I sold my friend a 3.6 Q6600 (rig)...

[VirtualLarry]

and it has crashed four times in the last 6 months.

Should I offer to "tweak" it some more? (decrease oc/increase voltage)? He said last time it happened, he wasn't doing anything intensive, and the temps were fine.

I know that when I put it together, it passed all the stress tests I could throw at it with flying colors. It even ran 24/7 OCed to 3.6, along with two GTX460 1GB cards, running F@H, for a month straight without erroring any WUs that I noticed.

 

[crashtech]

That's a tough thing to guarantee. Would he accept lowering the frequency slightly?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I would never sell anything stating that it would hit xxmhz, thats just asking for problems, too many factors that can affect stability. If anything id say that it will hit xx but take your chances, assume its a stock chip

 

[Rakehellion]

What everyone else said. If it could be expected to run at 3.6GHz, it would have said that on the box.

And if you're friends you should probably cut your losses and buy it back from him because if this machine is borked, you're going to hear about it endlessly.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I offered him a six-core Thuban rig, running at stock. He wanted what he already had.

 

[crashtech]

Some part of this may have to do with how you represented this thing during the transaction. Only you can know for sure how much responsibility you have signed up for. If you have to eat it, it has value as a lesson.

 

[AkumaX]

i'd definitely lower it down to 3.2GHz

 

[Saylick]

i'd definitely lower it down to 3.2GHz

This. Q6600s were known to be easily overclockable, but for a chip that old, 3.6 is pushing it a bit too hard Imo.

 

[TallBill]

This. Q6600s were known to be easily overclockable, but for a chip that old, 3.6 is pushing it a bit too hard Imo.

Yeah I wanna say that I ran mine at 3.4 .. been a while though

 

[Puppies04]

and it has crashed four times in the last 6 months.

Should I offer to "tweak" it some more? (decrease oc/increase voltage)? He said last time it happened, he wasn't doing anything intensive, and the temps were fine.

I know that when I put it together, it passed all the stress tests I could throw at it with flying colors. It even ran 24/7 OCed to 3.6, along with two GTX460 1GB cards, running F@H, for a month straight without erroring any WUs that I noticed.

Ok first things first. How do you know that the crashes are being caused by the CPU? I will assume that you have ruled out the "normal" things like a HDD on its way out or faulty RAM which account for many times more crashes than CPUs. That said....


...Did he happen to do something like change the PSU/add more RAM. If not I would put it down to simple degradation, we all know it happens sooner of later with OC'd chips. Either tweak the voltage (4 crashes in 6 months says to me that it only needs a small bump) or lower the OC slightly.

 

[cytg111]

What everyone else said. If it could be expected to run at 3.6GHz, it would have said that on the box.

And if you're friends you should probably cut your losses and buy it back from him because if this machine is borked, you're going to hear about it endlessly.

This.
I am never selling on old hardware to familiy or friends(anymore) .. youll be on call 24/7 for the rest of the hardwares life.

 

[Shmee]

Puppies bring up a good point. How, if at all, is his current system different from yours? Is it even on the same board? It could be CPU related, but it might be something else as well.

Even if it is CPU related, it may be having problems because of a different component in his rig doesn't support the CPU like it did in yours(RAM, mobo, cooler etc).

 

[inf64]

This is why I never sell any of my PC parts to my friends... I guess you could get the system back to your place and try to see what causes the crashes. My guess is that the OC is not stable anymore,due to board's VRM being worn out or just CPU degraded a bit. Maybe it just needs a slight downclock/undervolt.

 

[Blain]

Tell him...
1. Unless a specific warranty was given, it was an "as is" sale.
2. Tell him the crashes are due to his dirty incoming power and/or his crappy old PS.
3. You'll down clock it to 3GHz.
4. Your previous OCing has cooked the CPU and you'll buy him a replacement.

 

[guskline]

and it has crashed four times in the last 6 months.

Should I offer to "tweak" it some more? (decrease oc/increase voltage)? He said last time it happened, he wasn't doing anything intensive, and the temps were fine.

I know that when I put it together, it passed all the stress tests I could throw at it with flying colors. It even ran 24/7 OCed to 3.6, along with two GTX460 1GB cards, running F@H, for a month straight without erroring any WUs that I noticed.

If you want to keep a friend buy it back! Unless he has the SAME mb, ram, PSU etc, hard to justify an OC. DID you guarantee any OC speed?

 

[Lonbjerg]

Selling OC'ed CPU's are just bad...you dug your own hole.

 

[tracerbullet]

It's been said, but I was thinking it before reading it so maybe it's worth reinforcing -

1) It may not be the chip, sounds like something else
2) If it's a friend you should buy it back no questions asked, even if #1 is true

 

[DigDog]

two things;

my E6600 needed a further boost in voltage after a while, dont know why, but now it takes 1.34. Hyper 212 non-evo takes care of that easily.

second, when the PC got moved, it could have shifted some components, if slightly; reapplying thermal paste and giving it a good clean with compressed air could fix things. Also, the issue might not be with the cpu. ram, maybe? my corsair just failed :/

 

[Vic Vega]

It could be software related, you have no clue without further investigation.

 

[nanaki333]

make sure it's not set to auto reboot at a crash. if it's throwing a bsod, it would be pretty easy to figure out what the problem is. people don't always know what a "crash" is. just a thought.

 

[VirtualLarry]

To clarify, I sold him the pre-built Q6600-based PC, pre-tested and configured for 3.6. Sorry I wasn't more clear on that.

That's what I don't get, I had it running F@H for a month straight with no issues, and he has had issues doing nothing but running Skype and web browsing a little bit. He does use Chrome, and I have heard of Chrome causing system-level crashes. I wonder about the video drivers too.

Edit: I should also mention that I'm more concerned about this than he is. He seems to just think "it's Windows", or something. But I have pretty strict personal standards about stability.

Edit: Now that I think about it, it may be his fault after all. The first time that it crashed, he had it in an enclosed space, and it overheated and crashed. I really hope it didn't cook the VRMs or something.

 

[Emulex]

geforce drivers (buggy on some vid cards)
C/C1E/hibernation

those didn't work so hot (server or desktops).

He probably loaded up java or flash and got pwned.

Why not just stick with stock speed? If he's just doing chrome/office/video(pr0n)/xbmc the q6600 quite fine as-is. I've been using my inspiron 530 forever at stock speed and felt no urge to overclock it. But I could do the simple mod to 1066 if I needed it.

Remember some folks think 86F is normal in the summer and some folks think 68F is normal. I had to visit ghetto apartments and man between the dust and blazing hot indoor temps, those poor machines never stood a chance! and it was personal preference not cost.

 

[tweakboy]

This. Q6600s were known to be easily overclockable, but for a chip that old, 3.6 is pushing it a bit too hard Imo.

Im the Q6600 pro here. Let me help you since I had that cpu for 5 years.

4 crashes in 6 months. I think at worst case it might be a RAM issue. One that is not that serious that is I promise you its not the CPU. It could be PSU or RAM ,,, those awkward shutdowns you get. gl

 

[Magic Carpet]

Edit: Now that I think about it, it may be his fault after all. The first time that it crashed, he had it in an enclosed space, and it overheated and crashed. I really hope it didn't cook the VRMs or something.

This.

2) There is no reason to have it overclocked for the activities he is using it for.

 

[Blain]

and it has crashed four times in the last 6 months.

He said last time it happened, he wasn't doing anything intensive, and the temps were fine.

To clarify...

The first time that it crashed, he had it in an enclosed space, and it overheated and crashed.

Are the crashes heat related or not?