I have some more interesting news :-)
Problem seems to be solved!!!
I came across an article about BSODs and Quad Core and it mentioned that often the RAM got to little voltage. So I installed the ASUS control panel which comes with the mobo. This is aimed at "overclockers", those who add additional cooling to the CPU and adjust the CPU frequency the get more horsepower.

Nevertheless - it also has a control for manual adjustment of the RAM voltage. The default value is 1.8 V, I increased it to 2.0, rebooted, and have now done my Vegas test-job several times - no crash!!!
If this solves it, I am as happy an one could be, I have had night mares because of all BSODs I got after the QUad Core entered the scene..

> What happens if you try it after booting to 2 cores, or 3...?
This is not possible. Either one or all cores. You do this by editing C:\BOOT.INI . Google for the /onecpu switch and "boot.ini"

> So you have any other application that uses all four
> cores, by chance?

I tried Cakewalk Sonar v 6.0, and it uses 1 and 1/2 CPU.. not impressing. In the mean time version 8.0 is out, maybe it is better.
Sony Sound Forge, OTOH, uses all 4 CPUs :-)

I will now try Carrara, it will be exciting. I really hope it takes advantage of all 4 cores, because rendering animations takes hours sometimes. According to the specs, version 6 has Multi Processor Support. I take the Carrara videos into Vegas and refine them there :-)

And BTW, if someone finds Vegas slow, try a 3D Modeling application.. I was rendering a 24 seconds long animation in Carrara, and went out paddling in my kayak. When back, it was still working on it, took 2 hours and 36 minutes..

So - no crashes so far, incredible, really, if my system has become stable just because of a 0.2 V increase in the RAM voltage :-)

ingvarai

Your RAM could be a bit dodgy, have you tested it?

Yes, I've tried rendering 3D, it's a totally different process to rendering video. Render times of a day per frame are not uncommon in CGI. Hair, water and smoke contain zillions of polygons and there's all the the physics to be calculated as well.

Bob.

> Your RAM could be a bit dodgy, have you tested it?
I just got new RAM, replacing the old RAM. The new ram came as a pair of 2 times 2Gb. The old RAM was 2 x 1Gb, and made the PC crash all the time when the Quad core was introduced. No, I start to believe that the Voltage in general is a little low. And the this is more critical with the Quad than with the Dual core I had before.

As it is now, after I adjusted the voltage - no crashes at all!

ingvarai

"As it is now, after I adjusted the voltage - no crashes at all!"

That's pretty interesting.

I used to crash all the time, then one day it stopped. I never REALLY figured out why it stopped but now that you mention it... back around the time the crashing stopped was when I upped the voltage on both the cpu and ram. I wonder if that was it.

Food for thought anyway.

Get yourself http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103Prime95[/link] and test that system. I guess I missed it where you mentioned that you OC'd the machine, or I would have asked you if you tested the cores at FULL load for 12 hours?

When I built my system, I hired a consultant to advise me on selecting the proper components, overclocking, and just little things in general. I had never built a machine for audio/video editing before, and wanted to get it right the first time--so I hired a guy named Jim Roseberry, who I met on the SONAR forums actually. He specializes in audio machines, using multiple core CPUs and the highest quality components. I use SONAR 7, and at the time 8 wasn't out yet. But I picked out all my components and then Jim helped to fine-tune my choices to insure that everything plays well together. Well, it was the best $40 I ever spent, because I never had a single issue (I did get a bad stick of new RAM though, so that isn't an impossibility).

So when it came to overclocking the PC, Jim had me download the Prime95 application and run it for 12 hours, after we had tweaked the cores from within the BIOS. Luckily for me, the machine passed the test on the first go-round, so I didn't have to increase the voltage at all--but the problem you were having is exactly the sort of thing he said I'd see if the core voltages weren't adequate. It's a delicate balance--too little voltage, and the machine crashes whenever there's a load on the CPU; too much voltage and the cores get too hot. So I guess I should ask--are you running CPU RightMark or another similar utility to monitor your core temperatures?

TB