faulty mobo?

[gibletzor]

ok. yesterday i flashed my bios to the 1/31 beta. i tried some more OC'ing since i wasn't very stable with the 11/27 bios. i can get up to 185x11 fairly stable, but i have to pump my vcore up to nearly 1.8 to do it. and anything past 185 i have to take the vcore to 1.8 or higher, and then my computer thinks my cpu temp is going over 60C even though to LED from my waterblock diode is reading about 30C, so my computer just restarts itself
whenever i try to run any benchmark.

also, no matter what FSB i have it set at, i'm failing the Prime 95 torture test in under 5 minutes every time due to rounding errors. I've tested my ram with memtest86+ at every speed from 166-200 for 10+ hours and i've gotten no errors so i'm pretty sure that's not the problem.

I can run BF 1942 and Desert Combat for hours on end with my FSB set at 185x11, but i can't run the torture test at 166x11 for 5 minutes, which doesn't make sense to me.

So do you think there's something wrong with my motherboard that's RMA worthy? or perhaps i got a bad cpu out of the batch...

i'm runnin on
XP 2500+ barton (i'll check the serial number later, but i'm pretty sure i have a newer locked one)
DFI NF2 Ultra Infinity w/ 1/31 beta bios
1gb Geil Ultra platinum PC3200
Sapphire 9600 XT
Koolance EXOS watercooling
Raidmax 420w power

If anyone has any ideas that might help fix my little problem, i'd greatly appreciate it

thanks

 

[jolyman]

I'm probably not much help --

Check your voltages with a meter because all three boards I have delt with report LOW (about .4 V on 12V and about .2V on the 5volt bus). (11.58V when the Fluke says 11.99 to 12.01V)

But IF I remember right there is a problem with Geil memory and these boards -- I know I scratched off that brand when I look for memory.
AND as far as I can research the board is not certified for more than 512Mb fo PC3200 or higher memory.

My system runs Prime 95 all night @ 41c --- 190 FSB X 12 on air and ALL stock Voltages.
P95 will find a weakness if there is one for sure.

 

[gibletzor]

I'm pretty sure it's not the ram, cause like i said i can run Memtest for hours and hours and i get no errors ever.
The error i always get in Prime95 is "rounding was .5, expected .4 or less" that would be a cpu error correct?

 

[WinXP]

Maybe your diode for probe is holding up water block. I would remount the water block without diode if it is between cpu an block. I run water cooling on mine an temps never get above 45c with 2.0v to cpu. I definitely would remount as it don't sound like it is making good contact. What are you using for thermal paste ?

If the mobo runs fine at default setting than it is not worthy a rma as the do not gurantee how much you can overclock.

 

[gibletzor]

The diode on the waterblock isn't between the cpu and waterblock. it's right on the side of the part of the waterblock that makes contact with the processor, so it shouldn't be messing up the contact, but i'll check that later anyway. I'm using Arctic Ceramique on my cpu.

 

[gibletzor]

The diode on the waterblock isn't between the cpu and waterblock. it's right on the side of the part of the waterblock that makes contact with the processor, so it shouldn't be messing up the contact, but i'll check that later anyway. I'm using Arctic Ceramique on my cpu.