Time for A System Update

[Rich-M]

This is my main desktop system:

Intel I-5 Quad Core 4670, Gigabyte Motherboard Z87M-D38, 128 GB Crucial SSD drive, WD Raptor Sata III 300 GBb Hard Drive, 500 GB WD 7200 Rpm Sata III 32 meg hard drive, 8 Gb 1600 Ddr3 A-Data ram, EVGA GTX 280 video card, Pioneer DVD-RW 24X, Seasonic 750 watt Psu and Windows 7 Pro and its about 2 years old.

 

Lately I have been having a few issues with occasional BSOD and in my experience, 98% of those are caused by ram or hard drive and that is where I believe my system is the weakest. A-Data Ram is not great and as much as I love Crucial Ram, Crucial ssd drives don't have a great service record. I have Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2133 MHz (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A2133C10) coming and I bought one of the 240 Gb PNY Ssd drives listed in Deals here in that forum. I also have occasional mishaps coming up from sleep (PM) which I believe are related to the Ssd drive also and an occasional freeze up. Memtest86 shows nothing, I have run chkdsk /r with little or no results. I should add I have 2 2 gb external usb 3.0 drives plugged to the system but they are only on when in use and a Pioneer external Dvd-rw as well as a networked Brother Laser black HL 2040 and Lexmark Color Laser C544XL printer.

 

I am not crazy about Corsair ram, however I like to use only memory tested for the motherboard as I have found that cuts out a lot of issues and that Corsair model was the only ram I could find at a reasonable price...Amazon beat Newegg by $15 which surprised me. I will let you know how I make out.

[AWS]

I have nothing but problems with A-Data ram. I use G-Skill Ripjaws and I love it. I've had my share of problems with Crucial and gave up on them. I did have a Crucial SSD and it just died after about a year. It could have died sooner like many others, but, I didn't use it for a few months after I bought and by that time a bug in the firmware which caused it to die was fixed. Still a year with only a few months of service was poor. I have a !st gen Intel SSD that is still going strong after 4 years.

 

I have been having problems with my external SATA enclosure since I updated to Windows 8.1. It is a driver issue. Drive worked fine in Windows 8. Once I updated to 8.1 I'd get random windows explorer errors. It drove me crazy until I ran a debugger and found that the SATA drives would at random times be seen as connected to USB instead of SATA. This as it turns out is a know problem with the 8.1 version of the drivers for Silicon Image chips. Since my card is dated there isn't an updated firmware or driver for it so I have to remember to not leave Windows Explorer open to any of the drives on the card.

 

I would wonder if you have a similar problem with your USB controller.

[Rich-M]

Funny you should mention usb controller issues as I had major issues when I first built this where the 2.0 ports worked only in bios or safe mode and 3.0 as well. 3.0 driver update fixed the 3.0 issue but it took a bios flash to solve the usb 2.0 issues so that has been on my mind the whole time I had this unit.

I really should have replaced the board but I have had my best service from Gigabyte boards yet they are entitled to occasionally lay an egg.

 

I also love GSkill ram but its Micron Ram as is Crucial and they both are my favorite ram. I think at the time the A-Data was here in 8 gb so I used it intending to replace it and never did. As I said I haven't been impressed with Crucial ssd drives and also have been meaning to replace that.

[Rich-M]

Well that's great. Tonight I went to boot up main desktop and nothing! Fans and lights but no boot and I know the monitor works fine. Tried 3 psus and I can see where the Seasonic 750 is somewhat dead, 5 video cards, all kinds of ram and came to the conclusion the board is bad...I must admit since I went back to Intel systems I have had nothing but trouble so here is what I ordered which can use the ram and Ssd :

GAF2A78MD3H Gigabyte Technology Mfr #: GA-F2A78M-D3HAMD Socket FM2, AD770KXBJABOX AMD Mfr #: AD770KXBJABOXAMD A10 7700K Blk Edition Fm2 Quad Core, R7250ACLF4 XFX Mfr #: R7-250A-CLF4Radeon R7 250 2GB HDMI.....

[AWS]

Let me know how that AMD performs. I haven't used one in a while.

[Rich-M]

I built almost the same thing for a client a few weeks ago with half the ram and it was amazing. A few years ago I played with the 6 core and 8 core cpus but never saw much difference in performance because there was nothing that could utilize it anyway and there probably still isn't and I like the Fm2 feel more so than the AM3s I have built so I decided to go this way. I was so happy to find a decent video card that wasn't the size of an auto glove compartment so there can be some room in there.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

I have been using strictly AMD's for the past four years since Rich got me hooked on them. (Even after he went back to Intel) My last build for my (personal use) was an AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 8 core. I have to admit, I didn't see that much difference between that and my AMD FX-6100.

[Dizzy86]

Hi all, well you are doing better than me I have a 720 3 core Phenom. Nothing wrong with AMD I think I will stick to AMD myself I'm looking to get an FX 6300 or FX 8350. Probably an FX 6300 for budget reasons. To post number 3, I have a friend that has an MSI Z87 board he seems to like it. maybe you should have tried MSI. Nothing wrong with stepping out of your comfort zone.

[Rich-M]

I agree Dizzy and I was actually looking to buy Msi, but remember I had just ordered 16 Gb Corsair ram for the dead desktop and as much as I wanted to get away from Gigabyte, because that is the board that gave me nothing but trouble on the Intel systems, I wanted to make sure with 2100 ram, not acceptable to that many boards that that Corsair ram was listed as tested for the board I was buying and the Gigabyte was one of the few that had that listed. I would have preferred MSI or Biostar as I think MSI is making a big comeback and have always had great luck with Biostar T series boards so am ready for more from them.

[Rich-M]

To add you know Dizzy I actually had selected AMD FX-8350 Octa-core and I was thinking the last time I had an 8 core I didn't see a bit of difference and actually I am really liking what I feel on these FM2 boards as opposed to AM3. I know I am off mainstream thinking but I think you have to go with what you feel and I really think the FM2 boards have more punch. My son-in-law took one from me with only 4 Gb ram, because I couldn't find the right 8Gb to work with it so he was going to order 16 gb himself. On Saturday I cloned an Ssd drive for him and I swear that thing booted in 5 seconds (Win 8) but with third party start menu added and I forgot to cut back the Metro desktop I realized later. All he talked about was adding ram until he saw that and now he can't see the reason to add more it is so fast. My cpu is way faster annd with 16 gb and Ssd drive, I bet I won't see the screens change!

[Rich-M]

Well I don't know how it happened but I got away with deleting most of Device Manager like we used to do and installing Motherboard drivers and the system is perfect swap from Intel i-5 to AMD Fm2 without much of a hiccup and no issues I can find. I eventually will do a clean install but while I am waiting for the ram and Psu, no reason to panic now and I saved myself hours of tweaking! And ya know I see no difference in performance either and this unit is much more stable. No BSOD's, no freezes so far and the fact that it worked this way is absurd.

[Rich-M]

It's funny how I can notice things on client units and disregard them on my own. In Day 2 of system replacement, and remember the OS is the same minus driver swaps, I realize how quiet the system is now and I see no freezes or BSOD's and here I thought it was the SSD drive and the 2nd hard drive at fault. Well on bootup today a lengthy checkdisk ran on the WD backup hard drive which suggests its time for replacement, which it is as I think that one may be 6 years old. Again it never boots a system so that way they can last. The new video card seems cleaner and I think I had been experiencing some screen shake every now and then and power is consistent. I also notice no problems recovering from sleep as on the other system half the time I had to reboot and I was looking for bad drivers or drivers needing replacement but never really solved anything that way. I can't wait for the faster ram to get here and the new Ssd though the bootup is way faster than it had been and I am not sure why I would change the Ssd except for the fact I don't feel good about Crucial Ssd drives but really I see no reason to change it. I have an image file now with all the changes made as well.

[Rich-M]

Well it was nice while it lasted but today I began my reinstall of Windows. I thought it was my imagination but one of the things that usually prevents such an easy install is a screwed up networking component and just ran a speedtest only to see 11Mbps followed by 4 mbps. My laptop with the same cable connection is getting 60 and so are 3 other pcs in here. Back into computer Hell I go.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

It sounded to good to be true. I've been able to get away with that when the hardware components were close but never with two completely different CPU's. (AMD v. Intel)

[Rich-M]

Yeah I never get away with it....I thought I got cut a break.

[Rich-M]

Well after all that would you believe even though I blamed my networking component of Windows for the slow internet and then decided to

reinstall Windows, the proper way to do a pc upgrade it turns out that while I was right, I was only partially right. I thought the internet seemed slower than normal and began running speed tests only to discover I was only getting 26 Mbps where I should be getting 56-57. I tried plugging directly to the modem and no difference. Then I tried another client unit on the other side of the room and that got 45 which still wasn't good enough but was substantially better. Then to my All-in-One and 58Mbps.

I called Comcrap and they tested the modem and found some packet loss. I had them coming out this week to check system but decided to see if I can get a pci-x gigabit modem in and test that and sure enough 57Mbps. What that most likely means is another Gigabyte motherboard with an issue, the nic card. I can't believe it would be unable to do higher speeds so I have to assume its defective. The video card is substantially smaller than my old 260 GTX so I would bet I can squeeze underneath it to get a pci-x card in the only slot available and sure enough it worked. OK I am now done with Gigabyte motherboards since that is two in a row now. Now to see if I can get my Creative sound card in here. If I use a mobo addon for Usb ports I can take out my pci card and use the pci slot there, crap my Creative card is pci-x so it means buying a pci sound card. I think I will live with the onboard and I am officially done now.

That leaves me with Msi which I am fine with as they are getting better and better as I will not use Asus any more either as I have had way too many issues with those. I still have never had a bad Biostar board and am going back 13 years on that call.

 

One more issue is when I shut down the power led light and hard drive light stay on. On opening the case this AM I discovered the cpu fan still running. pulling the power plug didn't help and throwing the breaker didn't before that. So I tossed out the Seasonic 650 watt Psu and replaced it with a brand new Seasonic 620 I had just gotten in thanks to the special I noted here a few days ago and that ended the cpu fan issue but not the red and blue light after shut down. I will also ignore that. The last Intel Gigabyte board did the same thing with the power led so I guess that's just another issue with Gigabyte boards now.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Rich-M

[allheart55 Cindy E]

It seems as if you've had a bad run with the Gigabyte boards and yet I have yet to come across a bad one. They remain my favorite boards. (Fingers crossed) I just ordered another one for my son's new build.

 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

[Rich-M]

Well this just isn't my week....It seems the pci slot is no better for network speeds in fact while it started out running 58 it soon dropped to 3 mbps. I sent for an RMA and placed an order for an Msi board right afterwards. I am completely done with Gigabyte. I haven't the time for this. I plugged my laptop into the same cord and ran 58 Mbps. Oh before I did that just to rule out every other possibility, I moved the board and all the to a new case for the same result.

[Rich-M]

It seems as if you've had a bad run with the Gigabyte boards and yet I have yet to come across a bad one. They remain my favorite boards. (Fingers crossed) I just ordered another one for my son's new build.

 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

I had almost forgotten, the board before the last 2 Gigabytes also a Gigabyte and while I used that unit 2 years and then sold it in another system. I remember the start where they shipped with an old bios and the Usb ports didn't work right and I almost returned the board as DOA but flashed the bios before I did that. Needless to say the bios update never mentioned the fix for usb ports. I wound up buying that board accidentally for another unit and having the same issue which after wasting a few hours messing with it I remembered. Nope I'm done.

[Rich-M]

This thread is becoming more of a saga. I installed the new Msi board last night and again had to reinstall Windows but in this time I have noted there are freak accidents on other pcs where I get 56 Mbps but overall I am not getting the guaranteed speed so I am back to waiting for Comcast service tomorrow. I am convinced the modem is bad but it could be more. One thing I now do know is it is not the system or the DLink router I am getting speeds all over the place but none even approximating what I should be getting.

 

I definitely see a difference in stability though on the system with the Msi board, there is no question in jn mind that both Gigabytes were defective though the boxes were sealed. Amazing though too how quiet a pc is with Ssd drives. It is hard to tell the pc is on if it weren't for the lights (which is why the fact that both Gigabyte boards kept one or both lights on I never knew if this was on or not and that was so annoying). I know when this finally settles I will love this system.

[Rich-M]

Talk about having egg on your face, today I am wearing an entire omelet!!!! Comcast showed up bright and early and plugged into their modem router and did 5 perfect tests at 57 MBPS on an old beatup Dell Latitude laptop. IN disbelief I dragged out my Sony E series laptop and accomplished the same thing. I have had this guy before and he cares. New cases, motherboards, pci and pci-x gigabit ethernet cards, Ssd drive new, new video card and I start with 28 MBPS but quickly enough drop down to 5 MBPS. After he left I went and got a new cup of coffee and in spite of my urge to go out and buy a sledge hammer and fix this the old fashioned way I just started a list of all things in common. The cable guys words "something is throttling back the speeds" stuck in my head. I unplugged every usb cable except for keyboard and mouse and still running 5 Mbps plugged directly into modem. I started thinking one of the few things in common was all systems were AMD except for the Intel i-5 original system that died. I was going to move another desktop over to here and run it but decided to first go through Programs and Features and there it was sticking its big ugly head at me an AMD utility called "AMD Upstream" utility and it didn't sound good because I never put that there deliberately. I never install AMD utilities of any kind but I bet the AMD utility cd got that in there and I never noticed. I have done 15 speed tests now all coming out 57 MBPS plugged into router with all usb cables back. What the Hell is the matter with these people that put crippling utilities on their motherboard cds. I remember years ago an AMD utility that was supposed to keep temps down that warped out all kinds of systems into doing all kinds of whacked out responses. I tried Googling that utility and cannot find a thing about it which is really strange.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

Wow! I just completed a search on two of my AMD machines and didn't find anything like that. I only ever install the chipset, sound and network from the AMD CD. I don't ever install any of the utilities that are on the CD. I wonder how it snuck onto your machine.

[Rich-M]

The cd has a bunch of drivers and software. Normally when I use them I just uncheck what I don't want and then choose "install all" meaning what is checked and maybe that has changed where in spite of unchecking everything I don't want, then choose "all" puts them all back. That is the only thing I can think of. But you can bet your "bippy" that from here on I become "one at a time Joe" on driver install cds. I not only wasted days if not weeks on this one but it is more than possible I sent back at least one board that is just fine! The first one dropped dead and that had nothing to do with software. Embarassing, wow!

[allheart55 Cindy E]

Choose all does put them back in, Rich. I select one at a time and reboot after each driver.

[Rich-M]

I don't think so Cindy because if that were true, then Norton (NIS) would be on my system as would Google toolbar. And they know better than to go near any system I have. But I suppose it is possible that they have one defaulted to go on whether you choose it or not but the interesting thing is they were 2 different boards but both cd's have that utility in with the drivers both Gigabyte and MSI. I usually only install the bios updater of anything they offer in utilities but for some reason this one was in with drivers on both cds as was NIS and Google Toolbar.