How Do I Find Out if My CPU Is Dying???

[PCKid777]

Before: My Athlon XP-M 2600+ ran at 218Mhz x 11 = 2.4Ghz @ 1.65V

Then: Upon RMAing my MB (due to defective RAM slot) my OC went to 210Mhz x11 = 2.3Ghz @ 1.65V. Any higher Vcore (i.e. 1.75) could NOT get it stable at the past 2.4Ghz setting.

Afterwards: (After downloading the COD2 update 1.3) My OC became unstable, forcing me to downclock. It has played COD2 fine at 167Mhz x12.5 @ 1.625V.

Questions: What is happening to my CPU? Could it just be a software/bug issue and NOT the hardware? Or is the higher voltage (Stock 1.45V vs. current 1.65V) making it unstable? Could I have damaged the silicon when I tried to find a max OC by increasing the volts to 1.8V (temperature was fine. Idle was ~ 107F) Or is it that maybe the FSB is getting to it???

Notes: ASUS Probe has NOT detected any serious voltage fluctuations. I have the settings at roughly 5% variations, NO warnings have popped up. Also, I have ran Memtest86 at a 200Mhz x 11 @ 1.65V setting for a couple hours (on a "Test All Memory" setting) with NO errors. 200Mhz x 11 @ 1.65V is an UNSTABLE setting too.

 

[sailer]

Its possible that you damaged the CPU when you overclocked. You might not have noticed any smoke, etc, but something just burned a little and more resistance is now present somewhere. A better possibility is that the tolerance of new motherboard is just not allowing the speed that you want. Remember, just because you could do it one board, doesn't meant that you can do it on another. Stability issues, such as you found in COD2 happen. Part of it might be software, part might be hardware.

The ASUS probe and memtest86 say there aren't any errors. That part's good, but it doesn't help your overclock problem. It might well be time to look for another CPU, and a faster one at that, as they're relatively cheap. Don't know what else to say at this time.

 

[PCKid777]

Only problem is, I invested the rest of my money into this thing (new GPU and the CPU - since it was supposedly a great OCer) so that it could last me till the end of my senior year, and that aint till next year....

Now, my CPU is at 166Mhz x 12.5 @ 1.65V and my PC will NOT resume from standby mode. 🙁 I hope that this new GPU isn't going out on me and that it's just a CPU issue. Argghh... I swear, I have had the worst luck with my computer and I will NEVER build another PC again until I have enough money to build it RIGHT the first time.

 

[sailer]

You can try calling tech support on your GPU. If its under warrenty, they might RMA it. One advantage to putting things together one piece at a time is that if something odd happens, it probably concerns the new piece and you don't have to start guessing which piece is wrong.

Word of advice for the future. Though overclocking, etc sounds good, never do it with something that you can't afford to replace should it fry. A minor overclock can usually be done without too much risk, but the further you stress something, the riskier it gets. Then it can get expensive quick.

 

[PCKid777]

Well, after some more testing, I don't think its the GPU. I tried another spec (210Mhz x 11 = 2.3Ghz and resume from standby worked fine, but its UNSTABLE on COD2, UNLIKE the 166Mhz x 12.5 = 2.08Ghz setting. Both were at 1.65V. My CPU must be picky about its settings....)

Granted, OCing does limit the lifespan of components, but I generally try to OC with certain limits (i.e. I try find the max OC for a certain model, and then I try to stay below that for a normal operating speed. As for this CPU, wusy even told me once that I should be able to hit 2.5~2.6Ghz easily; I can hit 2.6Ghz ONLY at 1.8V and it is completely unstable - I hope that didn't damage it)

Anyways, my GPU has been OCed, but that has NOT affected the stability of my PC. Too bad I weren't a millionaire, I'd just buy another...

 

[Redline24]

No! All wrong! His CPU is perfectly fine!

The nForce2/U chipset was only meant to handle an external clock of 200, no higher (and that's just what it does w/o extra voltage). Your RMAed motherboard was unique, a rare one that was able to overcome that frequency. Just back down to 12 * 200 and, given proper CPU voltage, you'll run fine at 2.4GHz again.

 

[PCKid777]

Thanks for the reply. I actually didn't know that, as I thought Nvidia chipsets were able to OC. However, the MB managed to handle a FSB setting of 420Mhz when I ran my CPU at 210 x 11.

Either way, I have done extensive testing (replaced CPU, changed VGA card, Memtest86, writing zeroes to HDDs, new drivers, etc...) and determined that the MB is defective. Perhaps I killed it by running it at that FSB.

On another note, for some reason my XP-M hates running at a 200Mhz setting :? . Perhaps the "unique" MB that I had just liked running faster, and perhaps this defective MB just hates it.