Can memory controller problems kill RAM?

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Absolute0
So you are saying that all of these are used
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v729/absolute035/Opty%20Dual/f3fa5f3c.jpg
Save for the one in the upper left? And little mischevious Gnomes slipped into Monarch's warehouse, and sanded all the edges down on the other ones, and craftily repackaged them...

Maybe it's just the lighting, but the 2 chips on the right seem to have a circular shade in the center....maybe thermal compound was applied and then cleaned?

 

[Absolute0]

I'm sorry, all of mine were used, i meant to say "lapped" because that's what this whole thing is about. None of those CPUs in my screenshots has been lapped, except the one where i say its lapped and its grinded down to the copper.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Absolute0
I'm sorry, all of mine were used, i meant to say "lapped" because that's what this whole thing is about. None of those CPUs in my screenshots has been lapped, except the one where i say its lapped and its grinded down to the copper.

Oh, I gotcha.

 

[Zebo]

Nice try Absolute Zero but yours look nothing like Zaps. In fact they all looked matte to me just like I said they would.. The pics are up now other people can judge if you're blind or I am.

 

[nealh]

I have gotten 3 retail Opterons 2 x 170 , 1x 165 and all 3 looked like the first 2 pics..edges rounded

1 came from Monarch, 2 from flickerdown

1 oem 170 also looked this way....oem from Monarch

so unless I am unlucky or something all my retail boxes were sealed..all 4 corners look rounded

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: nealh
I have gotten 3 retail Opterons 2 x 170 , 1x 165 and all 3 looked like the first 2 pics..edges rounded

1 came from Monarch, 2 from flickerdown

1 oem 170 also looked this way....oem from Monarch

so unless I am unlucky or something all my retail boxes were sealed..all 4 corners look rounded

Well if that many ppl have the same type of markings on the corners then all liklihood it is not markings done by a previous user lapping it...

I have to admit it looks pretty sloppy so it could be deceiving. Maybe they choose (AMD) to make sure their IHS are level for good contact and Intel does a sloppier job...The only IHS I have ever had to lap was the P4 cause the corners were so concaved in relations to the center...

Absolute0...I apologize...it looks like you are right in this instance...Dont be fooled to think this company or any doesn't try this though...

 

[Absolute0]

Originally posted by: Duvie

Originally posted by: nealh
I have gotten 3 retail Opterons 2 x 170 , 1x 165 and all 3 looked like the first 2 pics..edges rounded

1 came from Monarch, 2 from flickerdown

1 oem 170 also looked this way....oem from Monarch

so unless I am unlucky or something all my retail boxes were sealed..all 4 corners look rounded

Absolute0...I apologize...it looks like you are right in this instance...Dont be fooled to think this company or any doesn't try this though...

Thank you, and i apologize as well for getting so overzealous earlier.

idk what Monarch does with mobos... i did get a Neo2 from them, which died 2 weeks later, i RMAd it and they sent back the same one, but miraculously it worked, so it's beyond me. I've bought a lot of CPUs from them with no problems, in fact i usually get good steppings from them. I call them my lucky supplier .

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Absolute0

Originally posted by: Duvie

Originally posted by: nealh
I have gotten 3 retail Opterons 2 x 170 , 1x 165 and all 3 looked like the first 2 pics..edges rounded

1 came from Monarch, 2 from flickerdown

1 oem 170 also looked this way....oem from Monarch

so unless I am unlucky or something all my retail boxes were sealed..all 4 corners look rounded

Absolute0...I apologize...it looks like you are right in this instance...Dont be fooled to think this company or any doesn't try this though...

Thank you, and i apologize as well for getting so overzealous earlier.

idk what Monarch does with mobos... i did get a Neo2 from them, which died 2 weeks later, i RMAd it and they sent back the same one, but miraculously it worked, so it's beyond me. I've bought a lot of CPUs from them with no problems, in fact i usually get good steppings from them. I call them my lucky supplier .

How many have you bought???

 

[tweekah]

Two at 2.7 is great, im sure you'll get higher out of them. Just sounds like you got a bad straw first round, sh!t happens.

 

[Absolute0]

CPUs from Monarch? 5, another on the way, and i've personally helped me friends into ordering @ Monarch and of course, i check out the CPUs they get etc., all in all i've seen quite a few from them.

 

[Amaroque]

I'll never buy anything from Monarch ever again... They charged me for a retail Winchester, and put an OEM Newcastle under the installed HSF... Thread

For that matter, I'll never buy an OEM cpu ever again. I want a sealed box.

 

[Zap]

:Q

OMG, I'm gone for an overnight LAN party (and slept after I got back) and I find that this thread has exploded. WTF happened? At least Duvie and Absolute0 kissed and made up. I'll read through every post...

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
Simply put, you guys buy too many CPUs. Give me your money instead.

Your "simply put" is "well put." However... MINE, ALL MINE, MY PRECIOUS... Go get a job and then you can buy CPUs as well. Wait, WTF am I saying, I don't have a job either...

Originally posted by: Zebo
And Zap - Just because it's used does'nt nessesary mean I'd return it. i kept a video card monarch sent me used because it was such an excellent clocker.

True, true. Now, after much re-testing, my ORIGINAL 144 that I started this thread with may not even do 2.2GHz - had a reboot. However, the other two (including one that looked lapped) may be 2.7GHz stable at default vcore (perhaps even undervolted a bit). If I were to keep one, I'd keep all (as long as the crappy one is 100% stable at stock speeds, gotta test for that). I'd find a use for it somewhere.

Man, seems like people root for their favorite internet resellers like it was a football team.

Here's an update... A Monarch rep actually emailed me saying that the CPUs should be new, but if I want I can RMA them. I emailed back with my pictures as attachments, and said basically "look at the CPUs and tell me... if YES they look lapped, I'll RMA... if NO they are new, then I'll keep them." Ball is now in their court and whatever they say, I'll take their word on it.

Also, the problem with my OCZ RAM... one module is bad. I Memtested them one at a time and one stick passes at rated speeds while the other one throws up red errors IMMEDIATELY.

As for purchasing from Monarch in the future... we'll see, however I'm unlikely to purchase anything from them with a rebate since both times they have post-dated their invoices for the shipping date many days after order was placed, and past the rebate period. Also, may not go for OEM CPUs from them (or anyone else) either just for peace of mind. Unfortunately those were the two main reasons why I have ever purchased from them. If they're the best deal without being OEM or with rebate, then I'll seriously consider them.

Last thing is... man these Opterons run hot compared to all the other 90nm AMD chips I have.

 

[Zebo]

Last thing is... man these Opterons run hot compared to all the other 90nm AMD chips I have.

That's why I've been questioning the larger cache chips ever since they came out! While you do get some benefit in some things it's nothing you'd notice but they run a lot hotter due to more trasistors which you do notice all the time.. Primary reason I got rid of my first opteron 165 was it dumped so much heat into my water loop I could no longer run fans silent which is unacceptable to me.. The 4200 OTOH fans stay at 5-7V even when gaming. Much cooler chip with half the cache. The 144 I have is hotter than my winchester was - it's not even close.. Approx 10C difference when on same HSF same speed.. But then winchesters were the coolest A64 chip AMD ever made.

If opterons did'nt clock so high, I'd always recommend 3200s for single core and 3800's for dual core..But it looks like they are cherry picked..although i have seen penty of 3800@2800Mhz air...so...YMMV as usual//

Man, seems like people root for their favorite internet resellers like it was a football team.

I never said.. But since you're asking

1. Mwave
2. Newegg
3. ZZF

 

[furballi]

Agreed with the Opty observations. Unfortunately, none of my Opties are stable above 2.6GHz.

 

[Zap]

furballi, have you tested your setup for high HTT stability? For instance, drop multiplier and see how high HTT you can run.

 

[furballi]

Yes. Probably from the same batch as your 1st Opty! Will wait for the 146 to drop below $120, then I'll mate it with my AX8 board.

 

[Zap]

A kinda-sorta update... I had thought one stick of my OCZ RAM bad, but it was just the boards detecting settings wrong. Don't know why, but boards seem to want to run it around 2.5-3-2-7 and while one stick runs at that, the second won't. The sticker on the RAM says 2.5-3-3-7 and manually setting to that "fixed" the memory errors. Well, still Memtesting, but so far so good after 15 minutes as where before it would error pretty much immediately.

 

[Zap]

Yet another kinda sorta update... I'm wondering if the "crappy" Opteron has a faulty memory controller. Got in some Corsair XMS 2GB kit and it was working fine for a few hours, now one stick is dead. Mobo just beeps with it installed. I had it the whole time on the "crappy" Opteron at completely default speeds just to make sure the CPU was good at rated speed. My Geil RAM was exhibiting that strangeness with the "crappy" Opteron but is happy now with one of the other chips. However, one stick of the Corsair RAM is now dead. Tested using other Opteron in other motherboard and "beeeep."