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Possible E8400 Issue

MADMAN69UK

MADMAN69UK

MADMAN69UK

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Possible E8400 Issue - Looking for Second Opinions

I recently purchased an E8400 CPU from OcUK.

I was previously running an E6600.

After installing the new CPU my PC began crashing seemingly randomly. Most of the time this was at high load whilst gaming, but it did happen on occasion whilst idling too.

Around the same time I had also purchased a new XFX ATI 5850 graphics card. So I wasn't entirely sure if it was the new CPU or the graphics card causing a problem.

I replaced my old E6600 CPU and ran FurMark on the ATI 5850 for over 4 hours. It remained stable and there was no sign of a crash.

I then ran OCCT for 2 hours to stress test my old CPU. The test passed without a crash.

I then put the new E8400 back in and ran FurMark to stress the ATI 5850. Again, I ran this for a good 4 hours without issue.

I then ran OCCT to stress the E8400 for a couple of hours. Within minutes of starting the test the PC crashed.

When the crash occurs the screen appears to go blank and lock, with vertical lines down it. You can hear the audio suttering as if it's locked also. You can't do anything but reset the PC manually. When the computer first initializes after the crash you can hear the PSU fans kick in at full throttle. This lasts a good 10 seconds before the BIOS begins to post. Things then run as normal into loading Windows etc.

So, at the moment I'm suspecting the new E8400 CPU is at fault. But the fact the PSU behaves as it does after the crash has me suspicious...

So I'm looking for second opinions.

Here's my setup:
  • Akasa Eclipse 62 Case
  • Asus P5Q Motherboard
  • Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant PSU
  • Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler
  • OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 1GB x 4
  • OCZ Vertex Series 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State HDD
  • Windows 7 x64


Under 100% load on both cores the E8400 never reached a temperature above 57C. Which I believe is well within acceptable limits.

I assume the CPU is the problem, but what if with all the hardware I have plugged in the PSU is right on the threshhold? Could that be the problem? Or do I have plenty of power available with the Corsair PSU?

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Could going from an E6600 to an E8400 actually effect the system voltage enough to cause a crash like this?

Maybe changing the graphics card and CPU at the same time puts the PSU right on it's limit?

I dunno :(
 
MADMAN69UK said:
All BIOS defaults were loaded when the new CPU was installed.
Click to expand...

By this I presume you mean that you did reset the BIOS using the jumper switch?

As already suggested try updating the BIOS to the newest. CPU change shouldn't really affect power consumption much especially from a 65nm dual to a 45 nm dual (45nm's use less power I think), but what PSU are you using at the moment?
 
LinktoInsanity said:
By this I presume you mean that you did reset the BIOS using the jumper switch?

As already suggested try updating the BIOS to the newest. CPU change shouldn't really affect power consumption much especially from a 65nm dual to a 45 nm dual (45nm's use less power I think), but what PSU are you using at the moment?
Click to expand...

My current PSU was listed in my first post ;)
It's a Corsair 750W.

I decided to have a closer inspection of the CPU installation last night. When giving the socket itself a really close look I noticed one of the little tiny pins wasn't sitting quite like the others. It was popped up a little...

So I figured that possibly that could have been the cause of my issues. But if so, it doesn't explain why the problems weren't occuring for the E6600, just for the E8400...

I have ordered a replacement motherboard anywho, so I'll update again when that's arrived and been installed.
 
Ok, new motherboard (Asus P5Q SE2) installed and tested.

Everything tested stable at stock so I thought I'd go for an overclock.

Managed to get the E8400 to 3.8Ghz on air without a problem.
I might be able to go higher but I don't want to be greedy :p

So it looks like on this occasion the motherboard was at fault...

Thanks for the help anywho :)
 
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