I have always had problems with Intel Northwood Pentium 4 3GHz CPUs. It seems that whenever I use one with hyper threading, eventually I run into occasional BSODs. On a Prime95 FPU test, it eventually fails with a rounding error. I know for sure the CPU is the culprit because I have swapped out that CPU with a Pentium 4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB CPU, and Prime95 FPU test runs perfectly for over 24 hours without any errors.
It seems I am having trouble with the CPUs I have recieved from Intel RMA as well. I have had to RMA my CPU for the third time, and I am still getting BSODs with the new one I recieved as well. I always have confimred it is the CPU by swapping it with another one. Are the RMA'd CPUs I have recieved from Intel likely a bad batch. I remember reading somewhere that there were known problems with the early batch of Pentium 4 CPUs with HT and the 800MHz FSB. That is what lead me to RMA the first one I had about a year ago. The 2nd one I received worked just great for 6 months until it started having the same problems as well. The third one I recieved after I RMA's the 2nd one had severe problems. The system took like 20 minutes to boot into Windows and when it finally did, it took like 10 seconds to load Task Manager, and it spiked at 88% CPU usage every 15 seconds without me having to do anything. Again, I know for sure it was the CPU because I swapped it out with the 2.4GHz P4, and the problems immediately went away. I had to RMA that one back for the 4th CPU. The 4th one I received seemed to work fine for about a month, and now it is getting BSODs. Prime95 FPU test passed perfectly about one month ago. Now, it fails wth a rounding error after I tried testing it again because of the BSODs.
It has been extremely frusterating for me with what has happened. Every single Pentium 4 3GHz 800MHz FSB Northwood CPU has always appeared to tbe the culprit to my system failures. I have tried so many different things to try and track down other possible hardware failures, but to no avail. It seems every CPU I have recieved from Intel RMA is also slightly defective as well. Is this typical from Intel RMA that they send you the original CPUs produced in left over stock that haven't been opened yet. If that's the case, chances are that I'm receiving one of the first produced 3GHz 800MHz FSB P4 Northwood core CPUs that may have that early known defect I once read about.
I am so frusterated, I plan to just buy another socket 478 CPU. Any recommendations on how I can ensure I buy one that was made more recently and thus less likely to have these problems? What about going with a socket 478 Prescott CPU? Are they any better?
Once again, I have confirmed it is for sure the CPU. I have ran MemTest 3.2 many times for hours with all passes and no errors. So I know memory isn't the problem. I also measured the +12V and +5V voltage rails of my PSU with a Digital Multi Meter and they were almost exactly +12V and +5V respectively. So does that say for sure that my PSU is not the problem??
Any help greatly appreciated regarding Intel Northwood Pentium 4 3GHz 800MHz FSB CPUs because I am extremely frusterated at the problems I have had with them, while knowing just about for sure that the rest of my hardware is completely stable and working perfectly. I am probably one of the only few who has had problems strictly with a faulty CPU combined with my hardware this many times.
It seems I am having trouble with the CPUs I have recieved from Intel RMA as well. I have had to RMA my CPU for the third time, and I am still getting BSODs with the new one I recieved as well. I always have confimred it is the CPU by swapping it with another one. Are the RMA'd CPUs I have recieved from Intel likely a bad batch. I remember reading somewhere that there were known problems with the early batch of Pentium 4 CPUs with HT and the 800MHz FSB. That is what lead me to RMA the first one I had about a year ago. The 2nd one I received worked just great for 6 months until it started having the same problems as well. The third one I recieved after I RMA's the 2nd one had severe problems. The system took like 20 minutes to boot into Windows and when it finally did, it took like 10 seconds to load Task Manager, and it spiked at 88% CPU usage every 15 seconds without me having to do anything. Again, I know for sure it was the CPU because I swapped it out with the 2.4GHz P4, and the problems immediately went away. I had to RMA that one back for the 4th CPU. The 4th one I received seemed to work fine for about a month, and now it is getting BSODs. Prime95 FPU test passed perfectly about one month ago. Now, it fails wth a rounding error after I tried testing it again because of the BSODs.
It has been extremely frusterating for me with what has happened. Every single Pentium 4 3GHz 800MHz FSB Northwood CPU has always appeared to tbe the culprit to my system failures. I have tried so many different things to try and track down other possible hardware failures, but to no avail. It seems every CPU I have recieved from Intel RMA is also slightly defective as well. Is this typical from Intel RMA that they send you the original CPUs produced in left over stock that haven't been opened yet. If that's the case, chances are that I'm receiving one of the first produced 3GHz 800MHz FSB P4 Northwood core CPUs that may have that early known defect I once read about.
I am so frusterated, I plan to just buy another socket 478 CPU. Any recommendations on how I can ensure I buy one that was made more recently and thus less likely to have these problems? What about going with a socket 478 Prescott CPU? Are they any better?
Once again, I have confirmed it is for sure the CPU. I have ran MemTest 3.2 many times for hours with all passes and no errors. So I know memory isn't the problem. I also measured the +12V and +5V voltage rails of my PSU with a Digital Multi Meter and they were almost exactly +12V and +5V respectively. So does that say for sure that my PSU is not the problem??
Any help greatly appreciated regarding Intel Northwood Pentium 4 3GHz 800MHz FSB CPUs because I am extremely frusterated at the problems I have had with them, while knowing just about for sure that the rest of my hardware is completely stable and working perfectly. I am probably one of the only few who has had problems strictly with a faulty CPU combined with my hardware this many times.
