And the gap has even widened nowadays. AMD has faster cores, but less efficient , with previous generation engraving processes and a specific multithreading system. That's why so many were deceived with the FX series and why AMD now concentrates on the APUS ( that combine weak CPU parts and good GPU parts ) . Still, FX6350 and 8350 can be used to form the base of competent systems, especially if you add a good amount of RAM. My FX6350 is sometimes a bit better than my i7 870, sometimes a bit slower. But the build was by far less expensive than a modern i5 ( I had a very ggod offer on the CPU/Mobo/8gb combo , got them for a bit less than the price of I5 CPU alone , but ok, that was temporary )

Where was this thread a few years ago. Just realized my sister had a Gigabyte P35 board in her computer. It would BSOD every so often and occasionaly not boot. I don't know how many times I changed out parts in that thing, but the motherboard was the only thing that stayed in place. Due to her location in another state this troubleshooting took place over a year.
Eventually, I gave her my old system and brought that computer to my house to troubleshoot. It still sits in my spare room, unused and waiting for me to troubleshoot. The problems with the board made my decision to go back to Asus motherboards for good an easy one.

It's worth noting both Asus and Giga mobos will post and reboot if they are too cold. Just an FYI if you go with one

Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. Hopefully this helps the OP. +1

Try this : http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1653275/fix-irql-equal-error-windows.html

That reminds me of the problem with modern cars these days..... the term redundancy seems to have been completely forgotten, and one little irrelevant accessory manages to stop the whole car!

Here is a little known fact... with the old diesel vehicles, you could fry the entire electrical system and it will keep running (but you could only push start it or some other means of manual cranking). So if anyone ever manages to invent a device to disrupt all electronics, even shielded electronics (but not biological, obviously), then the outdated military forces will be the most powerful forces in the world! Example - modern diesel vehicles cannot function without electricity, so all Americas tanks will be dead and will get annihilated by left over WW2 junk! (unless that scenario was anticipated and redundancy was worked in to modern military machines?)

So far after opening the system and jiggling plugs and swapping the RAM all those old problems have not returned.

But this is usually the case whenever i have done this in the past. But this period of 'grace' usually will only last a month or so before it returns to the old problems.

However, there is a new game specific symptom that appeared!

I started playing Alien crossfire last week, and when i play that game the computer makes a weird beeping sound. It is most similar sound to the reversing beep of a truck except with a slightly different tone, more of a a fractured/buzzing tone and the length and frequency of the beep is totally random but with an occasional inclination to increase in length until it stays on full time at which point i am forced to exit the game and the noise stops.

Sometimes the beeping sound will just beep a few times and stop, or restarting the game often stops it too. It never makes this noise for any other program or game.

It is not the kind of sound one would expect the system speaker to make, although i suppose it is possible? It is more like a sound some electrical item such as a capacitor might make, but then if that was the case, it should make the sound in other games, not just Alien crossfire?

hmm sounds like you might have faulty Sound drivers, try getting fresh new drivers for your souncard or on board sound, I had a similar problem like that once, caused all kinds of sound issues and eventually pc crashing.

Yea, that ties in with another issue discussed earlier in this thread.... i heard electrical sparking and the on board sound stopped working. To solve that problem I disabled the on board sound in Bios and threw a PCI sound card in it which seemed to have worked, but who knows what residual gremlins are still lurking around from that?

On the plus side, my wife is sick and tired of my winging about the computer,,,, she is growling at me to go and buy a new one ! So this is a good lesson for anyone wanting to upgrade but have a disapproving spouse!!

If swapping RAM around fixed it, you just might have a ticking time bomb of failing RAM. You'll want to run a memory tester overnight to check for failures.

This is usually a boot CD (or stick), can't do it properly when a full OS is running. I think the Windows install CD has some sort of checker, and most Linux live CDs have the option to do so as well.

Yea, it could be RAM, but i'm more inclined to think it is the graphics card (which i also jiggled a bit). I also mentioned earlier in the thread that it appears quite a bit loose (but not so loose that it can knock around in the slot).

I'm starting research on a new computer anyway - i like to buy 'Bare bones' systems.

Given that i do not have all that much control over what is in a bare bones system (depending on the flexibility of the options given) I am not all that fussed at which brand of motherboard etc etc is in it, however if anyone has any knowledge of what brands/models to avoid - that i would like to know?

Edit: oh and i am not a fan of on board graphics or sound unless the board is generally better despite the on board rubbish.

rather than having on board graphics and sound, it would be of far more benefit to the customer to put those wasted resources towards increased backwards compatibility for older graphics and sound cards.

A new pc build is always a lot of fun, Just be sure not to blow way past your budget. It's so easy too do. All kinds of fun stuff to be had!!

Well, that is an easy check. Just turn your case to the side, so the graphics board slot is pointing to the floor. Although, hard drives tend to not like being on an edge. So, you would have to change how a few parts hang in the case.

I think it's a problem with that P35 chipset on the motherboard. I had very similar problems with my sister's computer, and I changed everything out, but it.

I havn't 'built' a system for many years now..... Years ago i used to be able to go to computer fairs/shops and buy each component separately and save thousands of dollars. Then suddenly, almost overnight the computer fairs and shops went mad and i could no longer beat any complete system price that way??

The big problem with complete systems is that the seller is motivated by good looking stats on paper, not how good the system actually is! This is why bare bones systems are what i usually buy these days - less chance for the seller to sneak crap in next to their big ticket components.