Overclocking Advice - Computer freezes

[azzidodabass]

My computer seemed to be running tickety-boo, till tonight.

Since building it, I have been doing graphic design work using Illustrator and Photoshop (nothing too taxing), listening to music using iTunes and Spotify, doing some web coding... nothing that really stresses the system.

Tonight I needed to encode a video file, so I fired up the software and set it off and half way through the computer just froze. No messages, no corrupt screen - the system just locked and I had to hard reset.

I tried again, same thing happened. The third time trying to encode the file was successful.

I am using an Intel i7 3770k CPU (3.5GHz stock) clocked to 4.2GHz. Temperatures are fine - not exceeding 70oC when loaded so I really doubt it is a thermal problem.

My guess would be it is an instability caused by the overclock and from my limited knowledge of overclocking, the first thing I would do is raise the voltage slightly and see if that helps.

Can anyone confirm whether the hard-lock-up sounds like an issue with the CPU overclock? Given that this is the first time it has happened it is the first time the CPU has really been put under any real load, one would assume so?

Can anyone offer any advice on other things to check and improve to try and get around this problem?

Many thanks.

 

[Nickolp1974]

Download who crashed and see if there was a bsod code left by the lock up, could be voltage/cpu or possibly a memory issue, anyways click bsod link in my sig for details/help.

 

[azzidodabass]

Hi. Thanks for the response.

I forgot to mention in my OP they the computer does not run Windows: it runs OSX (not an Apple Mac though obviously). I have checked the system logs when the lock ups happen and there are no error reported. OSX has a similar crash reporting system to Window' BSOD that dumps a report before it dies. The lack of any report is why I thought this could be a hardware issue.

I will boot it up in Windows and see if I can get it to lock up there. This may well be because it is OSX on non-Apple hardware, but it just doesn't seem like the type of failure I would expect as a result of this.

 

[PieEater]

Can anyone confirm whether the hard-lock-up sounds like an issue with the CPU overclock?

I would put your CPU clocks to default and run the encoding routine 3 times if it doesn't crash then you can be pretty certain your overclock was the issue and you can think about where to go from there. You say your temps are ~70c is that CPU or Core temps?

 

[azzidodabass]

Thanks for the advice PieEater.

The 70c temps are core temps. Idle core temps are around 30-35c. I am more than certain temps are nothing to do with it. I've got a pretty decent heatsink and fan and a large case with plenty of airflow.

I am just about to start running some tests, see if I can replicate and spot a pattern.

Thanks again. Any other advice welcomed.

 

[azzidodabass]

At the risk of jumping the gun, I believe I may have found the issue. If I am right, it is not a hardware problem at all.

I realised that each time the freeze occurred, I was putting the CPU under load and at the same time transfering data through one of the gigabit ethernet ports. I was transferring data over FTP to another wireless computer, so it only pushes between 6-9MB/sec so its not even like it is maxing it out.

Anyway, doing simultaneous CPU Load and LAN data transfer caused the computer to freeze each time. So I then performed the tasks seperately, encoding the video alone, transfering data alone. Not a problem, completed the task.

I then decided to try the other ethernet port, controlled by an Intel chipset rather than the Atheros one I had been using. I have successfully completed the CPU load and network data transfer test twice, just running a third test now.

Judging by comments I have found on various forums the driver file I am using for the Atheros ethernet may be prone to memory leaks. There may be a newer driver available but even if not, so long as the Intel port holds out, i'm sweet.

The joys of running OSX on non-Apple hardware.

Obviously if I am wrong and the problem resurfaces, expect my return!

Thanks to the guys to offered suggestions!