well its probably not your vid card because I have a 6800 and get between 10 and 30

Update:
Looks like im going to be dealing with EVGA tech support. The computer wont detect the memory in slot A0 and only detects the memory in slot A1. I swaped the memory cards hoping that the problem would now change to the other slot and it did not meaning that the slot is likely bad or there is some other problem.


I spent extra money on a well known company hopeing to not have problems like this. I am so pissed right now because this board is only about 2 and a half months old.

Any suggestions or professional opinions are still very welcome.

I'd say the overclock isn't helping the problem.

I did a mild overclock a while back and I was getting unexpected results.

Yeah, OCing a 6420 is rather unnecessary. I also experimented a bit OCing for the hell of it with that processor, and I couldn't get it to pass a stress test with even a mild OC.

Anyways, all the processor really does in games is the physics, which is a only a small slice of the work.

But from what you said, it also sounds like the OC had nothing to do with your problem... unless you OCed the front side bus, without realizing that would OC the ram too. If the ram auto-detected to 333Mhz, then OCing to 2.8 Ghz on a 6420 would make the ram speed 431Mhz, unless you corrected the FSB to ram multiplier. Still, if that damaged anything, it ought to be the ram rather than the board. Sound like just another case of shit happens. Oh well.

I had a motherboard die on me a couple years ago. It wasn't under warranty, and was only about $100 to replace, but it was a huge pain in the ass, since you basically have to rebuild the computer from the ground up.

I OC'ed in an effort to fix the problem. Sorry I should have said that in my origional post. It made little difference. I switched the cards to different slots (not using slot A0) and now it detects all of the memory but still I have the same problem. Im going to put any diagnosing on hold until I hear back from EVGA about my memory slot not working. Use it as an excuse to rule out an entire component. Prior to the problem I made no performance changes to the BIOS and I was having problems with other games before HL2e2. I cant tell you when the memory slot would have craped out. I honestly didnt realize it until last night.

I read a few forums where people had success OC'ing this CPU but I do alwasy queston the crediability of forums that I read. I have excessive cooling so I just went for it. I didnt stress test but in gaming I could see instability at 2.8 and no cahnges at all at 2.4. I cant remember the exact name of the setting but I "unlinked" the speeds for FSB/RAM and set the RAM speeds manually according to a guide I found.

Then the OC didn't affect the problem. Even so, make sure you don't mention to them you OCed it, or they won't replace it.

I also heard of the ability for the 6420 to OC, which is why I tried it out, but what it really comes down to is it's hit & miss. Some of the 6420s can be OD'ed by a lot (like 50%), and some can't at all.

If you are going to overclock, you should run a stress test (like mem86) to make sure you aren't getting errors. If the processor & ram aren't doing computations perfectly, then incorrect bytes can be written to the hard drive, making it more unstable as time goes on.

The only thing you can really do now is lower all your settings in an effort to get the game to consume less memory, and close down everything you might have running in the background. If the game is getting excessive page faults due to insufficient ram, that would definitely screw up your fps.

Since you are saying you already solved the problem with the system detecting the right amount of memory installed. Do you know if people are having any issues with the BIOS version you are using? what about upgrading it? Try beta drivers for your video card from nvidia, and i'd set everything to factory settings start from there. Alternatively you can sign up real quick with overclock.net, they have lots of guides and nice people always willing to help. Good luck man.

What resolution and graphical settings are you running at? With HDR and settings all on high and 1920x1200 i wouldn't expect a 8600 to get more than 15 FPS anyway. I got an 8800 i'll sell you cheap and you can solve the problem. Update all your drivers first, that is probably the issue if it's not simply the fact that a 8600 sucks.

Ive tried all kinds of settings. I have an RMA in the works for my mobo so ill give that a try first. I have experienced memory problems before and this problem seems very similar to those.

I appreciate the offer on selling me an 8800 but hopefully in about 3-5 months I will have some computer upgrade money and go much bigger then what I currently have. I built more of a budget machine to play TF2 that would be ready to upgrade. Im really not surprised im having troubles so soon. Its just the fact that I have a confirmed problem with an almost new mobo that got me ticked and im gonna have to go back to my old as dirt machine for a some time while I go through the RMA process.

But since you mentioned it how much do you want for the 8800? Maybe I'll take a stab a running an SLI when the normal price for 8800's drops more.

$130+ shipping. It's teh evga superclocked one.