as I said it has gotten worse with time, and before I had a PCI video card (NVIDIA GeForceMX 440) which acts like a PCI device instead of like the 9800 which uses the AGP bus. P.S. I am using a SOYO KT600 v1.0, I have heard of some people having problems with AGP cards in this board, especially when using AGP 8x.

I just want to fix this.

Your PC2700 RAM is designed for 166mhz & so is your CPU, so it makes sense that you'd have problems at 190mhz. Your CPU might be able to handle the speed increase, but it may need a voltage increase to stabilize it. Your RAM however, may not be able to handle 190mhz even if you increase the RAM voltage...it depends on the RAM.

Your prob could be caused by a weak PSU. The 9800 takes a lot more juice than that old PCI card...the 12v plug-in may have pushed your PSU over the edge. And hopefully you didn't forget the 4-pin 12v plug to the motherboard.

Unfortunately, you didn't post your temps. Saying you have a bunch of fans doesn't mean a thing....

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

Good points jam. Not only can 190Mhz cause problems, a borderline power supply can really cause problems.

To go even further, you need to be running a firewall, antivirus, and spyware removal programs regularly.

ZoneAlarm
AVG antivirus
Spybot
AdAware6

are just a few that are totally free to you.
First thing I's post back is the +3.3v, +5v and +12v specs off the lable on the side of your power supply and let us know what you use for a firewall, virus protection and malware removal.

We can help ya but we need more clues.

Skip

Voucherlive,

It appears the problem is with the SOYO board, if you care to look here you will see you're not alone.

-- Always do what you are afraid to do --

Ok, first of all. I just replaced my PSU. I have a 400W one with the 120MM fan in the bottom. My voltages are as follows

+12v = 12.22-28
+3.3v = 3.35
+5v = 4.91
DDR = 2.72
AGP = 1.5

Now my temps are as follows:

CPU : Idle = 39 Load = 45 (Celcius)
CHA : Idle = 29 Load = 33 (Celcius)

Now, yes I do use a firewall. I am definatly clean. I run like 4 different spyware programs once a week, scan for viruses too. I have CABLE, so I update whenever updates are available.

I use the following software:

McAfee Security Center (VirusScan, Firewall, Spamkiller, Privacy Service_
AdAware 6.0
Spybot
Spykiller
The Cleaner (Trojan Remover)

Now Jam, you said something about the 4 pin plug. I am using a SOYO board, with an AMD Athlon 2800+. I have not seen a spot to plug in the 4 pin plug, I was under the impression this was only for Pentium 4?

One more thing. I read that website that sabertooth gave me. Now, there is one guy in there who claimed that changing the numbers in the voltage section of the SOYO HW Monitor would fix some problems. I tried it, and so far it has. I can run at 180 w/o any problems. Only one thing. I changed the numbers for the AGP and the DDR, but int he BIOS and in Windows, it doesn't report any voltage change. Is the voltage change unreported or something? Or am I changing just how much of the 1.5v or 2.72v the Ram and video card will use?

I really appreciate all of your input, this has been driving me nuts, If some mroe fo you could post some ideas and/or explainations it would be helpful.

I just want to fix this.

I think you misunderstod what Skip was asking for. We don't need to know the voltages, we need to know the amperage for the individual rails....the +12v being the most important. That info should be on a label on the side of the PSU.

And unless I'm looking at the wrong board, the 4-pin 12v connector is directly behind the keyboard/mouse ports

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

I think I may have been looking at rev 2.0 of that board. The location for rev 1.0 should be right next to the chipset fan plug

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

One other thing. I recommend never installing any software while OCed.

Alright, this is the board that I have. I don't see any +12v plug on my board nor in this picture, maybe you can take a look at it and see if you find one. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=90966&Tab=1&NoMapp=0
Now, the voltage adjustments in the HW Monitor seem to have fixed the black screen biz. I can now get up to 180 w/o any problems, but the initial first lockup of the day when running at 8x is still here. Any ideas? Think it's just this motherboard? I read that hyperlink someone posted p there and it said some people had been having problems with the 8x mode on SOYO boards. Also, in the BIOS and in the HW Monitor, even when AGP is set to 8x, it still says 1.5v for the AGP bus, is this normal? Help would be much appreciated. Thank You

I just want to fix this.

OK...I guess I was mistaken about that plugin. v 2.0 definitely has it behind the keyboard/mouse ports & the pic of v 1.0 that I looked at wasn't the best...I thought the square next to the chipset was the location, I can see now it's not...sorry about that.

1.5v is one of the standard AGP voltages...it depends on the card. Some run at 1.5v, others at 0.80v...older ones ran at 3.3v. Personally, I've never found a reason to increase the AGP voltage...some boards do allow for adjustment though.

You still haven't answered the question about your PSU. Wattage/voltages only tell part of the story....amperage is the key, especially on the +12v rail becuase that's where the motherboard, CPU, HDDs, optical drives, fans, video card, get most (if not all) of their juice. The general recommendation is 18A minimum.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

Alright, here are the specs for my PSU

Output: +3.3V@30A, +5V@40A, -5V@1A, +12V@18A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@2.5A

Now as far as the voltages. I know that it depends on the card b/c 4x runs at 1.5v, 2x runs at 3.3v, and 8x runs at .8v. My RADEON 9800 runs at 8x, thus it should run at .8v in that mode. What I'm saying is, no matter what I set it to, the AGP voltage still remains 1.5v.

I just want to fix this.

No, that's incorrect.

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

So what thats saying is that ifn it's a 1.5 keyed slot then it reports 1.5v, even if it's supplying .8v to an AGP card when its in 8x mode, am I correct?

I just want to fix this.

It sounds to me like your PSU is fine, and I wouldn't worry about the voltage on the AGP slot - if it was going to have an adverse effect, I don't think this is how it would show up. My guess is that the board you have is just having trouble with 8x AGP mode. In my experience, there is not much difference between 8x and 4x mode - you could probably just use it in 4x and be fine. I know it sucks not to able to use new toys at their full potential, but the numbers I've seen on 4x to 8x comparisons are usually in the 1-5% range, so you probably wouldn't even notice. You could, of course, get a new MB, but thats a rather expensive fix. Good luck!

MSI K7N2-Delta
Athlon XP 2500+
2x512MB Kingston PC-3200
GeForce4 MX440-8X 64MB
SB Live! 5.1
MSI TV@nywhere Master
WD 160GB 7200rpm HDD
LiteOn 52x CD-RW
LiteOn 16x DVD