Core2Extreme QX9770 Problem or not?

[GlennDre]

Hej guys,

I have a problem with my Computer and I am not sure what exactly it is.
Sometimes my computer just freezes to death. No BSOD, no Restart, nothing. Just a frozen Windows and sometimes the last milisecond of sound keeps repeating.
I have turned BSOD in windows on and also to make a logfile on system failure and a dump file. But when I restart after such a freeze, I cant find any log file or dmp file. I think it freezes before it can create such a file.

I think its the CPU because I have a very special one that is not really supposed to work. Its the Intel Core2Extreme QX9770 1600MHz. I have read several places that this CPU does not work officialy, because it needs a FSB of 1600. I Overclocked my MB to this and it works now much better. The slow downs, the sluggishness and the random BSODs are completely gone. But I still have the problem of Radom Freezes.

I have almost none problem when I do "normal office" work, like web browsing, writing, reading, video watching. But when i play games or use software that is very RAM lasting, I get those Freezings.

The FSB of CPU and RAM is auto regulated by the mainboard.

Here are my stats of the Computer:

CPU: Intel Core2Extreme QX9770 @3.2GHz and 1600FSB
RAM: 4x Corsair XMS2-8500 2GB @1066MHz
MB: Asus StrikerIIFormula
GPU: nVidia GeForce 9800GX2


If someone has an idea of what i could test or try to fix this problem, please tell me. I have tested so many things and it took me almost a half a year to find out that the CPU only works on 1600MHz.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Did you increase the voltage for the northbridge?

 

[GlennDre]

Did you increase the voltage for the northbridge?

At the moment all Values in the BIOS are on auto. So that properly means atm no.
Just the FSB are set to the 1600MHz

Well I can remember that I have tested around with the Voltage a while ago. I can test it again.
When I use Zbrush it usualy freezes within an hour.

Could you please give me an advice, how high I should set the Voltage for the NB?
And should I set other values?

 

[Mousemonkey]

The 780i chipset is pretty much the same as the 680i chipset except that it can run 45nm quads and when I've been playing around with cranking up the FSB to 1600+ on my 680i I've had to take the voltage up to the 1.45v region, I wouldn't go higher than that though. It will get hot so make sure you have a fan on it if there isn't one there already.

 

[GlennDre]

Okay ... I will try that out. Actually, I have set the NB to 1.44v now. I will run some tests and use the computer for several hours to test it out. But its late and i need some sleep. So I will write back tomorrow.

Could those freezes come from overheating? I mean, the GPU gets quite hot but the CPU is around the 60C When it worked for hours on a hot sommerday. But I really dont know how hot the NB gets.

 

[japps2]

I have the same CPU and you don't have to have the fsb at 1600...you can have it unlinked. Make sure in your bios you are "unlinked" and you can run the ram at 1067. To me it sounds like your ram is getting too far overclocked because you're linked. So it's upping to 1600 speeds. Also try "intelstresstest" to check the stability. Google it and you can download. Best stress-tester I have found. That CPU is actually very good and stable...unless by a "special" CPU you mean an engineering sample from intel...

 

[GlennDre]

I have the same CPU and you don't have to have the fsb at 1600...you can have it unlinked. Make sure in your bios you are "unlinked" and you can run the ram at 1067. To me it sounds like your ram is getting too far overclocked because you're linked. So it's upping to 1600 speeds. Also try "intelstresstest" to check the stability. Google it and you can download. Best stress-tester I have found. That CPU is actually very good and stable...unless by a "special" CPU you mean an engineering sample from intel...

Thank you for those tips. I could see, that the MB set the CPU FSB to 1600 and the RAM to 800. But i followed your tip and set it to unlinked 1600/1066.7

I googled for this stress test and found IntelBurntest. I started that test and it will run, while I sleep. If the Computer is still running tomorrow, then I know that it might have been some improvements there.


I also downloaded and looked my temperatures with SpeedFan and I was very positive surprised.

The GPU is very hot, as I assumed. But the other 3 temperatures that gave meaningful values were very low.

The first one, which i think is the CPU were around 33C before the stresstest.
The second one which might be the Chip temp were around 25C
And the third one which could be the system temperature were around 17C which is very odd.
The room temperature is somewhere between 17 and 20C. I thing the ground is 17, while some areas of the room might be 20C. I have a very cold ground and the computer is on the ground. But still a system temperature same as the room temperature, but between the 80C GPU and the 33C CPU? That sounds very odd to me.

After I began the stress test, the CPU went to 100% load on all 4 cores and to around 60C

 

[GlennDre]

Thank you guys a lot.

It ran through the stress test fine on maximum level and the whole day of memory intense work. I am so glad that I have a stable machine again.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'm glad to hear it worked for you mate.