GA-EP45-DS3L with continual memory issues

[nimdok]

Well, it still crashed with the case off while running Prime95, so it doesn't seem to be entirely an overheating problem. I've also tried lsdmeasap's ram timings which doesn't seem to have solved it either.

What should be my next step in troubleshooting this?

[Chike]

Try running memtest86+ with one stick only stick at all slots seperetly, different stick if one fail.
It could be the heat is not the problem though it's good to keep it low as possible.
How long did it take to prime95 to fail and waht test did it fail?

I installed a side intake fan in the side hole which is blowing right on the NB, that seem to bring the system temp (whatever it is) 2c down.

[artureal]

I would also check the simplest thing - if CPU heatsink is seated properly, including thermal grease.
The 67C temperature is much too high for E8400 being stressed at default speed, even with stock cooling.
I have similar motherboard and the same CPU and have reached such temps after overclocking to over 4GHz at 1,46V Vcore.

[Psycho101]

I would also check the simplest thing - if CPU heatsink is seated properly, including thermal grease.
The 67C temperature is much too high for E8400 being stressed at default speed, even with stock cooling.
I have similar motherboard and the same CPU and have reached such temps after overclocking to over 4GHz at 1,46V Vcore.

You may have reached similar temps at 4GHz, but not on the stock cooler. A stock Intel dual core cooler is..... well.. they're crap, basically. A 1" thick by 4-4.5" diameter lump of aluminium doesn't cool all that well even at the best of times.

Sure, checking the seating of the HSF is a good idea, but let's not assume that the particular CPU in question has "accurate" DTS sensors. They can be as much as 10c out by Intel's own admission. In a best case scenario, this would put the actual core temps with the case closed at 57c. This is only on the hottest core. You'll also notice that the second core is (maybe) 2c cooler. 55-57c is not that much out on a 3GHz CPU with a stock cooler.

You will also remember the OP stating that temps drop by 10c to 57c when he takes the side of the case off. All this leads me to believe that there's nothing wrong with the HSF seating. A combination of adding adequate case ventilation and calibrating which ever temp monitoring program is used should both bring temps down and make them a truer representation of what's actually going on.

Also, unless you've calibrated your temp monitoring program to some degree of accuracy, can you really be sure of the temps of your cores?

[nimdok]

Try running memtest86+ with one stick only stick at all slots seperetly, different stick if one fail.
It could be the heat is not the problem though it's good to keep it low as possible.
How long did it take to prime95 to fail and waht test did it fail?

I installed a side intake fan in the side hole which is blowing right on the NB, that seem to bring the system temp (whatever it is) 2c down.

Well, I was running the Blend test of Prime95 while I was sleeping, and awoke to find that the computer had crashed - so I'd estimate it took anywhere from 4 to 7 hours.

Also, I just finished running a full Memtest86+ run for about 6 hours with the case off and both pieces of RAM in, and the heatsink of the RAM is definitely pretty hot. If I leave my finger on it for longer than 3 seconds it starts getting slightly too hot to touch. This could be a problem - any suggestions on how to proceed on this front?

The Memtest didn't give me any errors, but this is fairly normal. It takes either longer operation, or playing a game in Windows/doing something system intensive until I get a memory error/crash, and then a reboot into Memtest straight away to show errors.

Finally, one quick question I have is that the stock heatsink over the CPU seems to always be room temperature - is this normal? Not even warm, it doesn't seem to be radiating any heat at all -- perhaps it could not be seated right. I'll definitely be checking it later tonight unless this is normal.

In the mean time, I'll try to find the time to run to the store and purchase a new fan or two for the case - perhaps even something to replace the stock CPU fan/heatsink.

Thanks again for the help - even if my problem isn't a heating issue it'll eliminate that possibility and having a cool case temperature won't be a bad thing.

[Chike]

Finally, one quick question I have is that the stock heatsink over the CPU seems to always be room temperature - is this normal? Not even warm, it doesn't seem to be radiating any heat at all -- perhaps it could not be seated right. I'll definitely be checking it later tonight unless this is normal.

The finger is not avery accurate temperature sensor, and the outer edge is the coolest part of the HS, it's probably much warmer towars the center and below, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
As Psycho101 wrote, CPU temps dropped with with open case, it seems to be ok, and IMO the open case temps looks right too, what CPU temp does EasyTune show?

[nimdok]

The finger is not avery accurate temperature sensor, and the outer edge is the coolest part of the HS, it's probably much warmer towars the center and below, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
As Psycho101 wrote, CPU temps dropped with with open case, it seems to be ok, and IMO the open case temps looks right too, what CPU temp does EasyTune show?

With the case open, EasyTune shows a idle CPU temp of 31C when CoreTemp and RealTemp show a temp of 38C.

Under load, it shows 53C while the other programs are 58C.

For further reference, apparently RealTemp works well with E8400 according to a few other sites - and here is the result of a sensor test to show that nothing is stuck and they seem to be operating fine; I just haven't bothered to calibrate any software temp programs yet. RealTemp's TJMax is set to 100C, and the case is open.

[artureal]

the stock heatsink over the CPU seems to always be room temperature - is this normal?

No, it's definitely not normal. That was what I wrote before - check if the radiator is well seated.

[Chike]

Yes the distance between the DTSs and the thermal diode seems reasonable.
Idle diode temps maybe a little high than they should but nothing critical, can't realy tell unless you have a thermometer to measure room temp.

[nimdok]

Room temperature near the computer is still 22C.