CPU degradation or FSB troubles?

[DigDog]

Hi guys;

the premise here is that i'm ridiculously broke, and the ancient CPU i'm running needs to live as long as possible.

I'm running a E6600 on a gigabyte 965P-DS3 (775 stuff), and lately i've been getting occasional freezes (system lockups), BSODs and blackouts (screen flashes black before returning to normal 1-2 seconds later).
The board would normally run this at 8x on a 400 FSB, 1.375V, but since about a year ago i've had to constantly either bump up the voltage or lower the speed to prevent various crashes. The ram is XMS2 800 CL4, 2.1V, running at 800 autospeed (or even underclocked) on a 2x multi.

So lately the cpu won't even hold 9x / 300 @ 1.36, i'm now running it fully stock ... problem is, i *really* need that bump in speed, because at 2.4 Ghz it just doesn't cut it.

Any idea what this might be?
The cpu is always at reasonable temps, the fan never spins too fast (it does if i run furmark or other benches), the ram doesn't run hot either. No part of the mobo seems overheating.

The gpu is a 7750 with little or no OC, the psu a OCZ 500, i got 2 WD 250GB whose SMART says work fine, and nothing else.

Is this cpu deterioration? or is the board dying ? Originally the DS3 was a phenomenal FSB board, with 450+ reported, but if this is failing i can get one for £3 on eBay.

One thing which points at the board dying is that it won't POST with 4 sticks of ram .. sorta. (i have different brands / timings / voltage, with the second pair being GSkill 1066 @ 2.2V. however, they both work fine separate, and they have been tested with manually set underclocked speeds, so in theory they *should* work).

I have some feeling however that the cpu might be dying as well - i did have to bump the voltage twice on it to keep the 3.2Ghz OC, and with the extra juice it ran fine. Until now. (been running this cpu practically 24/7 since the day it came out)

Thoughts?

 

[BrightCandle]

There is a good chance the CPU is degraded. My i7 920 decreased in speed over the period of 2 years as I pushed it quite hard and there is every possibility that your poor E6600 is just loosing the ability to hold higher clock speeds as the higher voltage and clockspeed has taken its toll.

Its possible the motherboard is also part of the cause as well because it too has components that when pushed past their limit will degrade.

But I doubt you would really be in a position to replace the motherboard without doing the CPU, certainly doesn't make a lot of sense to spend money in that area. It might be time to consider what you would do if the machine outright fails, because you are right now are stuck at stock with a system that has clearly degraded after being overclocked for the long term. There is every possibility soon the machine will just die, certainly if you continue to try and push it to its limits. What happens then if you don't have the money to replace it?

 

[JohnDC]

Hi,
In the past I have had some good luck reviving older pc's or getting overclocks back by checking power supply's,dirty contacts and cmos batteries.Also running at a supported buss speed seems to increase stability of older stuff.

I would suggest:

Check the cmos battery and make sure it is still at 3 volts.

Really check over the bios settings(I have a gigabyte board that randomly loses some settings evey few months even though the cmos battery is ok)

Check the voltage output from the psu(a digital voltmeter is best,but A software solution should show if one of the rails is getting low or really drooping under load.If you can see inside of it make sure none of the caps are bulging.

contact corrosion:I have revived several pc's bu removing the ram,cpu and cards,then gently cleaning the contacts pads(dont do it on the pins they are too fragile)with a soft rubber pencil eraser,blowing off the eraser dust the wiping the contacts with rubbing alcohol and letting them dry and reassembling.They never looked that bad but it made the pc's work or oc again.A good dusting with compressed air couldn't hurt either while you are there.

Try running at a motherboard supported bus speed (333) and make sure the ram and pcie clocks or dividers are set correctly.Supported bus speeds seem to be more stable.Try disabling any memory enhancement settings such as turbo or extreme.

Also consider a system reinstall.Windows flakes out out after a while and can cause problems.

Edit: If you have upgraded any driver recently they may be causing your issues.About 50% of the driver upgrades I have done(especially video card drivers)Have had strange issues.Sometimes using a driver cleaner and then installing the newest non beta drivers resolves the issues.The rest of the time I have had to reinstall windows.

Not sure any of this is the problem,but I hope you find it.I'm kinda in the same boat and keep reviving my pc's even though I want to build something sooo bad lol.


Good luck.

 

[tweakboy]

GO to BIOS and put everything on default, auto.

See if it works stock first,,,,, and use it and see if it gives problem and well take it from there. Also dont OC video card on this test. thanks

 

[tweakboy]

Once we see everything is working. then you know its a OC issue. Degration is the thermalpaste thats dried up on CPU and on HS. Take out your HSF and clean the cpu with alchohol and clean block with alchohol. Now put MX4 paste a little bit right in the middle. Go by increments,, You should hit 4Ghz with no or just minor voltage change.
Since you have a dual you can really do a nice OC on that CPU; 4Ghz. I believe 4Ghz is free, no need to adjust vcore put it on offset. gl

 

[DigDog]

tnx, i'll go down the "thorough cleaning" route before looking to get a second hand mobo; hopefully i'll be able to afford a new pc in a couple months.

 

[2is]

I had identical degradation issues on my q6600 and thought it was the CPU. Turns out it was degradation of the motherboard instead. When I upgraded to my current system, I used that Q6600 in a different box with a different board and was able to OC it better than ever, even better than when it was brand spanking new. FWIW, the motherboard suffering degradation was also Gigabyte. P35-DS3R IIRC

 

[VirtualLarry]

the premise here is that i'm ridiculously broke, and the ancient CPU i'm running needs to live as long as possible.

I'm running a E6600 on a gigabyte 965P-DS3 (775 stuff),

Originally the DS3 was a phenomenal FSB board, with 450+ reported, but if this is failing i can get one for £3 on eBay.

I don't know that currency. If that is $15 US or under, then I would go ahead and get one, and see if things get better. But that's still a gamble, as a board that old wouldn't be new, so it might be in as bad a shape for overclocking as your board, or worse.

Ultimately, I would probably run yours at stock, and start saving up money for when it will eventually die on you, or you would have enough money to invest in something modern.