Crunchy
04-24-2007, 12:33 PM
Hi, I need a little help figuring why my CPU is unstable.
My AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ is unstable when running two Super PIs, they always spit out an error before finishing. Everything is stable until the CPU is put under stress: one Super PI is ok but two won't run. I can play Sims 2 for a couple of hours and then suddenly get a crash / BSOD.
I've run memtest86 and let it do a couple of sucessful passes to rule out a memory problem.
I have a decent cooler attached to the CPU: at idle its about 30C and under load it doesn't go higher than 45C - one core is usually a few degrees warmer than the other.
I'm running Windows XP SP2 x86 and tried with and without AMD drivers / dual core optimzer / windows dual core fix.
My thoughts:
a) I might take out the CPU, reseat it and reattach the cooler. I don't think this can be the problem though as the temps are low?
b) The PSU might be at fault, in CPU-Z the voltage always seems a bit lower than what was set in the BIOS and can fluctuate a bit (+/- 0.05v). I tried overvolting and even undervolting and it doesn't improve things. In the past I've had problems with the PSU turning off in hot temps even though theres plenty of cooling in the case. I even exchanged the PSU and still had the turning off problems some times.
c) The mobo could be at fault, I was thinking of switching to an Asus A8V anyway because of the better driver support from Via.
Can anyone give me any advice on further tests, possible fixes etc?
CPU-Z 1.39 report file
Processor(s)
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 (max 2) per processor
Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Code Name Toledo
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Package Socket 939
Family/Model/Stepping F.3.2
Extended Family/Model F.23
Brand ID 5
Core Stepping JH-E6
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 2210.8 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 11.0 x 201.0 MHz
HT Link speed 1004.9 MHz
Stock frequency 2200 MHz
Instruction sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64
L1 Data cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
My AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ is unstable when running two Super PIs, they always spit out an error before finishing. Everything is stable until the CPU is put under stress: one Super PI is ok but two won't run. I can play Sims 2 for a couple of hours and then suddenly get a crash / BSOD.
I've run memtest86 and let it do a couple of sucessful passes to rule out a memory problem.
I have a decent cooler attached to the CPU: at idle its about 30C and under load it doesn't go higher than 45C - one core is usually a few degrees warmer than the other.
I'm running Windows XP SP2 x86 and tried with and without AMD drivers / dual core optimzer / windows dual core fix.
My thoughts:
a) I might take out the CPU, reseat it and reattach the cooler. I don't think this can be the problem though as the temps are low?
b) The PSU might be at fault, in CPU-Z the voltage always seems a bit lower than what was set in the BIOS and can fluctuate a bit (+/- 0.05v). I tried overvolting and even undervolting and it doesn't improve things. In the past I've had problems with the PSU turning off in hot temps even though theres plenty of cooling in the case. I even exchanged the PSU and still had the turning off problems some times.
c) The mobo could be at fault, I was thinking of switching to an Asus A8V anyway because of the better driver support from Via.
Can anyone give me any advice on further tests, possible fixes etc?
CPU-Z 1.39 report file
Processor(s)
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 (max 2) per processor
Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Code Name Toledo
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Package Socket 939
Family/Model/Stepping F.3.2
Extended Family/Model F.23
Brand ID 5
Core Stepping JH-E6
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 2210.8 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 11.0 x 201.0 MHz
HT Link speed 1004.9 MHz
Stock frequency 2200 MHz
Instruction sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64
L1 Data cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size