waters_the_onion

An XPG Core Reactor 750 is en route; it dropped to $105 CAD this morning on Amazon. Never had a hiccup with this VX450 but I feel like I've pushed my luck far enough with it.

System is: Asus A8V (socket 939) A64 4800+ 2 sticks of OCZ PC3200 WD Blue SSD (previously two different Seagate HDDs) Radeon 3850 (also tested with 2600XT and 9800 Pro) Corsair VX450 I retired this system years ago because it wouldn't stop locking up and/or blue screening. Turns out both Seagates were faulty. I bought the SSD a month ago just to see if the HDDs were the only problem with the system. It doesn't lock up like it used to, but BSODs still persist; they usually refer to USB and memory errors. It's a clean install of Windows 7, however, the board barely recognized the drive. The VIA controller flat out refused to play, and the Promise controller only worked after forcing ATA mode and playing around with XP drivers to get Windows 7 to install. It seemed to run smoothly for two weeks but then BSODs started and refused to stop; this made me suspect the hardware since bad software/drivers probably wouldn't have allowed for two weeks of good use. I swapped 3 different videos cards, tried each stick of RAM in each slot, changed SATA cables, upped the vcore and underclocked the CPU, cleaned all the fans and heatsinks. Nothing helped. The only parts I can't swap are the CPU, mobo, and PSU. I know it's all 12-year-old junk that's overdue to be recycled but it'll help my peace of mind if I figure this out before I give up entirely. The 3.3v runs at about 3.1, according to the BIOS. Could that account for the BSODs? The USB WiFi adapter constantly craps out but it works fine with my tablet. Not sure if that's a clue. Any suggestions are appreciated.

LinusTechTips for PC hardware. Unbox Therapy for tech oddities. For mobile stuff: MKBHD, MrMobile, and JerryRigEverything. Honourable mention to Jonathan Morrison, strictly because his videos are gorgeous.

Local delivery service, akin to FedEx.

I would go so far as to say I'm addicted to Clash of Clans. I've been a maxed TH12 for most of this year and yet I still find reasons to check my village about 50 times a day.

I thought I'd create a profile while I wait on Purolator to deliver an SSD, which I'm hoping will be enough new hardware to resurrect my old AGP system. Still waiting.