A64 x2 doesn't pass prime...

[blckgrffn]

Well, just upgraded the GF to:

X2 4200+
Abit KN8-SLI
x800xt PCIe - AC cooler installed last night
160GB 7200.9

And the FSP 450 I put in there didn't seem to be doing the trick. I was getting a lot of HD whine that would change pitch and some crashes. Past experience told me the PS was going out, so I ordered this.

Now, I installed that, and the prime errors didn't go away even though the HD whine and crahses under extended 3D benchmarking did.

What I would like is your input on where to go with this next.

I am considering pulling the board and going back to the stock heatsink to see if I am having issues with a hotspot. It seems that core0 is the one that fails prime after about 4 minutes from a cold boot. More voltage or running Prime after a warm reboot makes the problem worse.

Or is it more likely a mobo issue? I could throw the CPU into my box, an EVGA SLI board, and see if it works, but then I might just be missing a HS mounting issue....

Anyway, here is what I am planning for this evening:

1)Remount the Zalman HS (its the older 80mm Copper/Aluminium flower one, should be good for a 4200+ right? Temps look good...) if this doesn't fix it:

2)Move processor to my board to make sure there are no issues with the processor, if this fixes prime with the 4200+ I will:

3)Try my 3700+ in the Abit board, if this doesn't work:

4)Pull Abit board and go to stock HS, if this doesn't fix it:

5)RMA Abit board.

Am I missing/overlooking anything?

Input is appreciated

Thanks,
Nat

*UPDATE 1*



Appears to be heat related!

The stock heatsink was VERY hot to the touch after failing prime, so I set the CPU fan "cool" speed available in the ABIT bios back up to 100%, and gained about 15 minutes (up from about 1!).

I have a $24 Artic Freezer Pro on the way from SVC.com, we'll see how that helps the situation. Any other thoughts?

The cooling for the beast is the power supply fan, 2 front "enlobal" Enermax quiet 80's, and one supposedly 34 cfm Cooler Master LED fan on the back. The x800xt should be pumping its heat right out the back, but its hard to tell.

I think that Lavalys has the aux and CPU temp mixed up, if so I am hitting ~55-57 C on the processor and ~43 Aux. Toasty!

I am replacing the back 80mm fan with a AC 80*35mm fan. Hopefully this will also help bring temps down.

Flashing the bios had no effect, although supposedly it fixed a serial port issue

Thanks for any additional thoughts in advance,
Nat

*UPDATE 2*

Still failing out of games with a 3200+ winchester in there and the stock heatsink. Prime ran for ~2 hours before I stopped it though. Mobo RMA time?

 

[Dravic]

which version of the older zalman. the 7000 and 7700 alcu may not cut it for a dual core. while mine passed prime before i upgraded my HSF to a scythe mine for overclocking, my temps were in the 60's celcius @ 2.6ghz at 1.45 volts. If that second core is borderline then the extrat heat the older zalman cant handle could be pushing it over the top. The stock HSF fan may actually be an improvement. AMD's stock HSF's are actually decent, and can even handle mild overclocks. I would try at least re-seating, but lean more torward installing the stock HSF and checking again.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: Dravic
which version of the older zalman. the 7000 and 7700 alcu may not cut it for a dual core. while mine passed prime before i upgraded my HSF to a scythe mine for overclocking, my temps were in the 60's celcius @ 2.6ghz at 1.45 volts. If that second core is borderline then the extrat heat the older zalman cant handle could be pushing it over the top. The stock HSF fan may actually be an improvement. AMD's stock HSF's are actually decent, and can even handle mild overclocks. I would try at least re-seating, but lean more torward installing the stock HSF and checking again.

yeah, i was thinking this, but I was staying under 50C when in prime (max heat test) so I thought it was probably ok. Maybe I just have a hot spot developing and the Zalman isn't taking care of it adequately...

 

[imported_inspire]

Looks like you got it covered, but if you're only looking to run that chip @ stock, you may be able to undervolt it. All the same, I don't think that will fix anything.

EDIT: Do you have the X2 drivers installed? What specific test on Prime95 did you fail?

 

[yuchai]

I think the first step is to run memtest to make sure memory isn't the culprit. Also I would check to see if the Abit board has any memory compatibility issues with the RAM you're trying to run on it.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: inspire
Looks like you got it covered, but if you're only looking to run that chip @ stock, you may be able to undervolt it. All the same, I don't think that will fix anything.

EDIT: Do you have the X2 drivers installed? What specific test on Prime95 did you fail?

No, I haven't been running the x2 drivers. I will try that, good point. This is a 1.35V chip, so I possibly could undervolt it. I probably won't go with C&Q, as I hope to get to run at 2.65ghz @ ~1.5V at some point. It seems like this will probably use more power and create more heat than I want though...

Second, I am running to instances of Prime95, the middle torture test, max heat, max CPU, little ram. In my experience, ram issues are largely ignored by this test.

I will run memtest tonight as well, although I am not getting memory dumps, etc. Just failing prime.

Thanks for help, folks This was exactly the kind of perspective I was looking for. Sometimes it gets frustrating and not all logical answers are thought of!

Nat

 

[blckgrffn]

Appears to be heat related!

The stock heatsink was VERY hot to the touch after failing prime, so I set the CPU fan "cool" speed available in the ABIT bios back up to 100%, and gained about 15 minutes (up from about 1!).

I have a $24 Artic Freezer Pro on the way from SVC.com, we'll see how that helps the situation. Any other thoughts?

The cooling for the beast is the power supply fan, 2 front "enlobal" Enermax quiet 80's, and one supposedly 34 cfm Cooler Master LED fan on the back. The x800xt should be pumping its heat right out the back, but its hard to tell.

I think that Lavalys has the aux and CPU temp mixed up, if so I am hitting ~55-57 C on the processor and ~43 Aux. Toasty!

I am replacing the back 80mm fan with a AC 80*35mm fan. Hopefully this will also help bring temps down.

Flashing the bios had no effect, although supposedly it fixed a serial port issue

Thanks for any additional thoughts in advance,
Nat

 

[blckgrffn]

Update #2

 

[blckgrffn]

So, RMA'ing the mobo is the way to go?