E8400/8500 degradation myth possibly busted?

[dnottis]

I think i have the same problem... At first 4400mhz was stable at 1.36v, now 4300mhz needs 1.36v and before all it needed was 1.33v, 4200mhz was stable at 1.28v and now i need 1.29v. Knew i shoulda sticked with AMD Intel has failed me for the 2nd time now... Seems to be a trend with Intel remember there older models did the same thing...

This is one thing i was worried about getting a Intel system was the degradation because it has happend in the past with there cpu's, this really pisse's me off. I never went above 1.37v. Guess i will keep it at 1.29v 4200mhz and hope that it doesnt go down anymore otherwise im just gonna RMA it.

This is just after 4 days of testing another thing i noticed is that when i boot my system up and run prime95 sometimes it will fail within 2 seconds, i run the test again and it runs fine for hours. Today i was trying to see what it would take to get 4300mhz stable again i slowely raised the voltage up 1 notch each time to test from 1.32 up to 1.36v and for each voltage raise my stability wouldnt go past 35 minutes. On 1.36v tho i failed prime after 10 minutes frustrated i ran it again to see what woud happen and it ran for 2 hours before i got bored and turned it off.. So whats the deal here ?

Im testing 4200mhz again 1.288v it fails after 20minutes (see the pic below before it was stable with 1.288v) and i didnt change anything in the bios that i used before.

So do i have degradation or what ?? Im afraid to even test my cpu anymore im just gonna keep it at 4200mhz 1.296v and hope it works there without needing more down the road..

UPDATE

Ok one wierd this iv noticed is this.. For all my previous results with low voltages and high overclocks like the one you see in the pic up there i was using orthos sp2004 which should be fine right ? Well i didnt relise Prime95 had finally come out with a duel core stress test (yes im outdated) so i decited to try that the last 2 days and with that i was getting the failed results with the same exact settings in the bios thinking i had a dying cpu i decited one more time to stress test 4200mhz at 1.288v but using orthos sp2004 and im right now so far (crossing fingers) 1 1/2 hours into it and its running fine. Usually it would fail prime95 after 20 minutes and in fact it failed prime95 in 20 minutes even with the 1.296v i told you passed 6 hours.

What i dont understand is this.. If prime95 failed 4200mhz 1.288v and then passed prime95 4200mhz 1.296v for 6 hours, but then 15 minutes after i ended the test i ran the test again it failed after 20minutes.... with that same 1.296v that just passed for 6hours. But now im passing orthos sp2004 4200mhz 1.288v WHAT THE HELL is going on here.

First it works, then it doesnt, i raise the vcore and it works, then it doesnt, i lower the vcore and it works lol...... To make this easier to understand..


4200mhz 1.288v (SP2004) = Pass 3 Hours before i end the test satisfied.

1 day later

4200mhz 1.288v (Prime95) = Failed after 20 Minutes.

5 minutes later

4200mhz 1.296v (Prime95) = Passed 6 hours

1 Minute later

4200mhz 1.296v (Prime95)= Failed 20 minutes

5 Minutes later

4200mhz 1.288v (Orthos sp2004) = Pass almost 2 hours now


I dont get it.....

Welcome to the world of the Intel Wolfdales. I have had 5 of them, 4 being C0 and one E0 - they all did this. These chips are just screwy.

[Bazman]

Hello all, don't post here often but lurk.

The other night I read this ENTIRE thread.

My observations. I bought my E8400 2 days before they were released (heh heh) and immediately o/c'd it. I wasn't really into priming it then as I used OCCT which, I find, usually finds errors faster. Anyway, my proc was stable for 4hrs using OCCT @ 4GHz, 1.36 vcore (ya, it's one of the older crappy ones). I never stress tested it again until until I re-o/c'd it around the middle of September.

I ran it there until around the end of June because it was really warming up here and then when I o/c'd it again in September it took 1.4vcore to be stable and I primed it for 24 hrs and OCCT'd it for 4. I just re-primed and OCCT'd it and it's still stable so what I'm seeing is initial degradation, then nothing after. I'm going to keep it at this voltage just to see what happens and will re-post later.

Just wanted to add to a great thread!

Later, Baz

[JohnLoph]

i'm using E8400 1.256v 550x7.5

almost 24/7 BT and DVD convert for 5 month

-> retest on Othos - Blend 24hrs every month

-> shutdown for 3hrs every week

i'm still have no problem, and using same bios setting