Well I fried an Opteron 265

[Titan]

I've been posting a lot at the 2cpu forums as I am a 2cpu nut. I just wanted to share that I isolated a non-posting system as CPU1 failure in my 2 Opteron 265 Asus K8N-DL system.

I u-wired the socket to increase default voltage from 1.35 to 1.55. Using clockgen, I overclocked it to 2.40ghz, but was reading 60C and occasionally 61C under full load. And my cooling setup was good, with the other cpu running a full 10C cooler.

I guessed that i didn't put enough AS5 on there, so I removed it, and it was kinda thin with some dry patches near the edges, so I globbed more on and reinsterted the CPU. But, I forgot to check my u-wire. I go to turn it on, and get no post. I clean out the u-wire and it was not in the right place. I re-uwire and it won't post. I vacuum the socket with a shopvac, remove all u-wires, and it don't work. Once I switch in the other cpu into the socket, I get a post.

SO, I am RMAing with AMD. I am now wondering if the cpu had issues all along or not. The cpu was always warmer than everything else and this is open case with beastly sunon fns cooling hyper6's with enough AS5.

Just figured I'd let people know my story as warning.

 

[Markfw]

You are going to RMA after modding ?? Not ethical, suck it up and eat it.

 

[Titan]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
You are going to RMA after modding ?? Not ethical, suck it up and eat it.

I didn't mod the CPU. I U-wired the socket.

I'm sorry did I miss a fricking meeting? Is it unethical to raise the voltage on a CPU and RMA it if it dies?

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: Titan

Originally posted by: Markfw900
You are going to RMA after modding ?? Not ethical, suck it up and eat it.

I didn't mod the CPU. I U-wired the socket.

I'm sorry did I miss a fricking meeting? Is it unethical to raise the voltage on a CPU and RMA it if it dies?

Uh, basically yea... What are you thinking? Why should AMD and the rest of their customers have to pay for your negligence? I don't think you should RMA...

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Titan
I'm sorry did I miss a fricking meeting? Is it unethical to raise the voltage on a CPU and RMA it if it dies?

Yes. Learn how to speak english, then go take your low moral standards elsewhere. :roll:

 

[swatX]

STFU people!. i bet 90% people in here have RMAed their CPU or RAM or gpu after they fried it from overclocking. no need to jump on one person all at once. if he wishes to rma it then let him. if you dont like it then suck it up. you cant do anything about it.

 

[n7]

Yeah, & that is rather wrong...

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: swatX
STFU people!. i bet 90% people in here have RMAed their CPU or RAM or gpu after they fried it from overclocking. no need to jump on one person all at once. if he wishes to rma it then let him. if you dont like it then suck it up. you cant do anything about it.

Well, I know many people that have overclocked, and not one has fried a cpu, memory of GPU. Why ? They use software, not "u-wire" or hardware mods. Even if he had contined with the mod, he probably would have been OK, had he been careful, but he wasn;t and "shorted out" the cpu with his mod which was out of place IMO.

The one exception is I think MichaelD was using the u-wire mod on a Xeon, and I think he sucked it up when they died.

Regardless, its not ethical, not to mention being stupid by being careless about an exspensive cpu like that by putting it back in without checking the wire.

 

[swatX]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: swatX
STFU people!. i bet 90% people in here have RMAed their CPU or RAM or gpu after they fried it from overclocking. no need to jump on one person all at once. if he wishes to rma it then let him. if you dont like it then suck it up. you cant do anything about it.

Well, I know many people that have overclocked, and not one has fried a cpu, memory of GPU. Why ? They use software, not "u-wire" or hardware mods. Even if he had contined with the mod, he probably would have been OK, had he been careful, but he wasn;t and "shorted out" the cpu with his mod which was out of place IMO.

The one exception is I think MichaelD was using the u-wire mod on a Xeon, and I think he sucked it up when they died.

Regardless, its not ethical, not to mention being stupid by being careless about an exspensive cpu like that by putting it back in without checking the wire.

while i agree about the hard modding thing, it still pisses me off that people just jump at one person for not being ethical while if they are put some energy into looking around them they might tons and tons of people doing software overclocking and RMAing it if they didnt get the result they didnt need.

 

[Markfw]

Again, I know of NOBODY doing this, and I know quite a few, so I don;t know where you get the 90%. Gee, maybe thats because all my friends are ethical, because thats the crowd I run with, while maybe you on the other hand run with a different crowd of people.

Maybe you should crawl back in your hole before you get banned.

 

[jiffylube1024]

WTF!? U-wire? Why not just use the BIOS to increase voltage???

 

[Snakexor]

unless you know these people in real life, markfw900, how can you run with them if you only know them on the internet?

 

[Dadofamunky]

I don't think he should RMA; he was hardware modding. Pure and simple. He might get away with it but so what? However, I won't call him immoral for doing it, since I don't want to cast stones....

The only thing worse would be RMAing because a part won't overclock. Heh. I'm experiencing this right now with an X2 4200+ that will NOT OC no matter what I do. So guess what? I'm gonna suck it up and deal. It runs beautifully anyway. Maybe someday I'll go over to a DFI board and see if I can do better but I get no latency with this anyway.... AMD still has a satisfied customer.

Dude, DON'T RMA that thing. You messed up by not using a checklist. I understand, but you alone are responsible.

 

[Madellga]

Besides the ethical issue, I think AMD and Intel can tell when you screw up.

2 years ago I was building a P4 Northwood with an Abit mainboard (IC8 I guess) as a media PC for the living room. No overclock, stock heatsink. After some days the Abit blew a mosfet during startup and that caused the CPU to fry (no power regulation).

I sent the CPU and mainboard for RMA. Abit took a month but they shipped me a new mainboard. Intel said: no, not our fault. They can tell.

The store didn't support me either. They new the mainboard blew the CPU, but the store sent the CPU to Intel. I told them the CPU should have gone to ABIT, but they didn't. And sending the CPU alone was not going to work, as the mainboard was most likely scrapped after the RMA.

At the end, I insisted on a full refund for the mainboard (Abit sent a new one), but I had to eat the CPU. Because of that, I gave up on the media PC and sold the stuff over ebay.

I used to like Abit but hard to forget 250$ down the drain....

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: swatX


while i agree about the hard modding thing, it still pisses me off that people just jump at one person for not being ethical while if they are put some energy into looking around them they might tons and tons of people doing software overclocking and RMAing it if they didnt get the result they didnt need.

As a general rule, we tend to jump on anyone trying to RMA stuff they fried via overvolting or other hardware or software mods.

It's not hard to be honest in instances such as this. Expensive, maybe, but . . .

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: swatX
STFU people!. i bet 90% people in here have RMAed their CPU or RAM or gpu after they fried it from overclocking. no need to jump on one person all at once. if he wishes to rma it then let him. if you dont like it then suck it up. you cant do anything about it.

Don't generalize. Just because you're not honest enough to do the right thing doesn't mean others aren't. I never have nor ever will RMA any computer part that I f'up myself.

Besides if I were to fry my A64 right now, in a way I'd be happy cause I could justify getting one of those amazing dual core Opterons!

 

[drifter106]

 

[ribbon13]

Meh. Awfully expensive CPU to be fscking around with. Was it OSA265CBWOF, OSA265FAA6CB, or OSA265CBBOX?

Those that want to talk about ethics, how about telling me ethical reasons the Opteron 865 costing twice as much as the Opteron 265, even though they have the exact same specifactions, including the 3 HTT links that allow 8 CPU SMP.

 

[LTC8K6]

Nobody pays for my mistakes but me. If I ruined it, it's my loss. Whether I ruined it via software or hard wiring makes absolutely no difference to me.

I would never try to get the manufacturer or the retailer to pay for my screw up.

Anybody that will break something and expect someone else to pay for it has problems, imo.

Not only that, but in the end the cost is passed on to everyone else.

Don't bother with any sob stories about how rotten and filthy rich big companies are, etc.

It won't wash.

If you are going to be a thief, just come right out and say so. Just say you broke it and you are going to try to rip off AMD for a new one.

Stop trying to pretend you aren't a thief, and stop acting surprised when people don't like it.

And no, this has nothing whatsoever to do with legitimate claims for defective parts, or honest reporting of what happened when you ask for an RMA.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Meh. Awfully expensive CPU to be fscking around with. Was it OSA265CBWOF, OSA265FAA6CB, or OSA265CBBOX?

Those that want to talk about ethics, how about telling me ethical reasons the Opteron 865 costing twice as much as the Opteron 265, even though they have the exact same specifactions, including the 3 HTT links that allow 8 CPU SMP.

OK...first, your premise is wrong.
The 2xx series have 3 HT links, but only 1 coherent link (a coherent link is one that connects to another CPU)
The 8xx series has 3 coherent links...

 

[Viditor]

I have to go along with the majority on this...
I have fried a CPU once, and I never considered getting the company (in this case it was Intel) to pay for it. So no, I wouldn't (and didn't) RMA either...but those are my own morals, and I don't expect everyone else to adhere to them either.

 

[hooflung]

I don't think the OP was aware of what he was doing is against the rules since he didn't know how to properly overclock his cpu in the first place.

OP... shame on you x 2 for your x2.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: swatX
STFU people!. i bet 90% people in here have RMAed their CPU or RAM or gpu after they fried it from overclocking. no need to jump on one person all at once. if he wishes to rma it then let him. if you dont like it then suck it up. you cant do anything about it.

so if you put rocket fuel on your car and the engine blow up it's the car company's fault, and they should cover the expenses of a new engine?

 

[Titan]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
WTF!? U-wire? Why not just use the BIOS to increase voltage???

You obviously do not own an Asus K8N-DL. BIOS support for this board is absolutely terrible.

I figured I may as well answer the only question out there since flames have kept bumping this thread to the top.

Of all the talk about ethics and morality, at least I had the integrity to come forward in a public forum and let people know that I think I made a mistake in hopes of warning others to be more careful. Lets see all of you judging me start posting mistakes you made so we can flame you. Don't forget all the lurkers who don't post about this kind of thing and now I see that there is not much point.

As to wether I "caused" my CPU to fry is open to interpretation. Remember you weren't there. This CPU was running hotter than the other since I got it. I look at a "lifetime warrany" as a solid safety net. No one is out there selling overclockers insurance. What if say, I didn't bother to replace my PSU after it's MTBF rate and a cap blew frying my cpus. Would I have caused that? Would it be unethical to RMA since I was overlocking? I obviously didn't intend to fry it, RMAing is a big pain in the arse. Either way, it's an accident. If AMD has a way of telling the failure was not their fault, they can take that position, if it is in the terms of the warranty. I'll send it to them and see what they say. I'm not so quick to have a 700 dollar keychain, if you don't mind.

And thank you all for reminding us why honesty is not always the best policy.

Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
unless you know these people in real life, markfw900, how can you run with them if you only know them on the internet?

Most of them I am talking about I DO know in real life. Including Duvie ! Most of them don't even visit Anandtech.

And for those who can read, straight from the warranty statement:

This limited warranty does not cover damages due to external causes, including improper use, problems with electrical power, accident, neglect, alteration, repair, improper installation, or improper testing.