Do I have the world's crappiest Duron, or what?

[Melvin]

OK. I'm about to lay a bit of a mess on you, so bear with me.
I've got a brand-spankin' new system, but o/cing my new Duron is giving me fits. First things first: I bought the processor at step-thermodynamics.com. It has a special cooling system, which, I admit, looks pretty neat, and it's guaranteed to run at 900. So why can I only hit 800? I bought a Celeron 366 from them about a year ago, and it's run beautifully at 550 at default voltage.
I have an Asus A7V (rev. 1.01 with DIP switches and no sound, 1004 BIOS). Other parts include:
WD 40GB on ATA/100 port
128MB STEP Thermodynamics RAM
Asus V7100 GeForce 2 MX
SB Live Value

I can hit 800, but only at 1.75v. 700, of course, is fine at 1.5v. I can go all the way to 1.85v and 3.69v of VIO, but I get crashes right after the BIOS screen at 850 (I've tried 900, 950 and 1000 too--can't even POST). The memory bus is fine either at 100 or 133.
The only problem I can *possibly* think of is the power supply. It's a 250W Enlight, AMD-approved up to 850 MHz, I believe. So that's not really a problem either. As a precaution, I have my CD and CDR unplugged to lessen the load. (I do have 3 case fans plugged in, but taking them out doesn't seem to make a difference.)
I guess I should warn you that this is my 2nd Duron-700 from STEP. The first wouldn't go over 850, so I got it replaced--with this!
I see all kinds of posts from people that have Durons running at 1 GHZ and above with "regular" HSFs. So why does this super-groovy concoction I have not seem to work?
Did I just get the 2 Durons in the world that won't overclock well?

P.S.--I should mention that I'm not able to look at the processor face to check the week number, etc.; the HSF is fused to the chip, and not just with thermal paste.

 

[office boy]

Return

 

[snow patrol]

Yeah, if they assued you the chip would run at 900, but it plainly doesn't, you should return it. Good luck

 

[compuwiz1]

Send it back. Make em live up to the guarantee.

 

[mchomicz]

Quote from their site:

Q. Do I get a chance to try out your products before I'm committed to buying them?

A. You're in good company here at STEP. We are so confident in the quality and performance of our STEP-UP? CPU Cooling Systems, CPU's and Memories that we will provide you with a full month to put your STEP Hardware through it's paces. If you're anything less than 100% impressed, you may return your purchase for a full refund! No argument. =)

I wouldn't hasitate... Send it back!

 

[Melvin]

Hmmm, that was what I was leaning toward too. It's just that this is the 2nd processor I've gotten from them. I was wondering if the problem might be on my end.
Also, it took a while to get the second CPU--I'm going through some major PC withdrawal here! If I ask for a third I'd have to *gulp* face the wife...


Hey, by the way, any other high-quality places out there that sell guaranteed overclocked Durons?

 

[Heifetz]

I don't even think you have to buy a guarenteed Duron. I bought a retail 600 duron from Buy.com, and I'm running at 904 right now. Only thing stopping me from doing it higher, is because I'm using retail HSF, and I don't want to set the voltage too high. Otherwise, I think the chip is great. I think most Durons go at least to 850-900 w/o much problems. For you to spend extra $$$ for maybe 50 - 100 mhz extra is really up to you. But the difference is really small.


Heifetz

 

[Jmman]

Just as an fyi, the A7v has some problems IMHO....If the performance setting is set to Optimal in BIOS I was getting crashes and lockups all the time. I tried absolutely everything, aand the only thing that prevented the crashes was setting the performance to Normal.... Needless to say, the A7v is gone and the Abit Kt7 raid is in. I know of MANY people that are having the same problem by the way....

 

[jinsonxu]

Well, i dunno but my setting has always been at optimal and i've no problems.

 

[Wolfman35]

I Smell a Marginal Power Supply!!! The 250W Enlight is on AMD's list but check it's specs ... Very Weak at 125W on the 3.3/5V tap!!! You need a full 150+ Watts (and 15+ Amps) on the 3.3/5V side to run a Duron (or T-Bird) at 900+. Notice that the guy above with "NO Problems" has a 350W PS. Alot of the PS's on AMD's approved list are NOT up to the task of an OC'd CPU. Also keep in mind that a PS Ages and loses some capacity over time. (Nobody ever thinks about this) Remember ... it takes MORE amperage to push (most) Overclocked CPU's (say at 1 gig) than it does to run a "Stock Clocked" 1 gig chip. Get yourself a good Leadman or Sparkle 300W PS (both of which have 160+W and 18+A on the 3.3/5V tap) and I bet your problems disappear. BTW ... I had an Enlight 250W go bad in my system and it took out the MB, CDRW and SB Live (the CPU Survived). It's not a fun feeling.

Edit: BTW ... Unplugging the Fans and CD Drives has little effect as the 12V and 5V Sides of the PS are seperate.

 

[Maniac9127]

You said it doesn't POST, by that do you mean you get an eror at the BIOS startup screen? Or do you not get any video at all? If you don't get any video, then try redoing the pencil.

I had the same type of problem with my duron. Had a 600 that I though didn't do anything over 650 Q yeah right) because when I set it to 700 it just sat there, fans running, but nothing on the moniter. Set it to 900 and ran just fine. Used conductive pen and everything works fine now.

 

[Wolfman35]

Good point maniac but you failed to read his Post. He has a CPU/HS combo from Step Thermo. and cannot remove the HS to get TO the L1 bridges. They are Epoxyed on with Artic silver type epoxy. Step unlocks them by PCB pen anyway. Step's stuff is GOOD so it has to be some existing component. The pencil trick SUCKS anyway. Defogger kit or PCB pen is the only way to go for a permanant connection.

 

[Melvin]

Wolfman:

Thanks for the power supply tip. I must be psychic; I ordered a 300W Enlight last night as a last resort. (It's approved all the way to Athlon 1200.)

Thanks also for the Enlight 250W blowout tip--I feel like I'm walking on the wild side now, using this thing...

And since I couldn't find any really useful information in another thread, I wonder if I might tap your knowledge of power supplies a bit more. You say that the 12v and 3.3v/5v sides of PSes are separate? How exactly does that work? Does that mean it doesn't matter if I have 3 hard drives and 10 fans, as long as the CPU is getting enough juice from the 3.3V side?

I really appreciate all the help.

 

[Wolfman35]

Well ... Yes and No. HD's use the 5V as much as the 12V so thats a wash. Fans are all 12V so up to the limit of the 12V tap you can add as many as you want and have very little effect on the 3.3/5V side. Eventually you come to the limit of your (20A) Wall socket tho. Also note that fans (3 pin)drawing from the Mobo DO affect both sides of the PS where 4 pin fans don't (as much).

The breakdown is: 3.3/5V tap = Electronics (CPU, RAM, Cards & Boards in Drives) 12V Tap = Motors (Fans, HD's CD's ect.)

Older PS (and ALL Enlights --even the 300W) used to split the power 50/50 (ie: 250W had 125W to the low and 125W to the High) Most new designs recognize that the electronics can draw ALOT of amps and provide more current to the Low (3.3/5V) tap. Wattage ratings are kind of meaningless anyway. It's really Amperage that matters. (Ohm's law)

I bet that the 300W PS fixes your problem but you could have done better than the Enlight. Enlight stuff is decent quality for OEM parts but lousy compared to the True aftermarket PS like Sparkle and Leadman. InWin (Powerman) is the best OEM PS. The Powerman 250W will put out more current than that 300W Enlight you just bought for less money.