A truly STUNNING article on burning in...

[PiLsY]

Ive just been searching around the web for theories on the best methods of burn in. During this search I found a terrific article that explains what actually goes on, and hints at the correct technique that should be applied.

Its quite an old article by the look of it - it seems to have been written at the start of the P3 era, but the points and theory are still very much valid.

Take a look, at the very least itll give you something ot argue over, at best itll educate you . I know I certainly learnt from it.

Kudos to the author!

http://people.freenet.de/s.urfer/conditioning.htm

PiLsY.

[beatnic]

excellent stuff.. definitely a good read

[Pedant]

I've always thought that it was due to thermal compound being a viscous fluid that under pressure and high temperature would flow more quickly. Thus at high temperatures it would reach an optimum thickness more quickly.
I suppose this would be easy to test by reseating your heatsink after a burn in with noticeable effects.

[PiLsY]

Well I changed heatsinks (and thus compound) a fair few times on my cpus and have never noticed that I need to burn in again. Infact ive usually replaced with a better heatsink and noticed a small but noticeable boots in clockspeed over my previous stable.

Its definitely the cpu thats improving and not anything else. You get burn in improvements from motherboards and memory that wouldve burned in (or out in my case lol) long ago.

PiLsY.

[JCviggen]

running 2.22 Vcore, 800 MHz (coming from 2500), and about -10/-15C core temp under load , programs used are Toast (strong stuff), Prime95, FAH all at the same time, but toast is getting 99.9% of the cycles it seems

wonder if it'll help

[PiLsY]

JC - I find that you need to use programs together which use unused cpu cycles. FAH and Prime are a good combo, with each getting roughly 50% cpu usage. CPU temp is higher than when running either of them on its own, and even higher than toast. Under FAH i get cpu temps of 53c, under Prime95 I get 57c and with both together its been up as high as 64c. To me this would indicate that every single part of the cpu is being pushed to the max.

This is at 1733mhz / 2.2v btw. I was going to do it at 667mhz, but I really couldnt use my pc with it clocked that low. Games and other stuff were really choppy. I dont think the heat thing is as relevant now. That was written around the P2 450 time - those things ran at up to 120c under load .

Anyway, my 48 hours was up 3 hours ago, but ive got some stuff to do atm. Will get round to testing if it worked a bit later.

PiLsY.

[JCviggen]

its a shame I have to shut this thing down overnight... but it"ll still be the same effect if I just continue tomorrow I hope?

btw, I'm using prime, FAH and toast at the same time now

[PiLsY]

Toast will probably take all the cpu cycles m8, so it wont actually be running FAH and Prime, only toast. The point in running FAH and prime is that they work out different areas of the cpu, essentially meaning that the whole cpu gets a strong burn in. If I were you I would forget about toast and just run FAH and Prime .

PiLsY.

[JCviggen]

i'll do that cheers

also looking if I can find another proggy able to "share" the CPU time rather than take it all up.... even by playing with the priorities it can be difficult

[PiLsY]

You can do it via the registry m8. Give me some time to look into it as its a while since ive done it. Cant remember exactly how atm. Will play about a bit and get back to you.

PiLsY.

[spaceman]

Well, I found this thread at the perfect time, since I have 3 new chips coming. I'm also glad I read about Prime95. If I should happen to get lucky, I'll remember you guys.

[STEvil]

Prime, Folding, seti.

[PiLsY]

For some reason seti takes no cpu time off either prime or folding. It seems to force itself to a lower priority, no matter what you set in task manager. Its odd as it should give you an even 3 way balance, but it doesnt .

Still havent found the registry hack for cpu load prioritising. Its been too long since ive done it, think I may have to admit defeat.

PiLsY.

[Walrusbonzo]

A great tool for burning in CPUs is HOT CPU TESTER,can be bought for just $20 runs all these tests SIMULTANEOUSLY.


Complex Matrix
Calculating Pi
Quick Sort
Prime Test
Chipset
L1 Cache
L2 Cache
Memory
Peripherals
MMX
SSE
3DNow.

I've been burning in at 500MHz(100MHz FSB) with vcore of 2.25v(My board overvolts), vdimm of 2.9v and VAGP of 1.8v(I set AGP frequency to 50MHz also.

So I'm burning in my whole system ATM. Hot CPU tester does a good job of testing ALL parts of the CPU with just one program.

I highly recommend you people try it

[Bravo]

I dont recommend running below stock speed, for starters, it renders your machine useless during this "burning in" period.

The best way i've found, is to run max volts / stock speed during the night (when your in bed), and run your normal day speed minus 0.25 Vcore. Repeat.

[hipro5]

Originally posted by Walrusbonzo
A great tool for burning in CPUs is HOT CPU TESTER,can be bought for just $20 runs all these tests SIMULTANEOUSLY.


Complex Matrix
Calculating Pi
Quick Sort
Prime Test
Chipset
L1 Cache
L2 Cache
Memory
Peripherals
MMX
SSE
3DNow.

I've been burning in at 500MHz(100MHz FSB) with vcore of 2.25v(My board overvolts), vdimm of 2.9v and VAGP of 1.8v(I set AGP frequency to 50MHz also.

So I'm burning in my whole system ATM. Hot CPU tester does a good job of testing ALL parts of the CPU with just one program.

I highly recommend you people try it

I run this proogie and I asure you that it's a VERY HEAVY stuff for ALL your rig......Very heavy indeed....!!!!....

[]JR[]

Generally i tend to take the flipside approach when burning in new chips (no way would i stick 2.2v up a brand new cpu its asking for trouble)

1. Burn in @ stock mhz and volts for 1day
2. Burn in @ max oc mhz at stock volts for 1day
3. Burn in @ max oc with increased voltage 1day
4. Burn in @ max oc max voltage 1day.

For step 2 i generally use the biggest bootable, stable for 10min overclock, set the pc to reboot every 5 or so minutes and put toast in the start up folder, after a day of doing that i find the overclock is permentatly stable at that voltage.

]JR[

[LikwidKool]

hrmph. PiLsY and JC, you guy's suggest running cpu at half stock and max volts for burn in? I have never tried this, but would be worried at giving my cpu 2.2 volts right now with air cooling. Is this voltage ok as long as you don't keep it there for extended periods of time? Also FAH and Prime only work out the cpu right? What do you suggest to burn in Ram?

[SpicyHuevos]

Personally i think its a bunch of poop out of the 100 or so cpu's i have had. Not 1 has benefited from it.
You mine as well burn in yor psu and keyboard too
imo of course.
heres a burn in guide for ya btw.
www.afrotechmods.com/burnin.htm

[jmke]

we do

slam your new keyboard with your fist 10-20 times a day, during the 1st week
and connect 10x 120mm fans to your PSU for burn-in, let the fans run until your hair start to grow backwards on your head instead of up

[okra]

LOL, jmke!!

Thanks for the linkage, Pilsy, gonna start this when I get outta work today.

so, you want to run low clockspeed with the max voltage you can, but keeping the heat down as much as possible, yes?

[PiLsY]

Yep. I wouldnt use above 2v with a Tbred though. Mine seems to have actually got worse if anything by running that high a voltage (2.2v).

PiLsY.