Suspect my 4800 Toledo is flaky, what do you think?

[signmeuptoo]

So guys:

I have used different video cards, different motherboards, different power supplies, different hard drives, different optical drives...

I still get BSODs ever since buying this AMD Athlon 4800 Toledo s939 CPU. If I do ANY overclocking it fusses terribly.

I am thinking of calling AMD and asking them to replace it, and since they have stopped production of the 4800, I'm hoping they would give me an Opteron 180, what do you think?

Yes, I have very good cooling: Lapped Thermalright XP-120 with Liquid Metal and Panaflo fan. Case side is removed and has a fan blowing in. Temps are never higher than 44 degrees under full load in a hot room both cores.

I think I got a marginal CPU, opinions, suggestions guys?

[mpilchfamily]

Get a new CPU. Looks like you;ve ruled everything else out.

[mp666]

Can you borrow another compatible CPU ? This way you can be sure that it's the CPU. Then ask for a replacement from the vendor (or manufacturer).

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by signmeuptoo

So guys:

I have used different video cards, different motherboards, different power supplies, different hard drives, different optical drives...

I still get BSODs ever since buying this AMD Athlon 4800 Toledo s939 CPU. If I do ANY overclocking it fusses terribly.

I am thinking of calling AMD and asking them to replace it, and since they have stopped production of the 4800, I'm hoping they would give me an Opteron 180, what do you think?

Yes, I have very good cooling: Lapped Thermalright XP-120 with Liquid Metal and Panaflo fan. Case side is removed and has a fan blowing in. Temps are never higher than 44 degrees under full load in a hot room both cores.

I think I got a marginal CPU, opinions, suggestions guys?

Does the CPU run correctly at the rated speed?

[signmeuptoo]

I get BSODs even at normal speed, but not as many.

[signmeuptoo]

AMD is giving me an RMA with zero hassle! Hopefully I will get an Opteron in replacement. What shocked me was that they didn't even ask for a receipt/proof of purchase, huh. Guy was nice, formal, but nice.

Would you believe they pay the shipping both ways?

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by signmeuptoo

AMD is giving me an RMA with zero hassle! Hopefully I will get an Opteron in replacement. What shocked me was that they didn't even ask for a receipt/proof of purchase, huh. Guy was nice, formal, but nice.

Would you believe they pay the shipping both ways?

Well with a bum processor at least they are doing you right so that is good. I'd be happy with whatever equal or better processor i got back.

[signmeuptoo]

But naturally I am unsure if it is the CPU. While running folding at home and BOINC and torrents I crash or BSOD. I even stopped overclocking and I was barely overclocked, less than 150MHz. Same RAM worked well on previous motherboard and CPU, and passes over 9 hours of memtest 86+ with flying colors (if there is such a thing).

I think I remember the Toledo being crappy on the ASUS board I had a few months back.

But the thing is I also wonder if my DFI LP on board nVidia NIC could be the culprit, I am considering changing to use the other on board Marvell NIC to see if that makes a difference.

Is there any chance that the nVidia drivers, such as those for the NIC, could be an issue?

I worry that I will send off the CPU and they may test it and return it saying no issues and I never resolve my problems. Man, I have been through the wringer, I've been through failed video cards, 3 failed power supplies (one way earlier), 2 failed HDs, a failed USB sound card, and I forget what else, but I am so tired of failed parts!!!

To be very sincere I am hoping that the CPU is bad, even if Orthos doesn't seem to indicate it so far, after 1/2 hour of large fft testing. The reason I hope it is the CPU is because I just want an end to this misery, sigh.

[signmeuptoo]

Well, it's a day later:

Slept for the first night in ages! Orthos (large ffts), Folding, BOINC, and Torrents ran simultaneously for over 18 hours with no glitch.

I changed these settings in BIOS, I am not clear on what they do:

CPU Spread Spectrum: Changed from Center Spread to Disabled.

SATA Spread Spectrum: Changed from Down Spread to Disabled.

PCIE Spread Spectrum: Changed from Down Spread to Disabled.

I had overclocking undone.

I am now overclocking

HT set to x4
CPU multi set to x12
Bus set to 215 (2580 MHz, or 180MHz over stock)

My RAM is DDR-500 so it is underclocked presently

I am at 1/2 hour ok with Orthos, folding, and BOINC and I am about to turn on torrents too.

If I make it to 8 hours this way then I will change my multi and bus to run the RAM faster.

What do those Spread Spectrum settings do?

[Killy]

Wiki spread spectrum.

Supposedly it's supposed to reduce EMI by spreading out the signal generation over a spectrum instead of focusing it on a single frequency.