Do I need to replace my CPU?

Dec 5, 2018
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I've been having trouble with my PC for about a month now. It has been fine for 2 years before this, then It started freezing intermittently. At first it was at random intervals, hours apart, then gradually it became more frequent so now it's generally within 5-10 mins of booting the machine. No BSOD or error messages, just a screen-freeze, totally unresponsive and I have to reboot manually. If I run the computer under very light load it might last an hour but generally it's very quick now.

My setup is
Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 Motherboard
Intel i5 6500 Quad Core 3.2GHz CPU
2x8GB Corsair DDR4 2133MHz LPX RAM (came as pair)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO M2 with Windows 10 installed
Corsair CX-600v3 600W Power Supply

I also have a graphics card + additional drives, but I have already removed them to test and the problem persists with the above hardware only. In addition I have taken the following troubleshooting measures

- Run Memtest on RAM both singularly and as pairs - no errors in any configuration.
- Tried booting with every configuration of RAM/available slots.
- Tried booting Ubuntu from a USB Flash drive.
- Run Coretemp to monitor CPU Temp - never went over 45deg celcius
- Even though Ubuntu still crashed I reinstalled Windows fresh on the SSD, as if that would help.

In all instances the freezing continued. So after the above I was lead to believe the problem must be the either the Motherboard, CPU or PSU.

This week I first replaced the PSU with a brand new Corsair 650M and when the problem persisted I then replaced the Motherboard with an ASUS Prime H270-Plus.
The problem continues.

I feel that the above pretty much points to the CPU being the issue. I've been told this is extremely rare however, and after dropping $200 on parts that apparently didn't need replacing, I'm a bit hesitant to do the same with a CPU without being super sure.

Have I missed a step in this diagnosis? Is there anything else I can do that would confirm or reject my hypothesis? Please help!

Worst of all, the CPU is the one part that I can't seem to find the box/warranty info for. I have them for literally every other part. Spewing.
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Was the tests carried out while breadboarded? You might also want to see if you're on the latest BIOS for your motherboard. I'd also inspect the CPU's socket for any bent/broken pins. I'm not going to bring up the Corsair CX600 unit, so long as it hasn't been used since it was replaced. What is the model for the new Corsair PSU?

You might want to try another wall outlet in your household and see if that also helps with stability. Also, to note, can you remain in BISO indefinitely?
 
Dec 5, 2018
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0
10


Not Breadboarded in the strictest sense, it's still in it's case and I didn't unplugged the case fans/lights, so that would be something to try I guess. Other than that though, I have all recent tests on the bare minimum - 1 stick of ram, no graphics card, no hard drives (only ssd or usb), nothing else plugged into the PSU.

The new PSU is a Corsair CX650M 80 Plus Bronze one. I did update the BIOS on the previous motherboard, forgot to mention that. Haven't done it on the new one yet.

I'll try again out of the case and report back.