[SpaceCowboy706]

Hello again,

It's been awhile since I have posted but I've come to an issue with my gaming PC that I am unsure how to correct. I am currently playing a new mmo called Rift and while playing the large scale PVE part of the game with about 50 other folks my FPS drops down to about 5-10fps. I have already posted for help on the rift technical forums and the general consensus over there, is that my system should be running these large encounters with no difficulty at all (meaning in the 30-50fps range).

No trouble shooting has been done other than comparing my system to others who have lesser hardware and whom do not have the issues that I am having. My system specs are as follows:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58
Power Supply: Antec 650W
CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Quad-Core
Ram: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 480 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 (SLI Capable)
Video resolution: 1920x1080
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

All I am looking for is a way to test each of my componenets to ensure that they are working at thier full potential. Are there tests that I can run to determine if I have a faulty piece of hardware or to ensure that each piece is performing on par with other hardware of the same make and manufacturer? Other than the low FPS in large scale pve encounters I never have any crashes, bsod's, or anything else that would lead me to believe that a piece of my hardware is faulty or underperforming.

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fromn the rift tech support forums I am being told to use these tests to check hardware:

Memtest to check ram
HdTach to check hardrive speeds
3dmark to check video card

Are these safe tests to perform?
Is there a test to check the cpu?

[SpaceCowboy706]

fromn the rift tech support forums I am being told to use these tests to check hardware:

Memtest to check ram
HdTach to check hardrive speeds
3dmark to check video card

Are these safe tests to perform?
Is there a test to check the cpu?

[iammykyl]

The listed tests are safe to use.

Here is a test for the CPU. > http://www.playtool....95/prime95.html

[SpaceCowboy706]

Problems found were about a 15% slower performance on my hard drive than others users who have the same hd (not bad as this hd is about 5 years old) and also some errors for data mismatches with my ram. Anyways, upgrading my Hard drive and ram. Have a question about my motherboards ram.

Here is the link to the GA-EX58-UD3R that I have: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128375

It supports triple channel DDR3 2000+ / 1333 / 1066... on the motherboard there are 3 blue slots and 1 white slots. Why the different colored slots? I'm sure there is some important meaning for it?

Since all of the ram I am looking at is triple channel it seems to be only coming in batches of 3? well i got four slots and the max ram it can hold is 16Gb. If I only buy in batches of 3 i can only get 12Gb (a set of 3 sticks each at 4gb for a total of 12gb). If I do this I still got an empty slot. Can i just throw another stick of the exact same triple channel ram in that last empty slot? is there any bonus to adding this 4th stick? does this fourth stick have to be the same kind, does it need to be triple channel?

Here's the ram I'm wanting to use: (3 stick kit) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104127 ...+... (1 extra stick for fourth slot) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104244
Basically I want to get the full 16Gb but I want it to be triple channel and as fast as possible for under 200$ for all 4 sticks. If someone knows of something better than what I have selected please post links.

PS... This order gets submitted Saturday morning so i hope I get replies by then

[iammykyl]

Basically I want to get the full 16Gb but I want it to be triple channel and as fast as possible for under 200$ for all 4 sticks. If someone knows of something better than what I have selected please post links.

Talking RAM for gaming. You will see almost no improvement by installing more than 4GB or faster than 1,600MHz CL9. Even going for lower latency does not improve game play by much.

As I am soon to build a Sandy Bridge gaming PC, this is the latest article I have read about memory, > http://www.bit-tech....sandy-bridge/10
I will install 8GB as there are overall gains for the system but will spend my money on the best GPU I can afford. Read the whole article and browns the comments


.

. on the motherboard there are 3 blue slots and 1 white slots. Why the different coloured slots? I'm sure there is some important meaning for it?

In your Mobo manual there is a section on installing memory in the right slots If you do not have it, here is the product page, go to downloads, manuals. Also look to See if you have the latest BIOS.