3 year overclock no longer working - trying to track down the cause

freeflyerMe · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:10

Hi

First post and I’ve come along with a problem.

I have an overclocked system that has been running fine for about 3 years until the past few weeks. The CPU FSB had been increased to 333, voltages were on manual @1.35v.

The system is as follows:

Gigabyte 965P-DS3P
E6600 @ 3.0
8GB RAM
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 (New)
Radeon 4850 512MB

Recently I had a problem where it was trying to boot (the fans would spin but it would not reach POST). It would then turn off and repeat this process, never actually getting to POST.

I originally thought I had a PSU issue so got it replaced under guarantee. This made no difference (I still had the above issue). I reset the CMOS battery and this bought the system back to life. It then started to do the same thing (more frequently) causing me to reset the battery each time. I decided to update the BIOS and whilst doing it found a setting (in QFlash I think it was) that would cause the system to halt on error.

The next time it happened I received a ‘wide range protection’ error message and the system then successfully booted (presumably using the backup bios) with all overclocking turned off. This progressively happened more often when the system was overclocked, until now. I’m now in the situation where it will happily boot at stock but not at all when overclocked @ 3.0.

My question is does this sound like an issue with the CPU, or Motherboard or something else. What would be the best way to find out.

I’m in the situation where I could still happily game with the overclocked system, but at stock speeds it is not quite cutting it. As I see it I can either – fix this with second hand gear or go for a new build. I obviously would love to go for the new build but with a rapidly growing family splashing out the cash for a new build is not as easy as it was in my single days (I’m sure there is a load of you out there who know what I mean).

In short if I can fix this issue (cost effectively) I’m happy to stick with this build for a while yet.

Durzel · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:22

Electromigration?

My E6700 ES gradually lost the ability to overclock substantially, went from a solid 4.3Ghz when I first got it to an eventual 4Ghz (but with more voltage). This was on phase change cooling.

3 years is a good innings for an overclocked E6600 I'd say.

Have you tried upping the voltage?

eyetrip · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:23

As a first port of call try running the OC using just one stick of memory at a time, to eliminate memory as a possibility. That is assuming you have more than one stick.

I don't think it will be the memory, but it might so it's worth ruling it out.

Also, what cooler do you have on the CPU and how clean or dirty is your system?

freeflyerMe · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:33

Thanks fopr the replies.

@Durzel - I haven't tried upping the voltage yet - will give it a go though after work (Electromigration had to look that one up

).

@eyetrip - I've got 4 sticks of RAM. Would be a quick and easy test , will give that a go to.

Cheers

Durzel · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:37

4 sticks of RAM will stress an overclock anyway, but this shouldn't in it of itself be relevant if you've had a previously stable overclock using the same configuration.

If it's gone from working one day to not the next my gut feeling is that the CPU is "wearing out". You might find it goes back to being stable with just a pinch more voltage.

Other than that the obvious things to do is run Memtest86+ to check the memory is ok.

You could also try reseating the CPU, reapplying the thermal paste and cleaning the heatsink & fan, etc. Computers can be strange things - I had a previously 100% stable lounge PC suddenly stop waking up from sleep properly, after reseating the graphics card and doing nothing else it started working again. This was on a PC that had never moved from its spot under the television!

freeflyerMe · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:44

Good idea, Memtest86+ is an easy one to run overnight.

One thing I should add is I think it is getting progressively worse. For example I can currently sometimes get into the system when OC'd @ 2.7 and sometimes not. If I do get in everything works fine until I next restart, at which point it may take a few attempts to get past the POST stage. At some point soon I'm assuming I won't get in at 2.7 at all.

Durzel · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:51

Progressively worse sounds like electromigration to me to be brutally honest.

If it were me the first thing I'd do would be to try bumping the CPU voltage slightly without making any other changes and see if that shows a general improvement in stability.

j.col · 17 Jan 2012 at 11:56

Durzel said:
If it's gone from working one day to not the next my gut feeling is that the CPU is "wearing out". You might find it goes back to being stable with just a pinch more voltage.

Other than that the obvious things to do is run Memtest86+ to check the memory is ok.

This.
I would up the cpu volatge a couple of levels first

freeflyerMe · 17 Jan 2012 at 12:16

Ok thanks for all the suggestions.

Just one question. Assuming Memtest passes and upping the voltage gets me back the overclock is it a reasonable assumption that the issue is not related to any motherboard issue.

The reason I ask is i'd assume I will find myself back in the same boat at some point (if it is a failing CPU) so buying a second hand replacement will CPU allow me to put off an upgrade for a while longer.

Durzel · 17 Jan 2012 at 13:04

freeflyerMe said:
Ok thanks for all the suggestions.

Just one question. Assuming Memtest passes and upping the voltage gets me back the overclock is it a reasonable assumption that the issue is not related to any motherboard issue.

Yes that would be a reasonable assumption.