Can this memory error be the cause of my problem?

[Devotus]

I hope someone can shed some light on this, thanks in advance

Random complete shut downs, I don't exactly remember when it started but it's getting more frequent lately.

Here's the problem: When running demanding games (Crysis, Age of Conan, Mass Effect, S.T.A.L.K.E.R) my computer shuts down randomly, (the game runs perfectly and then the comp shuts down like power was cut off) after the shutdown i have to cut power to my pc for +/- 10 secs or it can't be turned on again.

At first I thought it was my GPU overheating (ASUS Radeon HD2900XT) as it became to hot to touch (touching the metal on the top of the card for more then 5 secs would seriously hurt) I've put a big desktop fan next to my comp blowing cool air into the system. wich cooled my GPU to acceptable levels, but the problem was still there.

so i started googling looking for people with similar problems and solutions.

since it only shuts down in very demanding games it seems like its either an overheating problem, insufficient power or something faulty that only gets accesed when my comp needs all it's capacity

I originally didn't expect my power supply to be the problem because everything worked just fine when i first build the system, but on second thought... my PSU might be inadequate, but id rather have an expert opinion on that, here's my PSU

huntkey.com/eng/productmore.asp
450W
+12V1 max 15A
+12V2 max 17A
(theres also a speedfan result attached to this post, maybe it helps)

my GPU box cover recommends a 500w PSU with 12 volt rating of 26A :S this might seem like the obvious problem but since my comp runs so well apart from this problem and since "box recommendations" tend to be rather on the cautious side and since im not using crossfire or overclocking or anything I thought i would get away with it.


Then I did a memory test with memtest86+ and it found an error

(I did 1 Full pass wich took around 1 hour and 10 mins)

Test 7
Pass 0
Failing address: 000a0532274 - 2565.1MB
Good: c6c69ab3
Bad: c6c69af3
Err-Bits: 00000040
Count: 1
Chan: <empty>

Could this be what's causing all the trouble? 40 bits ? If so can i fix or bypass it somehow? or if ill have to remove the faulty module, how do i find out wich of the 4 modules is the bad one?

Here's my system specs in case it's of any use to anybody:

MD: Asus M2r32-MVP
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
RAM: 4x 1GB GeIL DDR2 800mhz
GPU: ASUS Radeon HD2900XT
sound: Creative X-fi Elite Pro
HDD: 2x 160gb Western Digital drives in RAID0
PSU: Huntkey 450w

hope I didn't take "Please be as descriptive as possible with your subject" to literally

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

Since the fail address is at 2565MB it's in memory stick three. Try taking the third memory stick (look in your motherboard manual, it should show the order of the slots) out and run another test to see if you get the same error.

As for the gaming errors, if it WAS the ram affecting that it would probably happen immediately. It is the PSU failing, as it must be overloading the 15A rail. A new psu would be recommended, as the 2900XT is a power hog.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Since the PSU likes to use a lot of AMPS while taking up unnecessary wattage, this is the good one to get.

 

[Devotus]

thanks for the advice, so that memory error won't hurt anything? I hope not.. memory was 1 of the few things i didn't plan to replace for a while

im building a new system somewhere in september (Radeon HD4870X2, 850w silverstone PSU (ST85F), a new case and a new mobo

might it be possible to power my GPU separately with a spare PSU as a temporary measure? as id rather not spend any money on something im going to replace in 2/3 months anyway :S

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

Since the PSU likes to use a lot of AMPS while taking up unnecessary wattage, this is the good one to get.

lol I meant your GPU. Sorry for the confusion.

Anyway, if you have a spare system sitting right next to it with the spare PSU, it shouldn't require any hacking, but you'll have to turn them on at the same time lol. There are guides for hacking dual-PSU's, but they take some time and are relatively complicated and easy to mess up.