Testing Refurblished CPU

[irenealan]

Hi I just bought a refurblished CPU and wonder if I should keep it. Just wonder how would you guys test a refurblished CPU to see if it will perform the same as a new one.

Just wonder what's the worst thing I person can do to a CPU and how would find about that on a refurblished chip? For a difference of $60 I wonder if I should keep the new or the refurblished one based on the findings if the refurblished chip is somewhat the same as a new one.

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[irenealan]

Just wonder I just try to take the AMD stock heat sink out and as I pull it out, the themal paste stick too hard to the CPU that I pull the CPU with the HS. So I actually pull the CPU out without flipping out the latch, will this hurt the CPU? Again I really want to see how I can test if my CPU is broken somewhere or if any part of it is damaged even though it still boots Windows. Thanks and sorry for my ignorance... =)

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: irenealan
Just wonder I just try to take the AMD stock heat sink out and as I pull it out, the themal paste stick too hard to the CPU that I pull the CPU with the HS. So I actually pull the CPU out without flipping out the latch, will this hurt the CPU? Again I really want to see how I can test if my CPU is broken somewhere or if any part of it is damaged even though it still boots Windows. Thanks and sorry for my ignorance... =)

If it posts, it's fine. If you screwed it up by removing it incorrectly, that's your fault, not newegg's or AMD's.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

cpus are pretty staight forward due to their complexity. either they work,or they don't.

 

[Jeff7181]

SOMETIMES it's possible to have a CPU that's been damaged by overvolting or possibly overheating that works sometimes and doesn't work sometimes... Prime95 should expose any of that intermittant stuff.

 

[Unforgiven]

yeah id run a program like prime 95 and peg the cpu usage to 100% for several hours to make sure you have a good chip!

 

[joe2004]

Two problems I had with refurbished CPUs. First some are returned because they did not overclock well. Second I got one Athlon 64 3400+ that was fake, meaning somebody replaced the chip with 3000+ while keeping the same heatspreader. Rather nasty trick. Now if they would be coming from AMD that would be OK but they aren't. This is all returned stuff.

 

[irenealan]

but my CPU is 3000+ so unless someone switch it with a 2800+, it can't be any lower even if someone changed the heat spreader. Also the CPU post @ 2ghz without any OC on board thus I guess mine should be a real 3000+? Is it possible that the CPU is not 3000+ but it just automatically OC to 3000+ when installed in any system? Sorry to ask stupid question!

So other than running Prime95 what else I can do to check the CPU? I will run Prime95 but is there anything specific I should pay attention to during the test to see if my CPU is not working properly?

Also my item comes with the AMD warantee booklet, how would I know if my CPU still qualifies for the 3 year warantee from AMD?

Thanks for all the help!

Originally posted by: joe2004
Two problems I had with refurbished CPUs. First some are returned because they did not overclock well. Second I got one Athlon 64 3400+ that was fake, meaning somebody replaced the chip with 3000+ while keeping the same heatspreader. Rather nasty trick. Now if they would be coming from AMD that would be OK but they aren't. This is all returned stuff.

 

[joe2004]

If you can run Prime95 for couple of hours without problem, I'd say your CPU is fine. Check the temperatures as well. There is really no much science here, if it works fine then it is OK. CPUs don't get broken so that they can be repaired, they just die.

 

[Tango57]

when a cpu is labeled as refurbished, usually that means that it was returned to the vender or manufacturer either due to some defect and thus repaired or fixed or the person just didn't want or need the cpu anymore and returned it in the same condition he received it. so just because it's refurbished doesn't necessarily mean that it's in bad condition or even used. i would say that as long as it is running the programs you need to run without any lockups or system crashes then it should be fine. the most important thing is to keep an eye on is your processor's temps. keep it running cool with a good heatsink and fan and it should serve you well even if it is refurbished.

 

[irenealan]

Thanks Joe my CPU runs around 30C when idle and 35C when not... don't know if that's normal for a 3000+? The first time I place the chip on board, Sandra shows 22C then it graduate adds up to around 28 - 30C... now whenever it boots up, the temp is around 30C!

I downloaded Prime95 and join the online program to have it automatically tested throughout the net. Just wonder do you guys use the manual or auto tests? If manual what property values do you guys set for testing... how to set it to 100% CPU stress test? Or is the internet automatically test is good enough? Also do you guys raise the process priority to high?

Thanks.

Originally posted by: joe2004
If you can run Prime95 for couple of hours without problem, I'd say your CPU is fine. Check the temperatures as well. There is really no much science here, if it works fine then it is OK. CPUs don't get broken so that they can be repaired, they just die.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

when you first start prime it'll ask you whether you just want to stress test or if you want to help their cause, if you signed up for an ID than you clicked wrong i guess, so just click options, then click torture test and start with anyone of them, it'll cycle through them all

 

[Jester666]

The first time I place the chip on board, Sandra shows 22C then it graduate adds up to around 28 - 30C... now whenever it boots up, the temp is around 30C!


30C is very cool... no worries there

 

[irenealan]

Man the Prime95 took 4 hours already and still going... I guess I selected the one that need to sign up for an ID... so should I just do Torture test now? The internet test has been going for 4+ hours already and it's only 30% done!

Should I continue?

Originally posted by: sheik124
when you first start prime it'll ask you whether you just want to stress test or if you want to help their cause, if you signed up for an ID than you clicked wrong i guess, so just click options, then click torture test and start with anyone of them, it'll cycle through them all

 

[irenealan]

how can you setup the torture test to cycle through for few hours? Thanks. I saw alot of you guys post stats received from the Prime95 test but I wasn't getting any. All it say is just message on certain test is complete! I want to know the temp of my CPU when full loaded!

 

[Tango57]

i think if you go under options then cpu it will ask how many hours per day you want to run the program. to monitor you cpu temps while running any program you can use MBM5 Motherboard Monitor. just run the setup for MBM5 and it will ask you pick your motherboard, etc. and then will display your case and cpu temps in the taskbar.

 

[irenealan]

I have been running the internet test for few hours and everything runs fine without any lockup. But then when I use the custom torture test, it passed the first test and the system hang during the second test when I was trying to switch Prime95 from RealTime Priority to High. Is that a problem then?

I then restarted the system and run the custom torture test again and it passed all tests and loop back to the first test. Now I am running the test that test the CPU heat (the second option from top) and it's been running now fine (it passed all tests from 1024k to 512k and now running the next one).

In your opinion do you think my CPU is good? I notice pretty weird that without any OC the chip is running at 2.01 already, quite weird. Anyhow based on my test result how long do you guys think my CPU will last if I don't OC? How about if I OC it to 2.2ghz? I just want to know based on the test, can I test if this refurb chip will run as long a life time as a new chip.

Also I never get the answer on my question that how do I find out if my CPU still qualifies for the 3 year warantee? The refurb chip I bought is from Newegg and it comes with retail package plus the warantee booklet... so if there's anything happen, can I still RMA with AMD?

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Jester666]

If it came in retail packaging and you have the original stock HSF then you should qualify for the 3 year warranty. I think that the serial numbers are actually on the HSF.

 

[irenealan]

Yes it comes with retail HS and I have matched the sticker on the HS with that of the CPU, they do match each other. However, somehow the sticker doesn't stick anymore so I just took it off and put it in the box. So should I just fill out the warantee booklet and send it into AMD or just call up AMD whenever the processor has problem. I just want to make sure that the CPU is not registered undera different so that the CPU won't get waranteed under my name! Is there anyway to find it out? Thanks.

Originally posted by: Jester666
If it came in retail packaging and you have the original stock HSF then you should qualify for the 3 year warranty. I think that the serial numbers are actually on the HSF.

 

[irenealan]

Can someone help me on my first questions posted earlier:

1) I have been running the internet test for few hours and everything runs fine without any lockup. But then when I use the custom torture test, it passed the first test and the system hang during the second test when I was trying to switch Prime95 from RealTime Priority to High. Is that a problem then?

2) In your opinion do you think my CPU is good? I notice pretty weird that without any OC the chip is running at 2.01 already, quite weird. Anyhow based on my test result how long do you guys think my CPU will last if I don't OC? How about if I OC it to 2.2ghz? I just want to know based on the test, can I test if this refurb chip will run as long a life time as a new chip.

To update with more info, I had the CPU ran another night of test and it ran the custom test with below settings for 7 hours without any error:

Min FFT size (in K): 2048
Max FFT size (in K): 4096
[ ] Run FFTs in-place
Memory to use (in MB): 927
Time to run each FFT size (in minutes): 15

are these the most stressful stats people usually use to test their CPU and they should spot problem on the CPU within minutes?

I also move the Prime95 program to my other drive and start a second instance of the program. I ran the Blend test along with the above custom test for 7 hours and somehow the blend test window showed no progress. There wasn't any new message saying test passed or failed, just latest line is the same line I see when I first started the test. Wonder if my CPU is not able to run two instance of Prime95 in parallel? Or just A64 is not good at multi-tasking two CPU intensive jobs?

Please everyone is welcome to comment and provide help. Thanks for every input!

Originally posted by: irenealan
I have been running the internet test for few hours and everything runs fine without any lockup. But then when I use the custom torture test, it passed the first test and the system hang during the second test when I was trying to switch Prime95 from RealTime Priority to High. Is that a problem then?

I then restarted the system and run the custom torture test again and it passed all tests and loop back to the first test. Now I am running the test that test the CPU heat (the second option from top) and it's been running now fine (it passed all tests from 1024k to 512k and now running the next one).

In your opinion do you think my CPU is good? I notice pretty weird that without any OC the chip is running at 2.01 already, quite weird. Anyhow based on my test result how long do you guys think my CPU will last if I don't OC? How about if I OC it to 2.2ghz? I just want to know based on the test, can I test if this refurb chip will run as long a life time as a new chip.

Also I never get the answer on my question that how do I find out if my CPU still qualifies for the 3 year warantee? The refurb chip I bought is from Newegg and it comes with retail package plus the warantee booklet... so if there's anything happen, can I still RMA with AMD?

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[irenealan]

Any comment or help on my previous post?

Thanks.

Originally posted by: irenealan
Can someone help me on my first questions posted earlier:

1) I have been running the internet test for few hours and everything runs fine without any lockup. But then when I use the custom torture test, it passed the first test and the system hang during the second test when I was trying to switch Prime95 from RealTime Priority to High. Is that a problem then?

2) In your opinion do you think my CPU is good? I notice pretty weird that without any OC the chip is running at 2.01 already, quite weird. Anyhow based on my test result how long do you guys think my CPU will last if I don't OC? How about if I OC it to 2.2ghz? I just want to know based on the test, can I test if this refurb chip will run as long a life time as a new chip.

To update with more info, I had the CPU ran another night of test and it ran the custom test with below settings for 7 hours without any error:

Min FFT size (in K): 2048
Max FFT size (in K): 4096
[ ] Run FFTs in-place
Memory to use (in MB): 927
Time to run each FFT size (in minutes): 15

are these the most stressful stats people usually use to test their CPU and they should spot problem on the CPU within minutes?

I also move the Prime95 program to my other drive and start a second instance of the program. I ran the Blend test along with the above custom test for 7 hours and somehow the blend test window showed no progress. There wasn't any new message saying test passed or failed, just latest line is the same line I see when I first started the test. Wonder if my CPU is not able to run two instance of Prime95 in parallel? Or just A64 is not good at multi-tasking two CPU intensive jobs?

Please everyone is welcome to comment and provide help. Thanks for every input!

Originally posted by: irenealan
I have been running the internet test for few hours and everything runs fine without any lockup. But then when I use the custom torture test, it passed the first test and the system hang during the second test when I was trying to switch Prime95 from RealTime Priority to High. Is that a problem then?

I then restarted the system and run the custom torture test again and it passed all tests and loop back to the first test. Now I am running the test that test the CPU heat (the second option from top) and it's been running now fine (it passed all tests from 1024k to 512k and now running the next one).

In your opinion do you think my CPU is good? I notice pretty weird that without any OC the chip is running at 2.01 already, quite weird. Anyhow based on my test result how long do you guys think my CPU will last if I don't OC? How about if I OC it to 2.2ghz? I just want to know based on the test, can I test if this refurb chip will run as long a life time as a new chip.

Also I never get the answer on my question that how do I find out if my CPU still qualifies for the 3 year warantee? The refurb chip I bought is from Newegg and it comes with retail package plus the warantee booklet... so if there's anything happen, can I still RMA with AMD?

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[daos]

IMO, if your processor can run sandra burn in overnight with no problems, then your setup is fine. plain and simple. it sounds to me like you are getting to complicated with the whole P95 thing. just run Sandra CPU Burn In overnight, and if everything is fine when you wake up, your CPU is ok.

overclocking is a different story. i know absolutly nothing about AMD chips since i only use Intel. but most chips will last a good 5-7 years without failure if run at stock speeds. if you overclock it, the lifespan depends on many different factors. i.e. voltage, speeds, heat, etc... one cannot really say how long your processor will last if overclocked since its an unknown factor. what can be said is "It will shorten the life of your processor".