Is OCCT more reliable than Prime95?

[bububear]

System:

MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum
OCZ 2 x 512 Platinum Revision 2
OCZ 520w Powerstream PSU

After some testing and failure, I went out and bought a new PSU (OCZ 520w powerstream). I have 1 x 512 OCZ Plat. Rev. 2 than can do 281 mhz @ 2.85v, and my cpu can do 2529mhz with stock vcore. Later on, I upgraded my memory to 2 x 512 Plat. Rev. 2 Dual Channel kits, and I ran memtest86 test #5 for an hour and found no errors on the new ram runng at 280mhz at 3-4-4-8 @ 2.85v. So, I decide to do 250 x 10 (1:1)on my cpu (my cpu can do 2529mhz on stock vcore) and it fails Superpi, so I set the my vcore to to 1.525 + 1.05% = 1.60125v in BIOS (and 1.5v in Windows) and it passes Superpi at 33s no problem. I then ran Prime95 for 17 hours and no errors. So, I decide to run OCCT, and after 10 minues, I get a message saying that my CPU is unstable. How is this possible? My CPU does 2529 mhz on stock with 1 x 512 OCZ Plat. Rev 2 RAM (281 mhz 2.5-3-3-10 @2.85v). The OCZ 2 x 512 Plat. Rev.2 DC Kits can do 250 Mhz without any problems at 2.75v (2.5-3-3-5) and I verified this using memtest86. There is no way my PSU can be at fault, so I'm wondering, is OCCT 100% reliable? Also, I ran Windows Memtest and at 250 MHz, errors show up in my RAM but not in Memtest86 v3.2. Can I really trust Windows Memtest and OCCT?

 

[stevty2889]

Run the same tests with one stick, and see if you get the same errors. Since the memory controler is on the CPU itself, adding a second stick of ram puts more stress on it, so with the ram at 1:1 it can limit your CPU overclock..A64's are not bandwidth hungry like P4's so it doesn't really hurt performance to run a divider on the memory...so why not try lowering the memory speed and see if it's stable then...

 

[rise]

i think occt is definitely more sensitive. i use it first, the 30 min. test and then superpi 32m and the 3d benches and then prime large and small.

i had the same issue a while ago- before i heard of occt i was prime stable for over 12 hours but occt crashed me in ~10 mins. for me it was just a tref, trc and trfc settings and now they all pass.

from what i hear, occt is very reliable but then again i was perfectly happy running just prime before i had heard of occt so i guess its up to you.

 

[bububear]

I know each stick does 260+ since I tested them individually. Anyways, I can pass the 30 minute test on OCCT without problems, but if I run torture, it'll crash on me within 10-15 minutes.