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i7 question.

Vattic

Vattic

Vattic

Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2009
Posts
23
I've been having problems with my current build for a while. Having swapped out everything but the MB and CPU I suspected the MB was faulty. In preparing to RMA it a friend and myself dissembled everything at his place (more room to work at his). He noticed that one of the metal pads on the bottom of the CPU is misshapen and I noticed that another is a richer copper colour than the rest. I can see where the pins had sat without problem on these pads despite the odd shape of one.

I haven't OC'd besides what the P6T does on it's own. I can't figure out if it's something I've done as I've only reseated it once and didn't notice them either time. I could have missed them easily as even knowing where to look I loose sight of these two pads amongst the others. Does anyone have any idea what might have happened or know if this is likely to cause problems?

I'd take a photo but I haven't a camera that will do the job.

Also does anyone know the correct term for these pads? Wiki didn't help much and just explained what they are made of.

Cheers.
 
Yeah those are the pads I'm talking about.

I have some cleaning fluid meant for getting rid of thermal paste. Would that be appropriate? It's this brand.

All the pins looked fine.

Thought I should add: The misshapen pad has no gap around the edge. The surrounding green solder mask(?) meets it snugly.
 
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Should be ok, use a small drop or two of the purifer on a Q-Tip or similar and see if the discolouration comes off of the pad you mentioned.

What model of i7 is it?
 
I'll try it when I get my hands on a q-tip.

I have to say I'm more concerned about the misshapen one.

Posting this again in case the edit wasn't noticed: The misshapen pad has no gap around the edge. The surrounding green solder mask(?) meets it snugly.
 
Hmm, that might be the cause of the problem then if it has no gap around the edge. I mean the obvious solution is to pickup a cheap 2nd hand known working replacement and test it in the system. i7 920s (which I assume yours is) are fairly cheap and the market is still strong for them, so you could pick on up and turn it around without much problem if it doesn't solve your problems.

Could you decribe the problems you've been having?
 
I just realised my description was poor. Here's a quick photoshop to explain better (not 100% certain I edited the right pad).
i7problem.jpg
My specs:
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM

Intel X25-M Mainstream 160GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (SSDSA2MH160G2C1)

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 850W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ)

Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVDaRW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Silent Full Tower Case - Black

Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel (TR3X6G1333C9)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM2+ / 775 / 1156 / 1366)
The problems:
Just over half a year ago it started powering down without warning and without leaving dumps or producing errors. After doing this a few times it stopped for a couple of months before starting again. I reformatted and reinstalled which seemed to get rid of the problem.

Everything was fine until last week where it would sometimes power down and back up as if power was only lost for a second. Eventually it wouldn't even power up. While plugged in the power and reset buttons on the MB light up but hitting the power button on the case or the MB would only make some of the fans spin on and the light on the front of the case flash once. Having sought advice I was told it sounded like a PSU problem so I ordered a new one and fitted it but the same problem persisted.

I ended up breadboarding it. I removed components until it was just a MB, CPU + heatsink, two sticks of RAM (minimum for this MB), new PSU, and an internal speaker. It would boot like this at first with the speaker making many reports so I swapped the RAM checking each possible pair. I put it back in the case and again it would still boot. Then I started adding back components. With the GPU it ran fine but when the SSD used as C: was reconnected the problem came back. I tried different power cables for it and different SATA cables and connectors on the MB with no luck. I removed the SSD and it would no longer boot. I removed the GPU and it still wouldn't boot. I tried a friends GPU without luck. This is when I gave up as I've no more spare parts or tools to test with.

I also tried reseting the CHMOS.
 
One is misshapen another is discoloured.

At first I thought they were both discoloured but closer inspection revealed that the solder mask/green layer covered it where it shouldn't.

Is there any chance this is a manufacturing error? Seems unlikely but it really doesn't look like damage. It looks like the acid etching has gone wrong (I'm assuming that's how they make the underside).
 
It could be yes, or its been damaged through use, voltage spike etc.

With yours being an OEM processor it is out of warranty as I recall you said more than a year ago. If I was you I'd sell the motherboard and move to a newer platform. You can pickup a 2500K and board quite cheap these days, go retail for the longer warranty.
 
I didn't know that about how warranties and OEM works. I'm new to building computers. I'll definitely go retail this time.

By 2500K I assume you're referring to the i5s? Is there any reason you suggest an i5 over a new i7 besides cost?

Cheers for the quick and useful replies everyone.
 
OEM CPUs come with a 1 year warranty usually through the retailer, Retail boxed processors come with a 3 year warranty which can be done direct with Intel.

For most people, the HT the i7 2600K offers over it is wasted as most people buy these systems for gaming, not encoding, folding etc where it would be of a benifit.

But yes cost was a factor, a 2nd hand i7 920 D0 would be around £100. A second hand 2500K is around £130-140. You also eliminate the very remote possiblity that the motherboard is also faulty.

It is also a valid excuse for an upgrade, not that many people need one! lol
 
Fair point about wasted potential when using an i7 for gaming. I do a little sound and even less video editing but I bet I wouldn't notice the difference if I had an i5.

A second hand i5 would cost more? Would a 2500K be an upgrade or a downgrade over what I've currently got?

Which would be more future proof?

Thanks again.
 
It would cost a bit more yes, newer tech etc.

It would be an upgrade in almost all tasks that don't benifit from more than 4 cores/threads, especially once overclocked.

The 1155 platform is more future-proof with 22nm CPUs coming next year.
 
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