Update on bad E6400

Some of you may have read my thread here:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=476760

Well, I got my Thermalright HR-01 and installed it. I keep my rear 120mm fan as intake, so it actually blows air across the HR-01 through the included duct. Load temps have dropped a whopping 20C according to SpeedFan (yes, I know actual core temps are higher). While I was at it, I replaced the stock thermal compound on the MCH with AS5.

Yet there's no difference in overclocking. I still could not run Orthos at anything over 3GHz, even with 1.55V vcore.

And get this: last week Orthos ran for over 20 hours at 350x8 (2.8GHz) with stock volts, but for curiousity I ran the same settings overnight and woke up to find that it failed after three hours! WTF?! How do you go from stable at 20 hours to failing at 3?

I'm ****ed beyond belief at my bad luck. I still have no clue whether the CPU or DS3 is the cause of my problem. What should I do?

have you tried unhooking the 7950gx2, using a less demanding card, either pcie or regular pci, and seeing if that helps stability?

i don't want to point at your psu again, but you have to rule it out.

wellcome to my world. My 6600 will not do a drop over 3.33ghz reguardless of voltage. Stucks to be us I guess.
Have you tried dropping the multi and seeing if you can get over the fsb hump that you're at (may help rule out the board).

That wouldn't rule out the board or the CPU since the high FSB could be an issue for either part. I tried lowering the multi to 7x and the CPU won't boot higher than 410.

read here: http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showpost.php?p=191563&postcount=3

lowering the multi does not help get higher fsb...it can actually be detrimental.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231087
Thats your ram?
Your FSB is limited to DDR2 805.. (Stock being DDR2 800)
Stock Vdimm 2.0V-2.1V

How much Vdimm are you using?

And do you have a DMM to check the actuall Vcore and Vdimm on the motherboard?

And it would be wise to try a less power demanding GFX.

btw.. do you have the extra 4pin power plugged into the mobo?

and a nice fan for the NB cooler http://www.pcextreme.com/catalog/sku/fan-28.html

His ram should be able to do at least 850 easy. As you saw my cheap Corsair ram can do that. I'm pretty sure that with more volts I could even hit 1000mhz. There was a test on Andatech where they did just that with a variety of RAM that, I believe, included both my ram and his ram.

I suppose if he has an old enough revision of the DS3 (they don't actually change the revision numbers but mine is nothing like some others I have seen) that could be the culprit... but highly unlikely with bios updates. I'm also inclined to believe it's the video card. Matter of fact I will go out on a limb and SAY: "It's the video card."

I was a little worried about how upgrading from a 6200TC to a 7600GS would affect my OC. I wasn't able to get the same OC I could before on stock volts, and of course temps went up with the whole silent pipe thing. But I can boot-up at 450x7 whenever I want. I'd also say double check your settings:

+1 MCH, +2 VDIMM, Memory set to 2.0, PCIE set to 100mhz (I think I read your card might actually need 105. Do a search on Xtreme systems, but you can try 105). That's about all I can think of changing. I know I couldn't do 400x8 with my old power supply, but I can hit it just fine now. AMPs on the 12v rail don't seem to mean as much as the quality of the power supply. My Fortron Blue Storm is HIGHLY under-rated. My old power supply was rated at 20a on the 12v... but that doesn't MEAN anything.

Earlier this week I ran MemTest for over 7 hours with no errors. That's with stock CPU and RAM at 400MHz (2:3).

I also ran Orthos at the same setting, stock CPU and 400MHz RAM and it worked for over 10 hours without errors.

I just pulled myh 7950GX2 out and tried my trusty Voodoo3 3000 PCI. At 3.2GHz, 1.5V and +.2 on both FSB and MCH, Orthos failed within seconds.

Definitely either CPU or DS3. CRAP.

sorry to hear that.

do you know anyone who can test the cpu for you?

Nope I have only one PC-literate friend and he's too cheap to upgrade his P4/Ti4200.

I would suspect the motherboard long before the CPU.

I was just asking the Vdimm.. 1.8V is sellectable and would be a big problem.. heck 2.0V might be a problem.. Try at least 2.1V dimm

greenmaji said:

I was just asking the Vdimm.. 1.8V is sellectable and would be a big problem.. heck 2.0V might be a problem.. Try at least 2.1V dimm

Click to expand...

Please read my entire post, I explained that I tried every other voltage at max.

Akira283-IGN said:

Please read my entire post, I explained that I tried every other voltage at max.

Click to expand...

Hmmm... Well, in that case, try with one memory stick and then with the other. (I've read your entire post, both of them, but don't remember if you did that) Just to rule-out the memory completely. The fact that you can even post at 3.2 speaks volumes. Orthos is a very finicky program. I have a thread (I think it's the Post your 100 percent Intel TAT Temps thread) detailing my chronicles at getting Orthos stable. I don't think it's really AUTOMATICALLY stable for everybody. I had to change ram settings and voltage settings... etc. So if you can actually get into windows at 3.2 ghz (I've had my chip for over a month now with mainly the same parts and I just accomplished that speed YESTERDAY) then there goes your theory of it being the CPU or motherboard.

I just had MY theory of a CPU/motherboard problem shot down (see "E6400: The Upgrade Continues") turns out it was a bad HD. That's just it: When there's a problem it could be damned near anything.

I wonder how many people go to great length and do a stability test like Orthos for such a long time. I'd guess not many, and this may lead to an overestimation of overclocking 'success' on the board.

Here's a thread by a guy who did run extensive Orthos tests, and observed a very large spread in errors:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=477071

Painful if you're looking for real stability.

Akira283-IGN said:

Please read my entire post, I explained that I tried every other voltage at max.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect 20hrs Orthos stabilty with everything maxed (overvolted).
I just asked if you tried 2.1Vdimm and reasonable settings for everything else.

Well slight difference between he can't run 12 hr Orthos and fails within seconds. Hell, an hour of Orthos stable isn't that bad. 4-5 hours and I'd be fairly content.

As I said originally, its not the PSU, not the graphics. I'd actually ditch the chip. It has nothing to do with something being BAD. Because a chip can only OC 700mhz does NOT mean its a bad chip. Unlucky? Yeah, but its hardly the first E6400 I've seen not to run 3.2 stable.

I don't think you've posted if this was a retail or OEM chip. If retail, do you have the box and the batch week?

I also can't really point at the MB. From the tests that have been done, and the fact that it boots fine into windows and fails Orthos that screams chip to me.

Most people are having much better luck with the latest weeks, if you HAVE to run at 3.2 or better, I'd be selling the chip and buying a new one. Your obviously going to take a bit of a loss, but it might be only $40-50. You would take about the same loss in replacing the MB. Is it worth it to you? 2.8 is still going to perform great but I know I would also be a little dissappointed also if I was you.

UPDATE

Got a new DS3 and set it up just like before. SAME PROBLEMS. Definitely a below-average E6400. Anyone want it?

Akira283-IGN said:

UPDATE

Got a new DS3 and set it up just like before. SAME PROBLEMS. Definitely a below-average E6400. Anyone want it?

Click to expand...

If it fails dual prime or orthos at STOCK settings then just send it back to Intel and get a new one.

Akira283-IGN said:

UPDATE

Got a new DS3 and set it up just like before. SAME PROBLEMS. Definitely a below-average E6400. Anyone want it?

Click to expand...

Right.... well atleast you eventually got to where I said the problem was long long ago in a galaxy far far away.