660 horror story anyone have a clue wtf happend here?

[hawtrawkr]

well i got my new p4 660 in last night as well as my new ocz pc2 4200 eb 512x2 kit. i put everything in and fired it up everything went fine so i started working on the clock. i got it up to about 4.5ghz with 1.45v and was in the middle of a superpi run when the system freezes. i think no big deal and try to reboot and get back into the bios. well when i go to reboot nothing happens. i dont hear a post code but everything fires up i hear the hdd spining all the system fans are going everything looks good but i have no output to the monitor and as ive mentioned no post code. i tried to jump the cmos and clear the bios i disconnected power and removed the battery for 10 minutes still nothing.

at this point i decide to start troubleshooting through the order of operations when the motherboard starts up. as before theres no post but everything seems to fire up and work i check my x850xt and theres voltage showing that its going to the gpu but theres nothing going out to the monitor. i throw in a old crapster pci card and it doesnt work either. i then replace the ocz memory with my crapstor pqi and still nothing. so sadly i start to narrow in on the cpu (had been hoping it was something else but where we are) i took the 660 out and put my 640 back in. lol still nothing! at this point im thinking "man wtf have i done thats caused this mobo to go out on me" and i was partially relieved because id rather replace a 200$ mobo than a 600$ cpu.
i try a couple more things like making sure the psu is workign and all that yada and still nothing. :shrug: at this point i realize its wednesday and i have to determine just whats wrong so i can order a replacment nextday air by tomorrow morining and hope it will arrive by the weekend. i had to go talk to a friend for a few minutes and the whole while im brainstorming about what went wrong and what i coud do but finally decide to order a new mobo since it was the only thing that was a constant throughout the whole ordeal.

well i get home about 2 hours after i left the whole time running through my mine what might have happend. all i can think is some how condesation got to the cpu which i really dont get because it was very well insulated and it isnt my first time around the block with regards to freezing cpus. so i place an order for a new mobo and then go back to my room and sit there staring at my broken rig and still running things through my head and well i cant stare at a tower for long without playing with it so i try to fire it up again, and it posts!!!
so now im thinking wtf is going on here i pull out the pqi memory and put the ocz back in. it makes a long beep and gives me a post code error. i remove the ocz and replace it with the pqi and it posts. now im thinking ok lets throw this 660 back in with the pqi which i then do and nothing happens. so now im really like wtf is my memory bad or my cpu or both. i then put the 640 back in this time with one stick of the ocz and i get the long post code. then i put the other stick in by itself and it posts like normal. at this point im basicly sitting here with one dead cpu and a defective memory stick both of which were working fine after i initially installed them.

what im wondering is wtf could have caused these to go out? the cpu im almost 100% is dead and the one stick of memory im sure is. the memory im going to rma since i never ran it @ its stock speeds even and only @ 1.9v the cpu im stuck with because i oced and over volted it and that sux.

i just find it hard to believe that they both just happened to go out on me at the exact same time. i keep thinking theres some common denominator that caused these 2 to fail toghether but i cant think of what it is if it was just condensation killing the cpu what would the memory care? could the cpu have killed the memory or vice versa? ive never heard of anything like that before but im at a loss here.

any help or ideas on what could have happend would be much appreciated i just put a order in for a new 660 and some new ocz pc2 4200 would hate to have a repeat performance of last night when they get here........ :rolleyes:

[TTP]

well i got my new p4 660 in last night as well as my new ocz pc2 4200 eb 512x2 kit. i put everything in and fired it up everything went fine so i started working on the clock. i got it up to about 4.5ghz with 1.45v and was in the middle of a superpi run when the system freezes. i think no big deal and try to reboot and get back into the bios. well when i go to reboot nothing happens. i dont hear a post code but everything fires up i hear the hdd spining all the system fans are going everything looks good but i have no output to the monitor and as ive mentioned no post code. i tried to jump the cmos and clear the bios i disconnected power and removed the battery for 10 minutes still nothing. ...

It's either the CPU or motherboard if you don't hear any POST indication. Try swapping another CPU to see.

[hawtrawkr]

im about 99% the cpu is dead the mobo is working because im posting this reply on it with my 640 and pqi memory.

what im wondering is wtf could have caused one of my memory sticks and my cpu to both suddenly go bad.

i ordered another cpu and ram and dont want a repeat performance of last night and for the life of me cant think of what could have caused this.

i pondered that maybe the bios was currupted by the new memory somehow but that wouldnt ruin one of the memory sticks and the cpu it would just fook up the bios wouldnt it? that and its working fine now with the 640 and pqi but last night when i put them in the first time it didnt.

[Gautam]

This is very similar to what happened when one of my systems dropped dead two years ago. I was just websurfing, and it froze. It would never POST again. Turned out the CPU and motherboard died. I am still not 100% sure what caused it, but most agreed that it was a power spike, which makes sense to me. I was using a very old surge protector, and had a space heater running in the same room. The house's circuitry itself was pretty old which didn't help.

What sort of appliances are you running, and what type of surge protector, if any?

[hawtrawkr]

This is very similar to what happened when one of my systems dropped dead two years ago. I was just websurfing, and it froze. It would never POST again. Turned out the CPU and motherboard died. I am still not 100% sure what caused it, but most agreed that it was a power spike, which makes sense to me. I was using a very old surge protector, and had a space heater running in the same room. The house's circuitry itself was pretty old which didn't help.

What sort of appliances are you running, and what type of surge protector, if any?

omfg you might be onto something i have a old surgeprotector that might not be protecting anything i noticed a weird little jolt on my monitor and heard on my speakers only happend for a second when i was rebooting maybe thats what happend wonder why my mobo x850xt and the one stick of the ram lived.

weirdist thing ive ever had happen to me since i started ocing a couple years ago. think before my new crap gets here tomorrow ill run out and get a ups. :bang head

if this is what has happend im kicking myself for using a older cheap surge protector on all my new hardware but ill be ecstatic to just have some closure on wtf happend its been driving me nuts and i havent been able to think about much of anything but this today and its incredibly distracting.....

[aNTiChRisT]

I'm sure you've already tried, but what about flashing to the latest bios?

~t0m

[hawtrawkr]

What sort of appliances are you running, and what type of surge protector, if any?


off this circuit it should pretty much just be everything in my sig and a room fan blowing on it :) . my friend brought his pc over and its been running on the other side of the room so there is a decent power draw up here.

as far as surge protection its just going through a crappy probably 4yr old surgemaster powerstrip :rolleyes: (will probably become a physical reminder of a expensive lesson learned here though) luckily i wouldnt oc if i couldnt bear a loss here or there. just wish i could have learned it with a 200$ cpu instead of the most expensive one ive ever bought. (it beats out my p3 500 i got for 550 when they launched! lol)

[hawtrawkr]

I'm sure you've already tried, but what about flashing to the latest bios?

~t0m

i already had the latest bios when i was able to get to boot back into windows with my 640 i flashed it again just to make sure everything was kosher with it and hadnt been corrupted any. I didnt think it had at that point but i worried about it earlier so i just wanted to cover all the bases

i had to have most recent bios to support the ocz eb memory

[LabRat23]

Just curious: I see you have a vapochill. Is your mobo outside of the case?

I have mine just sitting on my desk on a peice of foam insulation. Worked fine until one day it would not post. Everything would run. The hard drive spun up, the memory got warm, the graphics card ran but with no output. By chance I discovered if I grounded the card with a pair of aligator clips, it would work just fine. The clip is attached to the metal on the parrallel port and the case of the psu (which should be an earth ground). If I take the clip off: Crash.

Your situation sounds just like mine, I hope all it needs is to be grounded.

[hawtrawkr]

Just curious: I see you have a vapochill. Is your mobo outside of the case?

I have mine just sitting on my desk on a peice of foam insulation. Worked fine until one day it would not post. Everything would run. The hard drive spun up, the memory got warm, the graphics card ran but with no output. By chance I discovered if I grounded the card with a pair of aligator clips, it would work just fine. The clip is attached to the metal on the parrallel port and the case of the psu (which should be an earth ground). If I take the clip off: Crash.

Your situation sounds just like mine, I hope all it needs is to be grounded.

well i wish this was the case but i dont think this is what happened to me. the 640 i put in it worked ok after a little bit of a bewilderment period as i figured out that one of the ocz sticks had gone out on me as well. im seriously leaning towards this being a power spike/surge problem i just got home from getting a new protector with a breaker built in trip to tide me over till i can get a ups.

needless to say ill be keeping the 660 around and will play with it again sometime before turning it into a 600$ keychain i just think the outlook on it is grim.

[clash]

If I take the clip off: Crash.
But he is using the same computer now, with a different cpu and ram in it...

[itchy5]

lol i love dead hardware stories :santa: lol at first i thought you got condensation on the CPU then i remebered up at TXGF we were messing around with a x850xt and it was water logged :bang head one of the memory chips was frozen over and i saw some water droplets on the edges of the PCB :rolleyes: we let it sit after spashing it with alcohol for good luck :p and went to bed came back and it booted up no problem :cool: but ya it sounds like you got a good unlucky jolt to the system :argue:

[Sentential]

You check your PSU? Digits did the same damn thing with a Fortron

[hawtrawkr]

You check your PSU? Digits did the same damn thing with a Fortron

psu appeared to be working as it should.

[warlock110]

power spike is most likely the problem. bad news, i'm glab i just bought some backup battery unit.

[hawtrawkr]

man im lost again i got a new 660 and put it in and it does the same fookin thing! the 640 works in it and my other 660 did for about a half hour how come the new 660 wont work but the 640 will?!?!

on the post code it shows 9.0 which means the uguru has finished initilizing and the bios will take over..... but it doesnt take over and im not getting a post beep. starting to drive me insane here is it possible the motherboard/bios is messed up and will only work a 640 and not a 660?

i layed down some severe dielectric grease is it possible i put so much on that the way the 775 works its not making enough contact with the cpu? im going to let the chip and the evap head warm up a bit then take it out and see wtf is going on here again. i still think the first chip died from the powerspike this 2nd one maybe just isnt making good enough contact or something like that i hope....... lol not been my luckiest week here.

[mattspalace]

Does the new 660 boot with the PCI card? I'm just thinking that your PSU isn't putting out enough power (which seems strange). Thermal spec for the 660 is higher than the 640 I think - 640 is 84W. I think the 660 is 110W, but I can't remember for sure.

Maybe you should try reflashing the bios - just in case. Couldn't hurt anyway.

You've tried about everything I would..

[mattspalace]

actually the 660 may be 115W now that I look at Intel's spec sheet.

[hawtrawkr]

well i let it warm up a bit and took off the clamshell i removed the cpu and noticed that there were some bent pins in the mobo im straightening them out now i must have done it when i was spreading the dielectric grease around the pins. now i see why the vapochill head instructions didnt say to put anything in there. :shrug: well hopefully once i get these all straightend out i can found out if ive burnt up 2 600$ cpus in 3 days time. sheesh this isnt my week i put the dielectric greese in so carefully didnt realize how easy these pins are to move.

[hawtrawkr]

on a brighter note i still have my new ocz eb pc2 4200 kit to play with :)

[fordf250]

I bent a pin in the middle but was able to get it straight, they are hard to see sometimes.Wonder why the 640 still worked, maybe it was a power pin or two and the 640 gets its lower watt rating from less power feeds.That would explain why my 540 ran cooler at 3.6 then my 560 did.

[hawtrawkr]

well i think i may have bent them while i was putting in the dielectric greese.

are the pins straight up or do they all slant slightly? all of mine look like they are slanted and i dont know if ive managed to bend everypin by seating it wrong somehow or if the few that are sticking up are the bent ones.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

i remember seeing a REAAAAAAALLY close blown up picture of the 775 socket, they are all little pins that are bent over. Think of it to allow for them to bend slightly to take up any inconsistancies in the chips contacts, or pins on the MOBO.

EDIT: This ones not very clear, http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?src=/images/cpu/lga775/lga-5.jpg&1=1

EDIT2: This ones better http://www.hardcoreware.net/image.php?src=2797&ts=1087642467

[Stratcat]

Hey man, sorry ur havin' so many probs -

OK - MHO:

1 - 660 cpu runs fine for 1/2 hour & dies during phase-change OCing - Definitely sounds h/w related, even if only due to a temporary condition (i.e. condensation).

2 - Droppingi in a 640 & new sticks still results in a DOA sys - Now we've got multiple h/w failures w/a comon denominator (i.e. mobo or supposed possible pwr spike)

3 - Sys is in off state for two hours, & then boots fine - Sounds like a condensation or thermal issue. Pwr spike theory "appears" to be incorrect now.

4 - Further investigation shows a single memory stick & the 660 (relying on your investgative abilities) died - OK, condensation "could" have messed with the 660, but would also have had to affect the mobo in such a way as to cause it to be incompatible with, or kill the non-working memory stick - This is starting to become a bit of a "reach" (but still some possiblity, I suppose) to come to a condensation conclusion.

5 - Sys is working fine w/the 640, then is DOA again when "new" 660 is dropped in - Now, the only theory left (except for whatever, if anything, you "may" have done messing w/the pins & grease), is the mobo does not like the 660, for some reason (this still doesn't explaine the dead memory stick, unless were still sticking w/the condensation theory, but to the point that mobo condensation damage occured affecting only 660's, BUT NOT 640's) - This is *really* starting to become quite a "reach", IMO.

+++

OK - Seems like it might possibly be a BIOS issue, but this is a real shot-in-the-dark, & seems too much of a long-shot, 'cuz the 660 DID run fine for 1/2 an hour, and IME, either the proc works, or doesn't, when there's been a cpu BIOS support issue. Even though the BIOS is a long shot, I'd still be looking at the mobo, since it seems the only real common denominator. The "wait two hours & it works" thing, w/the 640, does really seem weird, but could definitely be the result of condensation, and I suppose enough condensation could fry something on the mobo.

Here's what I'd do: While your ordering $600 cpus & $300 memory, grab a very basic & inexpensive, BUT HIGH QUALITY mobo, that supports your LGA 600 series procs, DDR-II, PCI-E16 gfx, etc. Maybe one of the low end Asus i915's, for around $100. I've always had excellent experience w/Asus, and they're usually very good w/getting the BIOS' out supporting new procs & features. Not tryin' to be an Asus fanboi, but it's JMO/E.

This way, for very little cash outlay, you'll have another test-bed for all your components, and can avoid a lot of the "go/no go" individual component troubleshooting, along w/all the BS involved in RMAing & shipping. I've got six similar sytems here, and there's nothing like being able to troubleshoot to absolute certainty, before doin' an RMA. You can even stuff the mobo w/inexpensive components, skip the case, KB, mouse & monitor, & then run it & your "main rig system" off a $20 Trendnet KVM. That way you'll have an inexpensive back-up sys, & everything will be open and exposed for troubleshooting & component testing projects.

Well, just my thoughts. I know you know your stuff. An inexpensive spare mobo/system can be one more tool in your troubleshooting arsenal. Having spare systems around, saved my A** a hell of a lot of troubleshooting & head scratching, over the years, that's for sure.

Good Luck, Man.

(and quit bending the friggin' pins!) :D

Strat

[hawtrawkr]

yeah the new mobo is going to get here tuesday im still laughing though the entire 2 years id been ocing with a s478 system my 2 s754 a64s and my s939 a64 rigs the only thing id ever fried was an ic7-g like 3-4 weeks ago doing a suicide run really now this 775 has turned into a total nightmare for me......

[freeagent]

i guess so, a grand worth of cpus up in smoke, tho not so litterally, man thats tuff, i feel for you brotha.

[Stratcat]

yeah the new mobo is going to get here tuesday im still laughing though the entire 2 years id been ocing with a s478 system my 2 s754 a64s and my s939 a64 rigs the only thing id ever fried was an ic7-g like 3-4 weeks ago doing a suicide run really now this 775 has turned into a total nightmare for me......Well, I've never played around w/a Promie, but I suspect once you go phase-change it's a whole new ball game.

Heh - Once I went to a C0 stepping S478 Pressie it became a whole new ball game...and that was just on air! :rolleyes:

Since it appears to be the mobo, you never know: The other components you thought you killed (cpu-RAM-whatever), might actually be fine.

Strat

<EDIT>

Just saw the "suicide run" part - Guess you'll be hanging out at XS now, huh??? ;) :D

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Since it appears to be the mobo, you never know: The other components you thought you killed (cpu-RAM-whatever), might actually be fine.



What ^^^ said. I don't see the chances being very likely that you fried one 660, and newegg sent a DOA 660. I think its problems with your pins in the socket.

Over in the DFI forum somebody said they had a limited over clock compared to what they were getting. Needless to say they found a bent pin. After a successful attempt at trying to bend it back, his OC was restored.

The importance of different pin outs on the 640 and 660 may not be equal. Meaning, that if one contact wasn't touching on the 640, it might still boot fine. If that same contact wasn't touching on the 660, it might not be enough to run.


Have you considered just using air cooling until everything is sorted out? so you don't have to keep messing with all this grease and prommie?

[fordf250]

The thin part of the pin is staight up and down, then the pin bends 90degs to a wide flat triangular piece. I think the socket is hollow behind this piece and it is what bends to give preasure to the pins. They have to hold contact with the cpu but be able to bent a bit with cpu preasure.If you had dialectric grease behind the flat part of the pin it might not let it flex and the pin top would bend . Did that make any sense?

[Super Nade]

^^ He makes a very good point. I would try air cooling witha heavy HSF to minimize any pin-contact problems.

[hawtrawkr]

yeah im going to get a new mobo on tuesday and put it in without any grease to see whats up as it stands now i cant even get the 640 to boot up so hopefully that means the problems just with the board and my 640 and new 660 are still ok.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

I think all your CPU's are ok, I'm not completely sold that one of those sticks are burned up either.... make sure you try them individually on the new mobo. Which board are you getting? same one you got now or just a cheapy to test with?

[jchsatx09]

Hawk - do you just have money to burn, or what?

[Sucka]

Hawk - do you just have money to burn, or what?

I wonder that same thing....lol New sig pops up weekly, i love it :p

[SolidxSnake]

man, that sucks ASS...

but my neighbors, he has an AMD64 system, and his board has a VIA chipset.. 3 slots of ram... if he puts anything in the 3rd slot, no post/display...

[crotale]

hawtrawkr: Some ideas... I've been playing around a little with phase change and I have killed a CPU and have had problems with condensation.
I would guess there is something strange with the mobo, which might have been caused by the PSU, even though the PSU looks to be fine now. Meassure the rails with a DMM while you try to boot it up.

Have you tried running stock cooling, and let the mobo dry for a couple of days? Condensation can cause really tricky problems.

With the working components, is the system Prime stable? If not, something might have happend to the power regulation on the mobo, which might be a reason for the 660 not to boot.
These CPU also have diffrent TDS ratings (as mentioned above), which could initiate diffrent power procedures during post.

[hawtrawkr]

Hawk - do you just have money to burn, or what?

i have some money to burn im not at my limit yet. :)

im going to get another aa8xe fatal1ty to play with unless dfi releases its 925xe board before i can put in the order to the egg monday morning for next day.

where i stand right now i cant even get the 640 and pqi combo to boot and i cant help but think its pin related now. i got all the pins bent back so there arent any screwed up at least visually and when i lightly run my fingers over them but im still not posting i get the same post code 9.0 and i wouldnt be suprised to find that a couple pins arent screwed up still as its all but impossible to go over 775 tiny pins like that.

im not thinking this is condensation related because i came home on my lunch hour and turned off my system then put the new 660 when i got home 5 hours later and it wouldnt even boot up. id think if it was condensation id experience the problem after its had some time to run rather than right off the bat also like ive mentioned this isnt my first time around the block with freezing cpus just my first experiences with 775. i think when i get my new board im going to hook everythign up and follow the directions that came with my new vapochill clamshell and not put any dieelctric grease on the pins.

im still thinking that my first 660 is fried though im sure the one stick of ram is because i put one stick in and it worked fine but when i put the crapped out stick in i got the post fault when i tried to boot up. the pqi worked fine and the one stick worked fine but as soon as id put the stick in question in it wouldnt post.

needless to say when i get my new mobo in im going to test both the 660s and my 640 im hoping my new 660 and my old 640 didnt get fooked up by the bent pins or anything like that though. :bang head

amazing to me that ive never had a problem like this then i get nothing but problems. guess the past couple years are all catching up to me. i read through the directions for the vapochill and it didnt say to put the dielectric grease around the pins like it did with my s478 kit i just didnt want to have any air around the pins whatsoever because air=humidity which = condensation but maybe they dont want you to use the grease on the pins because of problems theyve had. :shrug:

[hawtrawkr]

I wonder that same thing....lol New sig pops up weekly, i love it :p


no your wrong its every other week!

[hawtrawkr]

With the working components, is the system Prime stable? If not, something might have happend to the power regulation on the mobo, which might be a reason for the 660 not to boot.
These CPU also have diffrent TDS ratings (as mentioned above), which could initiate diffrent power procedures during post.


when i got the 640 back in the other day it would run fine i clocked it up to 4.7 and it ran a 32m super pi with a instance of p95 going in the background (ive been using this as a quick stability check that takes about a half hour and puts a good amount of stress on the system)

i think i may have put to much dielectric grease in and caused a problem with it when i was installing my 660. afterwards i couldnt get my 640 going again and now i cant even play planetside this weekend my main system will most likely be down until tuesday when my new board should get here.

have to type this on my crappy a64 :rolleyes:

[Sucka]

no your wrong its every other week!

lol....i'm not really one to talk myself. I've always got something new coming. /me checks Fed-Ex for PC-4000 VX status :p

[hawtrawkr]

With the working components, is the system Prime stable? If not, something might have happend to the power regulation on the mobo, which might be a reason for the 660 not to boot.
These CPU also have diffrent TDS ratings (as mentioned above), which could initiate diffrent power procedures during post.


when i got the 640 back in the other day it would run fine i clocked it up to 4.7 and it ran a 32m super pi with a instance of p95 going in the background (ive been using this as a quick stability check that takes about a half hour and puts a good amount of stress on the system)

i think i may have put to much dielectric grease in and caused a problem with it when i was installing my 660. afterwards i couldnt get my 640 going again and now i cant even play planetside this weekend and my main system will most likely be down until tuesday when my new board should get here.

have to type this on my crappy a64 :rolleyes:

[hawtrawkr]

lol....i'm not really one to talk myself. I've always got something new coming. /me checks Fed-Ex for PC-4000 VX status :p


yeah i was going to say of all people to point a finger!

youll always have me with hte fx-55 though well until the 57 comes out ive all but decided im going to get one.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

So you are assuming the grease got between the contacts of the CPU and the socket? did you give it a good wiggle when you placed it in the socket? I dunno.... just brainstorming

[Sucka]

yeah i was going to say of all people to point a finger!

youll always have me with hte fx-55 though well until the 57 comes out ive all but decided im going to get one.

Yeah, with all the goodies you have/buy, i'm supprised you haven't gone with a high end AMD system, they truely own :p

[hawtrawkr]

So you are assuming the grease got between the contacts of the CPU and the socket? did you give it a good wiggle when you placed it in the socket? I dunno.... just brainstorming


there really isnt much to wiggle it once its seated and clamped down.

i think the grease got under the pins. when i looked at the cpu i could see the marks the pins made some just looked like they didnt make contact though again its kind of hard to look at all 775 of them though.

atm i think my problem is that the pins are straightened out but not in the correct position it doenst take me near the pressure it first did when clamping down the cpu in the socket and i suspect this is because some of the pins arent making the proper contact possibly from the dielectric grease in the pin area putting pressure on the other pins as i put the cpu in and clamped it down when i first put in my 660 on a s478 the excess grease just squeezes out the sides. i cant help but think that the people at asetek have had a somewhat similar problem and thats why they dont list putting the dielectric grease inbetween the pins on the mobo as one of the install steps with thier lga 775 clamshell.

id just as soon buy a new board than spend more time fooling with the pins on the current one also when i get the new board in front of me i can compare the pins from the new one to the old. i got some good pictures from google images and a couple from this thread that have helped me out but i swear the pin array is like an optical illusion if you look at it too long and after 5 attempts at straigtening the pins (which they appear to be in order) its still not cooperating.

sorry if some of my post doesnt make sense im balancing a kid on one leg and typing at the same time dont have time to read back over it.

[hawtrawkr]

Yeah, with all the goodies you have/buy, i'm supprised you haven't gone with a high end AMD system, they truely own :p


if ida known i would end up with 2 660 cpus and having to order a new mobo yet again i probably would have. i just wanted to see what a 660cpu could do @ hopefully around 5ghz ish with some memory that didnt suck. plus at the time id feel bad to order a 55 with the 57s around the corner to long to wait for a upgrade but to close to build a 55

[Sucka]

if ida known i would end up with 2 660 cpus and having to order a new mobo yet again i probably would have. i just wanted to see what a 660cpu could do @ hopefully around 5ghz ish with some memory that didnt suck. plus at the time id feel bad to order a 55 with the 57s around the corner to long to wait for a upgrade but to close to build a 55

I love my Intel setup, don't get me wrong. But if you're into 3D applications, and benchmarking, even a 5GHz Intel won't compare to a 3.2+ AMD. I keep my Intel around for burning DVD's, CD's, browsing web, art type stuff, ect, but when it comes to games and benchmarking, the AMD's are king. Of course i wouldn't mind testing out some 2mb Intel's with DDR2, just can't spend that kind of money right now when the s478's are still competing with them :rolleyes: Hope everything works out with your setup, that's one beefy Intel setup, i'm jelous :p

[hawtrawkr]

I love my Intel setup, don't get me wrong. But if you're into 3D applications, and benchmarking, even a 5GHz Intel won't compare to a 3.2+ AMD. I keep my Intel around for burning DVD's, CD's, browsing web, art type stuff, ect, but when it comes to games and benchmarking, the AMD's are king. Of course i wouldn't mind testing out some 2mb Intel's with DDR2, just can't spend that kind of money right now when the s478's are still competing with them :rolleyes: Hope everything works out with your setup, that's one beefy Intel setup, i'm jelous :p


lol once i get this all sorted out and truly determine whats been nuked and whats still living if i have anything left over i can hook you up with it for a hell of a price :) the excess is all going to get sold as this has still taken a chunk out of my pc buying budget.

with regards to the 3d and gaming though i know amd can do it better but in all honesty ive never needed anything more than what i have now and i play a ton of games with alot of my free time. the diffrence between 155 and 133 fps doesnt matter to me because i tend to play with vsync on and that locks me down at 60fps and i could keep that maxed out on games like doom3 with my 6800gt and my old 3.2e s478 @ 4.3. the benchies i will concede that id like the gain theyd give me but that wouldnt be fair to everyone else as i tend to do pretty well with the intels ive been working with here lately. ;)

theres something about the p4 i prefer over all the a64s ive had and the 2 i have at present. hell my s939 is rocking a massive pci (not express either) radeon 7000 atm! :shrug:

[Sucka]

lol once i get this all sorted out and truly determine whats been nuked and whats still living if i have anything left over i can hook you up with it for a hell of a price :) the excess is all going to get sold as this has still taken a chunk out of my pc buying budget.

with regards to the 3d and gaming though i know amd can do it better but in all honesty ive never needed anything more than what i have now and i play a ton of games with alot of my free time. the diffrence between 155 and 133 fps doesnt matter to me because i tend to play with vsync on and that locks me down at 60fps and i could keep that maxed out on games like doom3 with my 6800gt and my old 3.2e s478 @ 4.3. the benchies i will concede that id like the gain theyd give me but that wouldnt be fair to everyone else as i tend to do pretty well with the intels ive been working with here lately. ;)

theres something about the p4 i prefer over all the a64s ive had and the 2 i have at present. hell my s939 is rocking a massive pci (not express either) radeon 7000 atm! :shrug:

Yeah, Intels aren't bad systems for gaming, just don't suit my needs. I still use mine for most things i do, but the things that matter go to the AMD :p I didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry :p

[hawtrawkr]

Yeah, Intels aren't bad systems for gaming, just don't suit my needs. I still use mine for most things i do, but the things that matter go to the AMD :p I didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry :p

no worries its never a hijack these are support forums for oc enthusiast not some top secret serious goverment think tank :beer:

if i can laugh about 1K plus of parts gathering dust in the other room id have to be a idiot to get upset over some friendly oc conversation........ its kind of about all i have atm. maybe ill freeze this gimpster winchester i have just to laugh at how pathetic the memory controller gets the colder i run it. :shrug:

[Sucka]

no worries its never a hijack these are support forums for oc enthusiast not some top secret serious goverment think tank :beer:

if i can laugh about 1K plus of parts gathering dust in the other room id have to be a idiot to get upset over some friendly oc conversation........ its kind of about all i have atm. maybe ill freeze this gimpster winchester i have just to laugh at how pathetic the memory controller gets the colder i run it. :shrug:

lol.....god i hope they fixed the sub-zero bug with the newer AMD's, i would love to play around with a .90nm chip soon. How much performance gains are you seeing from the 478's to the 775's? Are they even worth it yet?

[hawtrawkr]

lol.....god i hope they fixed the sub-zero bug with the newer AMD's, i would love to play around with a .90nm chip soon. How much performance gains are you seeing from the 478's to the 775's? Are they even worth it yet?

well with my 640 i did a unpatched super pi run @ 27 seconds @ 4.7ghz and 4-4-4-12 timings 1:1

thats what made me think id like to get a 660 push it up to around 5 ive seen people over at xs with stock ls hitting 5.1 stable 5.4 ss stable. so i thought i could get up to around 5 and i thought some of hte new ocz eb would help running 1:1 and 3-2-2-8 sure couldnt hurt the score either.

i know with my 6.4 i was in the top 15 in orb for cpu scores on 03 and for what its worth i was the first p4 on the list hurray :rolleyes:

let me get the link to a 03 run i did where i scored 15612 with a 574 core and 648 memory and thats a ridiculously low core for that kind of score.

edit: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3796833

[Stratcat]

Hi Hawk -

Now that your waitin' on the mobo, & the thread has morphed more into more general OCing, would you mind sharing a little info?

What are the country's of origin, for those 600's that The Egg has recently been shipping??? I know the 500J's were mostly Chinese, for a long time. Not sure if they still are.

Did you go straight to the 600's, or get to try 500's, too? Any opinions on 500 vs 600, if you did try both?

Just wondering - I'm gettin' ready to go LGA775.

Thx,

Strat

[hawtrawkr]

Hi Hawk -

Now that your waitin' on the mobo, & the thread has morphed more into more general OCing, would you mind sharing a little info?

What are the country's of origin, for those 600's that The Egg has recently been shipping??? I know the 500J's were mostly Chinese, for a long time. Not sure if they still are.

Did you go straight to the 600's, or get to try 500's, too? Any opinions on 500 vs 600, if you did try both?

Just wondering - I'm gettin' ready to go LGA775.

Thx,

Strat

i never used a 5xx the reason i went to 775 was for the 6xx series.

all the 6xx ive gotten the 640 and the 2 660 are all costa rica i can put all the codes in here when my son leaves as all the cpus are currently out of the system.

if your in the market for a new cpu and your leaning towards intel id highly recomend the 6xx over the 5xx ive never used a 5xx like i mentioned but the extra cache is a godsend from what i observed so far.

it was the performance of the 640 that got me foaming at the mouth for the 660s though. i dropped times on my superpi scores with alot worse ram timings and i do admitedly need to do some more benching/testing with it but my early impressions were really good,

[crotale]

when i got the 640 back in the other day it would run fine i clocked it up to 4.7 and it ran a 32m super pi with a instance of p95 going in the background (ive been using this as a quick stability check that takes about a half hour and puts a good amount of stress on the system Sounds good. I'm pretty much out of ideas. I'm sure you'll be more successful with the new mobo.

[hawtrawkr]

yeah i cant help but think its pin related now as i cant even get the 640 to boot.

im just praying that the pin situation didnt damage my cpus ive tried on the board though as this would be rather upsetting.

aside from the cpus not booting everything else on the mobo is working fine it boots up everything works theres just no post.

[jchsatx09]

Hawk - Do you have an English version of superpi? if so, can you attach it?

[hawtrawkr]

yes i have the english version its on a hdd in my main rig which is the one thats down atm what are you wanting me to attach a link to the proggie or a ss of a run?

[jchsatx09]

I need the prog...cant find it anywhere.

[hawtrawkr]

i got mine from doing a google search i found a ton of the china ones too let me see if i cant dig it up real quick im like 90% its not on this computer though.

worse case scenario is i can just plug my hdd into this pc and get it for you.

[jchsatx09]

Yea, I find tons of japanese versions, and the rest are broken links

[hawtrawkr]

here it is http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=36

you can find it from the primary download link if you scroll down the page

[jchsatx09]

thanks hawk...by the way, who is that in your pic?

[hawtrawkr]

thanks hawk...by the way, who is that in your pic?


its greenvelvet he also goes by the name cajmere hes the ceo of cajual records based out of chicago. i met him while i was going to raves/parties in the midwest between 95 and 01 and always loved his music. dont know why i use it as an avatar just think it looks weird i guess. if you do a google images for greenvelvet you can see some of his wild outfits and disguises guys a real freak.

[jchsatx09]

ok...i was hoping that was not a pic of you...scary looking.

[hawtrawkr]

ok for what its worth ive been doing a bit of reading this weekend and it looks like the lga 775 has some problems with the springs in the pins located on the mobo. im theorizing that whats happend is when i put in my dielectric grease on the new cpu and pins and installed it (which at the time it was probably the 13th time id seated a cpu in the socket) i must have somehow comprimised the springs on some of the pins as intel says they are only good for 20 installations of cpus or so (which is ghey for avid ocers) and this is why my cpu isnt being read correctly.

[LabRat23]

intel says they are only good for 20 installations of cpus

Well that is about the dumbest thing I have heard from intel in a while.

[Stratcat]

i never used a 5xx the reason i went to 775 was for the 6xx series.

all the 6xx ive gotten the 640 and the 2 660 are all costa rica i can put all the codes in here when my son leaves as all the cpus are currently out of the system.

if your in the market for a new cpu and your leaning towards intel id highly recomend the 6xx over the 5xx ive never used a 5xx like i mentioned but the extra cache is a godsend from what i observed so far.

it was the performance of the 640 that got me foaming at the mouth for the 660s though. i dropped times on my superpi scores with alot worse ram timings and i do admitedly need to do some more benching/testing with it but my early impressions were really good,Thx for posting the countries & thoughts.

No need to post any #'s just for me, unless you want to post for the general thread's use.

Sent's 6xx was also a Costa Rican, so it looks like the several 600's 'round here, that I'm aware of, are CR. It also seems most all the earlier 500J's were Chinese for a long time, 'cept for one CR BigStan hand-picked from Fry's. He saw an immediate heat & OC improvement when he switched from the China to CR proc.

No disrespect to the guys w/Chinese procs, but I've got a preference thing, on the country-of-origin, that borders on superstition. I know country-of-origin "technically" shouldn't matter, but... :rolleyes:

Thx again

Strat

[MikeyLikesItSI]

I'm with you on that stratcat. I came from a china lga-775 540 D0 stepping. It needed LOTS of volts, and didn't really clock that high. This 630 i've got from CR does an easy 265 on 1.400 vcore. I can't say it runs any cooler though, if i turn it up to the same volts my china cpu was at, it reaches the same temperature. I do like this CPU a lot though.

[hawtrawkr]

I'm with you on that stratcat. I came from a china lga-775 540 D0 stepping. It needed LOTS of volts, and didn't really clock that high. This 630 i've got from CR does an easy 265 on 1.400 vcore. I can't say it runs any cooler though, if i turn it up to the same volts my china cpu was at, it reaches the same temperature. I do like this CPU a lot though.

bah ive never had a china chip :-/

ive had tons of costa rica and malaysia and of the 2 i prefer the costarica 9 times out of 10.

on a side note my new board gets here tomorrow so hopefully i can get this pos up and running with my 660.

part of me wants to just insulate the hell out of the socket and only put some dielectric grease in the center of the socket and around the edges then crank the heaters up to 100 and 100 but another part says to fill the socket with grease..... im torn.

im leaning towards insulating the hell out of the socket and only putting the dielectric grease on the cpu and in the middle of the socket where there are no pins then see how it works and go from there. needless to say im going to be alot more gentle with the new socket as im sure there was quite a bit of user error to blame for a good part of this whole fiasco. :shrug: i really didnt understand just how fragile these new sockets are and i admittedly should have done a bit more research before diving in. (after reading how intel only says the sockets are good for 20 cpu cycles i knew just how shoddy they are)

[orionlion82]

if it hasnt been mentioned allready, you may have just toasted the bios. good luck with the new parts!

[hawtrawkr]

if it hasnt been mentioned allready, you may have just toasted the bios. good luck with the new parts!

id thought about that and was going to blind flash it but i think its pin related because as i mentioned before i had a couple bent back.

one way or another im just saying silent prayers that when i put my 660 in my new board tomorrow it boots. if i killed another cpu ill be sad and might just limp by on meh a64 here until i can get a dual core setup.

[Stratcat]

Are you sure the dielectric grease isn't causing an insulation prob between the pins on the mobo & the cpu contacts?

S478 is a ZIF (zero-isertion-force) skt, & the locking arm can clamp the pins using a fair amount of pressure.

The 775 LGA (land-grid-array) skt pins probably place a lot less pressure on the cpu contacts then the ZIF skt.

The dielectric grease isn't called "dialectric" for nothing: It's an electrical insulator.

Why not just try out your new (and old) cpu's w/o any grease using only air. Then test for stability. That way you then have a "known good" base to start from, and can carefully introduce a single variable at a time into the mix, so things don't get out-of-hand, again.

Maybe start out dry & on air, & ascertain all the parts are working. Then add some grease in select areas, while staying on air, see what happens, add a little more grease to other areas, as you see fit, then add the vapo, etc., etc.

My gut's tellin' me dielectric grease between the mobo LGA spring contacts, & the cpu contacts, is not a good thing.

JMHO.

GL

Strat

BTW - I'm placing my order for a 640//P5P800//G.Skill LA//Zalman7700cu Distributed Computing cruncher, first thing in the A.M., Tuesday.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

good luck today hawtrawkr! :beer: I'm with Strat on the preliminary checks on air. Let us know all the details.

[hawtrawkr]

yeah im going to go in with air and stock hsf and test each of the cpus first then im going to freeze the 660 if its not dead.

ive talked to a couple of people over at xtremesytems and they all have used dielectric grease around their pins so im going to go that route again. mine worked with a good coating of grease and my 640 and even my 660 till i had the power spike/surge/voodoo that killed my other 660 and one stick of my ocz.

one way or another this afternoon is going to drag on as the fedex guy will show up here around 11:45 and ill have to sit and stare at the box till i get home.

[MikeyLikesItSI]

yeah im going to go in with air and stock hsf and test each of the cpus first then im going to freeze the 660 if its not dead.

ive talked to a couple of people over at xtremesytems and they all have used dielectric grease around their pins so im going to go that route again. mine worked with a good coating of grease and my 640 and even my 660 till i had the power spike/surge/voodoo that killed my other 660 and one stick of my ocz.

one way or another this afternoon is going to drag on as the fedex guy will show up here around 11:45 and ill have to sit and stare at the box till i get home.

If you've narrowed it down to a power spike, did you order a quality UPS along with that motherboard? I really want to get one for my rig, but other things seem to always take priority...

[MikeyLikesItSI]

Fedex show up yet? :bday:

[hawtrawkr]

i got a new surge protector that works like a breaker and i have a ups on its way i removed the other computers that where drawing their power through the same line until the ups gets here though.

the fedex guy showed up at noon i just got off work like 20 minutes ago and im extremely happy to announce that one of my 660s are alive so far still going to test the other 660 and the 640 before i start freezing anything.

i think i might see how high i can clock this cpu on air since i know alot of people are curious about what these 6xx can do on air.

that and im incredibly nervous about freezing this bish for some reason. (never had a fear before the last incident with this cpu probably always be scared now lol)

[alinosa]

Good luck with your testing and i hope that all of your cpus work, and that it WAS a crappy socket that did you in.
*crosses fingers for you*

[hawtrawkr]

well the new 660 and the old 640 are working i couldnt hold myself off from freezing this 660 though and i didnt even test the original 660.

maybe ill send it to a friend to test out as i dont want to pull this chip out now.

either way im incredibly happy with my new 660 ive been able to run a 32m superpi and crunch a instance of p95 toghether with it @ 5.1ghz still not quite pcmark04 stable though :rolleyes: ill have to work on it some more when i get home.

once i get everything all situated with the cpu and memory oc i can start playing with my x850xt again and start doing some 3d benches.

its amazing it can crank out a prime95 torture test while doing a 32m superpi and still not get a score on pcmark04 :shrug:

[MikeyLikesItSI]

maybe ill send it to a friend to test out as i dont want to pull this chip out now.

Hey hawtrawkr.... can i be your friend? :clap: :santa:

[Stratcat]

Glad you're back up & running - :thup:

I'd bet the other 660's good, too; maybe even the RAM stick, also - You never know 'till you try! :cool:

BTW - Here's a New LGA775 Mobo Skt. (http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20050314PR208.html)

credit: DigiTimes

I'm supposing it's for OEM use. Not sure if it's Intel qualified (as-of-now).

Strat

[Phrenetical]

5.1, holy crap, j00 rule

nice.....

[hawtrawkr]

Glad you're back up & running - :thup:

I'd bet the other 660's good, too; maybe even the RAM stick, also - You never know 'till you try! :cool:

BTW - Here's a New LGA775 Mobo Skt. (http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20050314PR208.html)

credit: DigiTimes

I'm supposing it's for OEM use. Not sure if it's Intel qualified (as-of-now).

Strat

nah the stick of ram was confirmed dead i tried it again got exact same results. which is good in a way because it backs up the power surge theory of what happend which im really believing to be the initial cause of this whole fiasco more and more.

[hawtrawkr]

5.1, holy crap, j00 rule

nice.....

thanks still not quite fully stable i can only run a pcmark04 @ 5022

still have some more voltage options to play with though im still working on it but itll probably top out fully stable at 5022 or maybe high 4.9 even.

i like to run an instance of prime95 and crank out a 32m superpi to start checking stability then ill run a couple 3dmark01 runs with a prime95 going. then ill crank out some pcmark04 and call it a overclock if it can do all that.

so far ive been able to get a 25ms superpi 1m but im doubting ill be able to get it any lower.these 6xx are fun to play with but im really waiting for the dualcores :drool:

[mikeguava]

LOL - too bad I never saw that thread before - I am in the same boat as you - just that this is my second board that I must have killed putting the grease on the socket :bang head :bang head :bang head :bang head

Did you ever revive that board - does anyone know a good way on how to get rid of the diaelectric grease?
Been using Isopropyl and Radio Shack electronics cleaner but haven't been to successful flushing the grease out.

System crashed during a 3D bench run trying to break 9k in 05 and never powered up again - hard-drives don't even start spinning.
Exchanged very part but mobo and CPU - and I pray that I didn't ruin that CPU - this thread gives me lots of hope. Would have been surprised that the CPU died since I only ran it 5.2GHZ @ 1.5V.

Mobo #1 stop working after about 2hours of dry ice benching a few months ago - when cleaning the grease off I broke off a pin so I was never looking into troubleshooting a fix - but in this case I'd really want to find out what the best way the get rid of the grease...especially since this board was intended for a system that I am building for someone else...

[3DFlyer]

Mike,
Those pins can be repaired if you still have the pin. I have seen successful fixes for these. It's tedious, and will probably be harder on the 775, but I have seen them replaced, and the systems worked afterwards. I don't have any URL's. I saw these posts either on this forums or on XS. I can't remember which.

Just thought I would post this so you could fix that CPU. These CPU's are expensive, and it would be a shame to chuck it if it was just a broken pin.

[mikeguava]

Mike,
Those pins can be repaired if you still have the pin. I have seen successful fixes for these. It's tedious, and will probably be harder on the 775, but I have seen them replaced, and the systems worked afterwards. I don't have any URL's. I saw these posts either on this forums or on XS. I can't remember which.

Just thought I would post this so you could fix that CPU. These CPU's are expensive, and it would be a shame to chuck it if it was just a broken pin.
thanks for your reply - actually the pin is only broken off on the LGA socket of my old board - not on the CPU.
The LGA pins on the mobo socket are actually off the angled bend and sideways - so this would be a lot more difficult to fix than on CPU pins.

I this case I am just not sure wether the dialectric grease somehow somewhere inside of the socket creates the problem.

EDIT - up and working again - just jumped to worng conclusions.

[Ross]

I am waiting on a Chilly1 vapo now (going from a pelt). I never greased the pin area perse while using the pelt, but did fill the center of the 775 socket with DEG. Some will squeeze into the closest pins/behind the socket, but I never had any problems with condensation or anything not filling the entire socket area and having the outside of the socket sealed well.

A good way to get the DEG out of the socket/pins is compressed air. I used an air compressor (make sure it has filter/drier). The canned stuff might work OK too, but I don't know how much control you have over the pressure...you don't need lot or it will blow the grease everywhere. I worked around from the outsides and blew it all into the middle opening where I could easily pick it out with a swab.

[hawtrawkr]

ive still got a messered up fatal1ty laying in the closet ive been looking for someplace that offers a service to replace the pins on the mobo but havent found anything yet (never got a reply from abit when i inquired about paying to have it repaired either)

what id done after my initial problems is just started putting the grease on the bottom of the cpu and not on the pins of the mobo and just making sure i insulated everything well.