Damaged CPU

[pascall]

Hey guys,

I built a PC around a Q9550 1 1/2 years ago. Specs give 2.83GHz, OC'ed it to 3.40 GHZ without any problem (or so I thought) till 2 months ago. Cooling is provided by stock Intel Fan...

2 Months ago, I began to see random crashes, bios saying CPU overheat error... PC would reboot at OC'ed speed without any problem. Since last saturday and a few more crashes, PC won't reboot at 3.40 GHz, and even at stock speed (2.83 GHz), I got core temperatures of (60 C idle, 95 C under load) on the first two cores. Fan is running at 2000 RPM.

Questions for you :
1. Is 2000 RPM the normal speed of the Intel fan or is my fan somehow broken (which could explain the overheating). In this case, any recommendation for a good fan for OCing ?
2. Hypothesis I fear is the right one: can the CPU have been slowly damaged over time by this OCing, meaning there is nothing much to do except waiting for it to die ? (As a side note, I am surprised that the 9550 is still around 300 $CDN here... Thought it would have been cheaper with all those i3/i5/i7 around).

Any help or advice would be more than welcome...

 

[Gillbot]

it's rare for a cpu to get damaged and still work. It's most likely a motherboard, PSU or ram issue.

 

[Markfw]

CPU is probably fine. Get a nice aftermarket cooler for $30-$65 and you will be fine.

 

[NumericalMethods]

Yes, agree with Gillbot but you should address your temperature issues at stock settings first to gain better insight into what is going on.

60 idle/ 95 load is too high for stock. Is your case and CPU heatsink clean? Are you running all components at stock/ recommended voltages? If so you my wish to reseat your heatsink with fresh thermal grease to ensure that it is making proper contact with your CPU.

What is your current motherboard, case etc??

 

[ComputerDude67]

Those temps are way to high. I have a E8400 that has been overclocked to 4GHz for 2 years without a problem, it runs at 30-45C with an after market cooler. On my cooler the heatsink fins get dust\lint on it and I clean it once a year, check yours. You may need an after market cooler to get the temps down, also check your voltages on the CPU.

Side note: In CA you can get a Q9550 for $179 from MicroCenter.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0299412

 

[soccerballtux]

Uh, 95C is when the thermal throttling kicks in to keep the chip below 100C.

Since this is a desktop part the voltage is high enough that combined with 95C temps could fry the CPU. This is likely what happened.

 

[Zap]

I built a PC around a Q9550 1 1/2 years ago.
...
Cooling is provided by stock Intel Fan...
...
2 Months ago, I began to see random crashes, bios saying CPU overheat error...

1½ years on the stock HSF... likely a dust problem. You'll want to dust out the CPU fan and heatsink using compressed air, and also clean out the case fans using compressed air.

Get temperatures down and the random crashes will go away, as will the "CPU overheat error."

 

[pascall]

Thanks a lot for all your answers guys,

Yes, agree with Gillbot but you should address your temperature issues at stock settings first to gain better insight into what is going on.

60 idle/ 95 load is too high for stock. Is your case and CPU heatsink clean? Are you running all components at stock/ recommended voltages? If so you my wish to reseat your heatsink with fresh thermal grease to ensure that it is making proper contact with your CPU.

What is your current motherboard, case etc??

On Saturday, cleaned everything inside the case, even disconnected the intel coller/fan and cleaned it properly. I could try to put some thermal grease again though. Other components run at stock speed : Asus P5Q Deluxe, Memory 2x2 Go Mushkin, Ati Rad 4870 Stock speed.

Called a store here in Montreal, they say they thinks it is the processor being damaged by temperature... But then they may have said that to try to sell me a new one... Could try with an aftermarket fan first, do you have a recommendation (brand / model) ?

 

[gaidensensei]

From what I've seen through the years, it's similar to Gillbot's response. Either a CPU is broken or it's not.

There are certain exceptions. If there is something chipped off then that could be a culprit. I noticed false overheating with some AMD XP processors in the past, where the core was slightly chipped from malusage of HSF's.

But for your case I'm willing to bet it's something else. Do you have any alternative spare parts to test the cpu on?

 

[pascall]

From what I've seen through the years, it's similar to Gillbot's response. Either a CPU is broken or it's not.

There are certain exceptions. If there is something chipped off then that could be a culprit. I noticed false overheating with some AMD XP processors in the past, where the core was slightly chipped from malusage of HSF's.

But for your case I'm willing to bet it's something else. Do you have any alternative spare parts to test the cpu on?

Sadly I got no alternative MoBo to test CPU on... I thought about a false temperature alarm from the BIOS also... But I googled to try to find something about 'BIOS wrong temperature reporting', but did not find anything interesting.

As a side not, I had some thermal grease left over from a previous PC (Artic Silver Grease 2 or something like that), so I cleaned CPU and cooler base and re-applied it. It seems a bit better as temperature as I am typing this is 56-57 C. Will try CPUing some prime95 to get temperature up... Will edit message with results.

Edit: no better, when testing with 4 Prime95 (processes controlled by Real Temp 3.40), reached 97 C - 102 C on all 4 cores under 100% load...

 

[Zap]

Could try with an aftermarket fan first, do you have a recommendation (brand / model) ?

One of the better bang/buck right now is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Make sure it is the "Plus" model. It uses a 120mm fan, quad direct touch heatpipes and has mounts for all the currently available sockets so you can keep using it even if you upgrade to socket 1156 or 1366. I think both eWiz and Amazon had it for just under $30 with free shipping.

 

[pascall]

One of the better bang/buck right now is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Make sure it is the "Plus" model. It uses a 120mm fan, quad direct touch heatpipes and has mounts for all the currently available sockets so you can keep using it even if you upgrade to socket 1156 or 1366. I think both eWiz and Amazon had it for just under $30 with free shipping.

Thanks for the input, did order this cooler/fan (brand new) from NCIX for 30$ CDN, which is a very good value. Hope it will help lower temperature, I ll update the thread with my results.

 

[jtisgeek]

My money is on the motherboard sounds like you had a voltage regulator go bad which happens on older boards. Speically quad are harder on some of the cheaper boards and depending on the chipset.

 

[tweakboy]

There is dust covering the fins on your heatsink fan,

Ill bet my life on it.. Happened to my dad too around same time frame as yours..

We took a look and the fins were covered with dusts,, basically the fan was doing nothing to cool the HS fins with all that dust. We took it out and used machine blew crazy dust off his Pentium D. Once a certain temp is reached like 15 offset 85c and it shuts down comp, to prevent damage to CPU.

You need to clean out your HSF,, there is nothing wrong with your rig. also my sister same issue.. dust build up,, when your case is closed with a intake fan,, better to take side panel off,, gl

 

[Binky]

Lots of people have said check the voltages, but I don't see the OP confirming that the voltages were checked.

Change the bios setting from AUTO to something around 1.25v at stock speeds. See what temps you get with that.

 

[MagickMan]

There is dust covering the fins on your heatsink fan,

Ill bet my life on it.. Happened to my dad too around same time frame as yours..

We took a look and the fins were covered with dusts,, basically the fan was doing nothing to cool the HS fins with all that dust. We took it out and used machine blew crazy dust off his Pentium D. Once a certain temp is reached like 15 offset 85c and it shuts down comp, to prevent damage to CPU.

You need to clean out your HSF,, there is nothing wrong with your rig. also my sister same issue.. dust build up,, when your case is closed with a intake fan,, better to take side panel off,, gl

He cleaned all that, did you even bother reading his other posts?

OP, I'm also betting that it's the motherboard, don't leave any voltages set on Auto and try manually selecting them instead. The P5Q is a good quality board, but sometimes things just go bad. You can try the new HSF but I'm betting you're probably going to have to buy a replacement MB.

 

[pascall]

...
OP, I'm also betting that it's the motherboard, don't leave any voltages set on Auto and try manually selecting them instead. The P5Q is a good quality board, but sometimes things just go bad. You can try the new HSF but I'm betting you're probably going to have to buy a replacement MB.

I d/l CPUID Hardware monitor at the end of the day to check the voltages I was getting. VCPU Core is min/maxing between 1.03V and 1.14V. Is that a normal reading ?

 

[Visaoni]

I d/l CPUID Hardware monitor at the end of the day to check the voltages I was getting. VCPU Core is min/maxing between 1.03V and 1.14V. Is that a normal reading ?

If voltages are on auto and you have it up at 3.4ghz, I'm betting your voltages are much higher. Do you have power-saving features like Speedstep on? Or more simply, did you take that reading while you were pushing your cpu with something like prime95?

 

[pascall]

If voltages are on auto and you have it up at 3.4ghz, I'm betting your voltages are much higher. Do you have power-saving features like Speedstep on? Or more simply, did you take that reading while you were pushing your cpu with something like prime95?

Reading of 1.03-1.14 if for stock speed (2.83GHz), under load (not prime95, but games).

 

[nyker96]

One of the better bang/buck right now is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Make sure it is the "Plus" model. It uses a 120mm fan, quad direct touch heatpipes and has mounts for all the currently available sockets so you can keep using it even if you upgrade to socket 1156 or 1366. I think both eWiz and Amazon had it for just under $30 with free shipping.

I second this. your heatsink is not adaquate for 3,4ghz oc. especially if running something heavy duty. I would get the hyper 212+ just for a peace of mind.

 

[pascall]

I second this. your heatsink is not adaquate for 3,4ghz oc. especially if running something heavy duty. I would get the hyper 212+ just for a peace of mind.

I am waiting for this rad/fan to arrive (I should receive it tomorrow). I hope it will lower the temperatures, but, after reading a lot for the past two days, I really fear the CPU is on the verge of dying... MoBo does not seem to be the culprit, as Voltages measured by CPUID HWMonitor seem to be pretty stable... So I guess that if the new rad does not help, next step would be to buy a new Q9550.

Anyway I will keep the thread active with results, as it may help others.

 

[tweakboy]

O my goodness 95c , I think thats what killed the CPU, the heat. sorry for that, see if you can get warranty or rma,, good luck