Hardware Degrading?

[9KRacing]

Ok, this one kinda has me stumped. I've been running my E8500 at 4.16ghz for daily use for the past 3 or 4 weeks. I had it stable on 1 hour prime and OCCT and ran a bunch of 32M super pi. It would only fail OCCT after 2 hours or so, and prime would take like 3 to get an error. I ran all the tests many times just to make sure. I figured this was good enough to play games, cruise the internet, etc. Im not folding or doing any intense rendering or anything, plus I don't have any work or important files on this rig.

 

So yesterday I noticed I was getting the whole "internet explorer has stopped working, yada, yada" thing over and over. I mean, literally every 15 mins or so my browser would just dump. So, I think to myself maybe it's my OC, and run a 32M super PI. It fails almost instantly. I check OCCT and prime... both are fails within minutes. I didn't change anything in the BIOS but I figure the fact that it's a hot day MIGHT be effecting it? (I know, I'm just making . up now) So I go in and bump my vcore by 1 more step. Still unstable. I proceede to take my vcore up to 1.3625 before I back off and start adding voltage other places. Eventually I end up with everything at max voltage I can run safely. I mean SB is at 1.4, my NB was at 1.3, I bumped my termination up... nothing worked. It's still unstable as hell, which is pretty confusing since I had it pretty stable a month ago.

 

SOOO, here's where it gets neat. I decide to put everything on auto and boot it with a 438 FSB and everything else on auto. Of course, not ONLY does it get into windows just fine... it's stable as a rock. 32M super PI, 1 hour OCCT, I stopped prime after 2 hours... W. T. F.

 

I now have NO idea what my voltages are set at. (It shows 1.328 in cpuid)

 

A few questions -

 

1) Is my hardware starting to go from running it OCd 24/7?

 

2) Is there a way to tell what your voltages are at besides Vcore?

 

3) Is it safe to let my BIOS pick my voltages with an such an extreme overclock?

 

4) Why would it be stable on auto and I can't get it close manually?

 

Thanks guys!

[The Smith]

1) It is possible.

 

2) Look in the Hardware Monitor section in your BIOS.

 

3) Yes or no, just look at what they are set. ^

 

4) Because you're not a good overclocker? j/k Sometimes there is a little detail that we miss, but the BIOS does not. Have you played with RAM timings and settings in general?

[hardnrg]

It would only fail OCCT after 2 hours or so, and prime would take like 3 to get an error.

Instability can cause hard drive corruption, BIOS corruption, etc...

 

I'd suggest loading setup defaults, and reflashing the BIOS, resetting CMOS (button/jumper), loading defaults...

 

Then redo your OC to 24/7 stable (at least)...

[9KRacing]

4) Because you're not a good overclocker? j/k Sometimes there is a little detail that we miss, but the BIOS does not. Have you played with RAM timings and settings in general?

 

 

Hehe, the RAM is running at 1055 or something so I assumed it was fine at the stock 5-5-5-15 settings. It's rated at 1066. I did check the BIOS and saw what the voltages said, I'm going to need to referance what I saw vs what's in my BIOS... I don't know how 3V, 5V, 12V etc correlate to my BIOS voltage setting ie. NB, SB, termination.

 

Thanks hardnrg, I actually have my latest BIOS rom saved on my HDD, i'll try reflashing it and see what happens.

[TheConqueror]

try to up your volts, your only on 1.31 vcore, give it a bit more juice and see where that takes you

[ccokeman]

Instability can cause hard drive corruption, BIOS corruption, etc...

 

I'd suggest loading setup defaults, and reflashing the BIOS, resetting CMOS (button/jumper), loading defaults...

 

Then redo your OC to 24/7 stable (at least)...

 

 

I second this motion. Anything less than 24/7 stability is just good for screen shots and a corrupt OS. Running on the edge for benchmarking greatness can be achieved with a less than stable machine but again not for 24/7 use. I had someone tell me the other day they had a prime stable 4GHZ chip but would crash during games. The question was How long did you run Prime 95? The Answer...10 minutes. The first test had not even completed

[Verran]

I'm with the other folks here. I love a good suicide screenshot or unstable bench run but for regular use it should be at least 24hr stress tested. Running on an unstable rig is just asking for problems, and usually of the weirdest variety. I'd start your OC over again and throw a format and reinstall in there for good measure, given that you're not really sure what your messy-OC has messed up to date.

[The Smith]

I second this motion. Anything less than 24/7 stability is just good for screen shots and a corrupt OS. Running on the edge for benchmarking greatness can be achieved with a less than stable machine but again not for 24/7 use. I had someone tell me the other day they had a prime stable 4GHZ chip but would crash during games. The question was How long did you run Prime 95? The Answer...10 minutes. The first test had not even completed

Lol yeaH.

 

I had corrupted Windows a while ago while overclocking. It would not boot up anymore, I was just getting a blue screen every time. I needed to reformat since it would not even repair itself from the DVD. I am sure you would not like such a situation...