As most of you know about 3 weeks ago I bought a new Gaming PC , but thanks to my luck there are always problems with my PC hardware :

About a week ago the PC started random freezing ,sometimes blue screens ,but mostly picture freezing and with the last sound being played in a constant loop.
this can happen anywhere from booting to mid gaming ,so it's completely random .
I know such symptoms can be caused by an underpowered or broken PSU ,and since electricity voltages are not stable in Iraq the PSU was and still is my prime suspect from the first moment this happened.
although I must say that unless it's half broken the PSU should not be underpowered for my system .

specs:
CPU: Intel Q8200 @2.33
GPU: HD 4890
MB:ASUS P5Q3
RAM: CORSAIR 4 GB 1333 MHZ DDR3
HDD:1 TB Seagate
PSU:OCZ StealthXtream 600 Watt


I tried couple of things before posting here , first I noticed that my two PSU's PCI-E power connectors are on the same 12 V rail,so I brought A PCI-E power converter and replaced it with one of them, this seemed to solve the problem for about three days ,then same thing happened.

next I tried lowering the RAM's frequency to 1066 MHZ from the BIOS ,this seems to work so far (last couple of days) ,so I'll keep you updated if it breaks down again.
oh and by the way I tested the Rams with memetest86+ and they are working fine

so my question is this: is this for sure a PSU dying on me ,or is it something else ?

thanks in advance

EDIT:I checked the temps and voltages with both the BIOS and PC probe II:

+5 volt = 5.05 v
+12Volt= 12.15 V
+3.3 Volt =3.25 V
CPU temp: 35 C idle 50 C full load
MB temp:50 C Idle 60 C full load
GPU temp:62 C idle 75 C full load

pretty normal I would say

Although it's really unlikely, but are you using hacked or modified video card drivers? I used them on my really old Radeon 9550 system in an attempt to squeeze out a bit more FPS and they caused a bunch of problems similiar to yours.

Nah I don't use those ,besides there is the fact (as I mentioned above) that it crashed in the BIOS boot screen once indicates that it's not a software issue.

What RAM setup do you have.

It's a CORSAIR XMS3 4 GB 1333MHZ DDR3 dual channel kit ,do you think it's a ram issue ? and if so why didn't memetest86+ detect it?
also can a ram overheat and cause such symptoms? the ram has a small fanless heat sink design

It's hard to say from words alone what the problem could be, most things like this could be CPU/RAM/MOBO/PSU related so there's no easy answer. If you have any spares or know anyone who can lend you theirs use those one by one to try and eliminate what is at fault.

That said, I would start with the PSU, then the CPU, then the motherboard, then finally the RAM.

I think I'll wait until it starts freezing again ,and then begin eliminating causes .let's hope I won't have too.

P.S:most parts are under warranty ,but the problem is that I have to go to Iran to replace them ,and I don't see how that is possible before next year .

Ahhh......got it at last ,it was the RAM after all ;one of the 2GB sticks is half dead ,it can randomly crash the PC when installed ,thankfully the other one can still function correctly *Prays*

With the new developments ,that is "the fact that I'm back to only 2 GB" ,I think my only reasonable choice here (Elanzer you're gonna love this) is to go back to dear beloved XP.

I know that you don't need more than 2 GB in XP,but in vista you do need it (basically because it is a memory hungry system) ,that's why I said that I'm going back to XP.
Also ,I paid for 4GBs ,so I expect to get 4gbs and not only 2GBs

Sorry for x2 post .

I finally found out what was plaguing my PC all this time ,the damn MB (ASUS P5Q3) has Ram compatibility issues with almost every RAM module that is being sold on planet earth ,even with their latest BIOS which supposedly fixes some of these issues there is still no improvement.

the only solution available to prevent system freezes so far is to run your RAM no higher than 1066 MHZ .and this MB is promoted to run 1800+ MHZ ,can you believe this shit ?!!! damn you asus
and to top it off ,this MB was the most expensive one on my list ,I could have easily gone for a 70$ cheaper gigabyte mbo .

I WANT MY MONEY BACK

That's odd. I have the P5Q Pro (pretty much same chips, different feature set) and I've not had any issues with the 3 pairs of RAM that have been in and out of my computer lately. Maybe you just got unlucky.

No it's all over the net ,go to ASUS FORUMS and see for yourself ,everyone is complaining about this mbo ,and it's weird that the P5Q3 is the only one with such extensive problems range ,even the P5Q3 Deluxe (which is essentially the same chip) has less problems than this one .
want more proof see CORSAIR Compatibility section you will find every model but the P5Q3 .

the BIOS update section is filled with words like "Improved compatibility with certain memory",but Odd enough that they don't seem to fix this problem for anyone yet.

ASUS screwed up big time with this one ,they should have rated it at 1066 MHZ and get over with it.

That's what you get for not researching about your hardware before you buy.

I did search about it ,I read a couple of reviews about it and they were all very positive . but like I said I was in a hurry so the hole thing was rushed a bit ,otherwise I'd have ended up with a good DDR2 mobo with a high end quad core CPU .**slams head on the wall**

But hey I always like to look at the bright side ,now I know that none of my hardware is actually broken ,and if you come to think about it : there is only like 2% actual performance difference between the 1333 MHZ and the 1066 MHZ RAM configurations , so no big loss there,but still I always thought the best of ASUS so I feel a bit betrayed.

It's because it's Iranian.

OK ,Did you even look at the links I gave you ?
because unless all those people bought there rigs from Iran ,then this mobo is just poorly designed .

this is a global issue with this mobo ,just see the links I gave you ,or read users reviews on newegg.com and you'll know what I mean .

this mobo is just not capable of running above 1066 MHZ ,I'm gust lucky I bought a 1333 MHZ RAM ,there are people who bought a 1600 MHZ one ,but they can't get it to work above 1066 MHZ.

Calm down dear, I was only trolling.