DFI Expert = CPU death

[mustang9621]

I had my second expert die on me a few weeks ago. The first expert passed away in early December but not before it took out a 3800 X 2 and an FX 55. The replacement expert lasted for 3 months with no problems, until one sunny morning when I went to turn it on and nothing happened. R. I. P. Opty 175

Now some may consider me a NOOB, I've only been OC'ing for 20 years and I've worked with some troublesome boards in the past. But by far this is the most Psychotic board I've ever seen. Now we all know that according to DFI fans this board as no problems at all except for the CPU overvolt which was Unofficially fixed in BIOS 12/07 and the high end PSU problem which requires a resistor be put into the 5 volt line to prevent the cold boot issue ($15 RMA to fix a problem this board doen't have). Darn those PSU MFG's for not adhereing to DFI spec. But when all is said at the end of the day every time you turn your rig off you need to say a little pray and hope it will will not take out your CPU.

Reminds me of my wife, wake her up to early and she Psychtic too.

[CompGeek]

im never buying one

[NicoOCZ]

Never had any problems with mine. Sorry for your losses tho

[stone_cold_Jimi]

Were you using VID special? The reason I ask is that it was implicated in the original Expert CPU deaths and for another reason - I have lost 2 CPUs inexplicably using the Asus A8N32 and its overvolt function. I haven't (yet) lost a CPU to either of my Expert boards, but don't use VID special on a daily basis.

I don't know if VID special uses extra regulation; certainly A8N32 overvolt adds the second 4-phase and the stability that brings was my reason for using it. I'd be interested to find out what circumstances your CPUs failed in.

[xgman]

\I'd be interested to find out what circumstances your CPUs failed in.

ditto!!

[mustang9621]

Were you using VID special? The reason I ask is that it was implicated in the original Expert CPU deaths and for another reason - I have lost 2 CPUs inexplicably using the Asus A8N32 and its overvolt function. I haven't (yet) lost a CPU to either of my Expert boards, but don't use VID special on a daily basis.

I don't know if VID special uses extra regulation; certainly A8N32 overvolt adds the second 4-phase and the stability that brings was my reason for using it. I'd be interested to find out what circumstances your CPUs failed in.

The First time I was using low Vcore with VID. Specaluation had it that Using low vcore with VID at 110% or higher could cause the cpu to see up to 3 volts at start up. Lost my first two CPU's with that combination. I haven't used VID since then even with the 12/07 BIOS. I ran the CPU at 260 X 10 at 1.42 NO VID Everything was Fine for 3 months until the last time I turned it on.

[Crankster]

What voltage where you feeding the mems?

[mustang9621]

Vdimm was set at 2.7

[pcdoc1]

Both my eXperts went away (and took 170's with them) without using special VID on either... Vdimm @ 2.6... Fortron 500PS in the first build, OCZ 520 in the second... MOSFET's up in smoke! So I'll soon have a replacement eXpert in the FS thread as I'm not rolling those dice again.

Well it may not be too soon, you understand it you've ever had to RMA anything through Monarch...

[stone_cold_Jimi]

Both my eXperts went away (and took 170's with them) without using special VID on either... Vdimm @ 2.6

How long did you have them? Were you doing anything... unusual? This is a major concern to me, with one on phase and one about to go on water.

[Diverge]

The thought of killing my cpu every time I reboot my machine to do some tweaking concerns me as well. I keep my cold boots to a minimum and always have my PC on 24/7, but sometimes it's necessary to totally power down (when changing ram, ect). Soon as a new board that I like comes out, waiting for the new sapphires, I think I will be putting this one back in the box and sending it to the closet for storage...

[xs64]

The RDX200 has the same layout with Expert , it killed 2 CPUs of mine after 1 month running fine

Before that i used DFI NF4 SLI-D and no problem in 1 year

I scare the 4 phrase layout of DFI

[pcdoc1]

How long did you have them? Were you doing anything... unusual? This is a major concern to me, with one on phase and one about to go on water.

The first one lasted for 30 days, the second lasted 67... They were close to identical situations. #1 - Just playing on the net, no benching, clocking, testing or anything else. Turned the machine off and went to bed. Next morning got up hit the switch smoke rolled from the MOSFet's near the CPU, end of story (board and chip gone)... #2 Same story, turned the box on in the morning, checked mail, browsed XS and then shut it down to go out on calls. Came back 2 hours later, hit the switch, same thing without the smoke...

I'm never going there again, good luck with yours though......

[pcdoc1]

The thought of killing my cpu every time I reboot my machine to do some tweaking concerns me as well. I keep my cold boots to a minimum and always have my PC on 24/7, but sometimes it's necessary to totally power down (when changing ram, ect). Soon as a new board that I like comes out, waiting for the new sapphires, I think I will be putting this one back in the box and sending it to the closet for storage...

Yeah, I'm on the same page... Either going 580 Sapphire when released or Asus when their bios issues are resolved... Which ever happens first.

[xgman]

here we go again with the cpu killer scare thread. can't these things just work?

[pcdoc1]

Apparently not.......

[stone_cold_Jimi]

It's roulette then. Damn. Well, so long as they don't blow until either AM2 or Conroe is out...

[pcdoc1]

It's roulette then. Damn. Well, so long as they don't blow until either AM2 or Conroe is out...

It might not be that, it's possible that some of us just need to go through "Push Power Button" training..

[RLM]

pcdoc1, what are you using now out of interest?

I tried an A8N 32-Sli deluxe, but the temps were really hot on it. First boot and Asus probe was in the red.

The expert is my first DFI board. After reading these scare stories, among other things, I have been considering going for the ultra-d (non expert). Does that seem like a good move or not?

Were any of you who got burnt, able to get the cpu's replaced on warranty? Not sure if that is a daft question or not.

RLM

[fareastgq]

*pats his trusty ultra-D*

[pcdoc1]

pcdoc1, what are you using now out of interest?

I tried an A8N 32-Sli deluxe, but the temps were really hot on it. First boot and Asus probe was in the red.

The expert is my first DFI board. After reading these scare stories, among other things, I have been considering going for the ultra-d (non expert). Does that seem like a good move or not?

Were any of you who got burnt, able to get the cpu's replaced on warranty? Not sure if that is a daft question or not.

RLM

I had a lot of boards laying around so I just through in an MSI Neo4 Plat to run while sorting out the 580 stuff... Interestingly, (and I won’t respond to what could become another debate), I’m running all the same components I had in the previous build including a 170 that I’ve owned for 6 months, and previously tested in an eXpert, and have all the same stability with a 150MHZ higher OC… Hmmm…

No flames: No flames: No flames….

I can’t give you an opinion of the Ultra-D as I’ve never owned one…

Both 170’s were replaced by AMD, which it exactly why I’ll only purchase retail processors from here forward.

[RLM]

That's interesting to know, thanks pcdoc1. Thankfully my x2's are retail

Similarly to you. I mentioned this in another thread, my asus premium gives me a higher overclock than the expert on same voltage. Obviously limted bios and no special vid on the premium. I've never used a multimeter before so didn't actually check whether these were real readings.

In addition two other guys here in Thailand, with same stepping chips from the same retailer, are getting better OC's on their ultra-d's. I know that isn't saying anything necessarily.

Sorry to go a bit off topic ie.e dfi expert - death, but if these experts are dodgy then alternatives have to be considered. Including MSI

RLM

[xs64]

Were any of you who got burnt, able to get the cpu's replaced on warranty? Not sure if that is a daft question or not.

RLM

I got new one from RMA

[Crankster]

The elegant solution?
Don't turn your computer off.

[afireinside]

I've run 11/7 bios on my AB0 rev EXPERT with both a 170 and a 3800+ for benching at up to 1.85v with 3.8vdimm and all is fine. These boards are so flakey though. Sorry for your losses