Have you oc'd stable for a while and then become unstable??

[anvil]

I have run my p3 750 stable at 1gig for several weeks. Yesterday, I thought I would see how stable it was at 1035 these days (it has run Prime95 stable there as long as I kept the temps low, but not at room temperatures).

So I dropped a chunk of ice in the bucket, set the fsb up to 138, and fired her up.

Bang! Registry errors. In the past it always went to windows. So now it is no go, ... I drop back to 133. Boots okay, but now Prime95 won't go at 1gig, ... I've lost ground!

Reseat the boards. Lower the speed to 968 (129 fsb). Run Prime95 torture test through completely.

Try to climb back to the gig (133 fsb). Success!! Now Prime95 is solid once more!

I'm happy again, but worried.

Can trying a small increase mess the stable oc up??

Remember, there were no high voltages or temperatures in any of this.

Your thoughts??

anvil

[outhouse]

sometimes if your registry gets out of wack from overclocking this can cause a loss of stability it may be time to reformat and reinstall windows, some people have noted that reinstalling windows and formatting has let them overclock higher without any problems to begin with, its hard to say if its windows or maybe you got your CPU a little worn in too much i think i would start with windows and keep my fingers crossed. i lost stability once but it was because i tried to burn in by getting my CPU a little warm 50C and i lost about 25MHZ but when i got more CV i gained it back but who knows i might have been up around 1275 if i didnt try that but who knows 167FSB is really throwing PCI and AGP out of wack.

good luck

[JAWS]

When I take it over 900 it will run for about 2-3 hours, but
then it freezes up. (Usually when I'm gaming or downloading) Hopefully that will stop after I get my cak38.

[LutaWicasa]

Sometimes you can experience instability after having sucessfully oc'ed for a while due to funk buildup on hs, fans and sometimes a general breakdown of thermal compound. Pull and clean hs, chip etc, reapply thermal goop and wind'er up.

[anvil]

LutaWicasa,

That seems a reasonable thought. The junk on the fans is obvious, but the idea that thermal compound might break down over time is subtle and hard to observe.

Maybe we should run programs like Seti or Prime95 in the background all the time. If we start picking up errors then maybe it is time to clean that baby up!

So far no one is suggesting that a mild overclock is destroying an otherwise stable system, ... that was what I was most worried about!

anvil

[outhouse]

anvil (Jun 19, 2001 08:04 a.m.):
LutaWicasa,

That seems a reasonable thought. The junk on the fans is obvious, but the idea that thermal compound might break down over time is subtle and hard to observe.

I think when you need to worry about your thermal compound is when your using arctic silver, radioshack stuff does not degrade the way AS does.

Maybe we should run programs like Seti or Prime95 in the background all the time. If we start picking up errors then maybe it is time to clean that baby up!

Come join us in the Seti forum we are always looking for new members to the overclockers.com team

So far no one is suggesting that a mild overclock is destroying an otherwise stable system, ... that was what I was most worried about!

DUDE 250mhz is not mild thats a sweet overclock :) you wont have to worry about messing up your CPU when overcloking as long as your not running excesive CV or running it to hot enjoy.

anvil

[anvil]

I'm sorry. You are right, 1000 + on a 750 is not a mild overclock. I should have said a small "increase" in your oc! I'm not greedy. Very happy I got it, but I just keep wanting to push just a little bit more. Bad habit.

Confession over, ... gotta go get another block of ice for the bucket! It will be coool, ... I promise!

anvil

[Slash]

Losing stability after a successful OC is normal. This happens all the time. Just yesterday i thought i finally got my P4 1.5 to run at 1.875 but after 15 minutes it crashed ;p .... oh well..

the reason ur comp crashes after 2-3 hours is because it most likely overheats. As you do more and stress the CPU it'll heat up a LOT... so try getting better cooling?

the reformatin idea is pretty interesting as well... I think i might do that today myself ;p