1333 Bird's performance slipping

[Colin]

This is more of an FYI post. The 1333 AXIA Bird I picked up a month ago is in the process of dying. When I first got it, 1575 mHz was stable. Today I had to drop another 10 mHz to 1450. It's running at 1.92 volts, so too much juice is not the problem. Everything else in my system is fine, other CPUs do not exhibit this problem. I suppose I will get a new Bird at the computer show in Bakersfield in a couple of weeks.

[TT120]

Y'know, I was thinking the same thing about my 1333 bird. Figured maybe all that voltage was frying it somehow, but it turned out to be my motherboard. After about 1 1/2 months, the MoBo was giving out. I took it back to the vendor and told him what was happening and he gave me a new one just like that. Almost like he's heard it all many times before. What kind of board do you have?

[Colin]

KT7A-R and they would laugh at me if I tried to RMA it. :) See for your self:
[img="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=48642929"]

I have 5 KT7 series boards and three of the KT7A-Rs were DOA. The fact that other CPUs work fine leads me to suspect the Bird. Rockhammer had the same problem with a Duron but it had been running for several months at over 2.2 volts.

[ken257]

I have had the same problem several times. It turned out to be a problem with Artic Silver 1 grease. After running at sub-zero temps for about a week I would have to keep lowering the speed to maintain stability. Cleaning it up good and appling freash grease gets me back up to full speed again. I have gone through this cycle about 5 times now. It could be that the grease never gets "set" because the system is never run hot or the combination of high clamping pressure and extream cold? Believe it or not Radio Shack grease is not exibiting this behavior it's been about 1 month now and no problems yet running at 1656. I have to try some AS2 as they claim it is improved for low temps.

[Colin]

Artic Silver II has some changes to viscosity that make it easier to apply and get consistent results. There have been quite a few comments on the Net about Artic Silver problems and low temps. I have never experienced a problem. I have also been in contact with a fellow at Michigan State University who is using Artic Silver for Cryogenic experiments. It’s functioning at 87K or –186C and is the best thermal grease they have tested.

[ken257]

Thanks for the info. At least I know I am not alone with the AS1 problem. Picked up some AS2 and will give it a shot in a couple of days when I take the system apart to test out a new cpu. It's kind of strange after about a year of use I don't have a problem with AS1 in any other systems just with the chilled water.