Real Close Call

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

The fastest clock I could get at stock voltage was 2220. My goal was 2300. 1.55 volts wasn't enough. So I decided to go up to 1.6... Big mistake. I was using Easy Tune 4 in Windows, and as soon as I clicked on the go button I hear something like a steam valve releasing or water hitting a piece of red hot metal and look to see smoke comming out of the back fan on my computer and it is all in the case comming off around the waterblock. As soon as i saw this I hit the power switch on the PSU. I let it power down and switched it back on thinking there is no way in heck it will even post. Sure enough it booted fine, temps haven't changed either. Just wonder what made the smoke, maybe the thermal compound? Forgive me I might be getting high from the smell of burning electronic components.

Sentential · Mar 14, 2004

Umm....

smoke = bad.

I woulda taken apart the whole PC if I saw that. There is no way in hell I would aggervate the problem by immediatly turning the PC on.

I would seriously dis-assemble ur PC b4 using it for long periods of time.

________________

Check ur fans....one mighta died on ya

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

I can't take a processor appart... I think any dammage that occured happend in that split second of my stupidity. Seems like that's the way it is most times.

c627627 · Mar 14, 2004

Your sig is missing one of the most important pieces of info, the PSU brand. If it's a cheapo, there's your trouble regardless of wattage.

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

c627627 said:
Your sig is missing one of the most important pieces of info, the PSU brand. If it's a cheapo, there's your trouble regardless of wattage.

I'm not sure how this relates to Vcore voltages... so please feel free to explain, And I thought I was running out of room in my sig, my PSU is a 450w Antec.

c627627 · Mar 14, 2004

The PSU brand is one of the most important things in overclocking. It affects how high you overclock very much.

Even a 300 watt Fortron is better than a cheapo no name so called 500 watter with which you can't overclock much.

Antec used to be one of the most reputable brands, alas:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=279141

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

Well the power connectors on the motherboard are fine, the smoke came from the processor. After reading that, I'm more concerned about the +5 reading 3.9v in this Easy Tune4 program. The system is stable at stock and up to 2200 though.

The Coolest · Mar 14, 2004

Try MBM5

redface · Mar 14, 2004

So is your processor sticked to your waterblock?
Wow that sounds bad.

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

The Coolest said:
Try MBM5

Well the voltages are normal now 4.9-5.0

As far as the physical condition of the processor, I'm not sure, I hope it's not melted to the socket.

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

Edit. MBM shows similar voltages as Easy Tune4. Problem is they conflict with the fan sensors and MBM makes low fan alarms in Easy Tune go off. I notice after watching the voltages, when the computer is cold and just booted the 5+ rail is normal, but as the computer is running it begins to fall off it is down to 3.9v now. Did I kill my psu?

redface · Mar 14, 2004

I burnt my floppy drive power cable once (by attaching 3/4 pins) and luckily my PSU have overcurrent protection. The smell was awful.

That looks like a small case when compared to yours. Maybe we'll get more reports about smoking overvolted A64s as more and more people own them.

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

Well I have more concern. The Dhrystone and Whetstone tests are below the given ammounts for a 2GHz P4 on Sandra. My first benchmark before this was way above what it is now. Think I fryed part of the processor? I need some advice, or is it the low psu output?

redface · Mar 14, 2004

i guess you probably got some toasted cache.
maybe you should inspect your cpu with good lighting and a magnifying glass if possible...

Steven4563 · Mar 14, 2004

have u got a multimeter that will tell u about psu

try to run 3Dmark2001 and see the score that can give us an idea about cpu being burnt out

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

redface said:
i guess you probably got some toasted cache.
maybe you should inspect your cpu with good lighting and a magnifying glass if possible...

The Sandra readout shows no errors, just a low score. As far as testing the psu, yes I have a multimeter, but explain how to test the output while the psu is on. I also inspected the cpu itself, there are no signs of dammage on the board or socket, or the CPU, the AMD 64 has a die the size of the entire processor, so you cannot see any leads on the top.

340Duster · Mar 14, 2004

More info. Still with the lower 5+ line my 3DMark03 score dropped from the 5800's to 5253. And I notice in the Sandra readout, there is only showing an L2 Cache

340Duster · Mar 15, 2004

*bump* Anyone with any suggestions?

ChillPhatCat · Mar 15, 2004

The A64 has a heat spreader... you'd have to take that off before you saw the core.

I think you toasted some part of the CPU... I wouldn't think that the PSU would do this... You need to check teh PSU first to make sure it's in good order, then pull the CPU out and see what it looks like... and there is a possibility that the Mobo is gone... so check for burn spots.

340Duster · Mar 15, 2004

ChillPhatCat said:
The A64 has a heat spreader... you'd have to take that off before you saw the core.

I think you toasted some part of the CPU... I wouldn't think that the PSU would do this... You need to check teh PSU first to make sure it's in good order, then pull the CPU out and see what it looks like... and there is a possibility that the Mobo is gone... so check for burn spots.

Not what I really want to hear, but I believe you're right. The motherboard appears fine, the socket looks normal and so do all caps and surrounding parts. I'm not sure if I want to attempt taking off the heatspreader on the proc, that's new info to me. The low voltage on the 5+ rail is another concern, it drops to about 4v after 5-10 minutes of usage. The system remains stable though even at this low voltage. Hass anyone else with an athlon 64 had the vcore to 1.6 with no problems?

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