Intel Core i7-980X : defective or I damaged ?

[steve2470]

Hi all, thank you for your time in answering my question.

I have an Intel Core i7-980X processor that I attempted to install into a Gigabyte board. Long story short, it would not fully post up, despite extensive troubleshooting on an amateur level and even buying a new PSU to eliminate that possible cause.

Now I'm having the processor installed into an Intel board by a professional whom I trust. The new Intel board is apparently good to go with another processor that is compatible with the board, but not with mine. He says, and again I do trust him, that I probably did bend the pins in the Gigabyte board and 1- either the Intel processor is defective or 2- somehow I damaged the processor along with the Gigabyte motherboard, which I think is the likely answer, although I'm no professional.

Question, two part: 1- Are Intel Core i7-980X processors defective very often and 2- if I indeed damaged the processor (which I think I did), how would that occur ? My naked eye inspection of the processor revealed no obvious damage but then again, I did not use a magnifying glass, etc.

Thank you once again.

Steve

 

[EXT64]

Bad processors are very rare, but not impossible.

Could you post your full system specs, what you tried, and what happens? There are a few common issues that can come up with i7 chips, and if we know a little more we might be able to help.

First though, try some of the suggestions in this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

And then, inspect for bent pins (see lower part of this post): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/275856-30-gigabyte-guide

 

[steve2470]

At this point I'm letting the professional take care of everything, so I'm good on that area.

I'm just asking a general question about damaging processors. I know you can fry them if you let them get too hot (broken fan etc). Can you short them out electrically ? Thank you EXT64 for your help !

 

[EXT64]

Actually, it is hard to fry by heat as they will try to throttle or shutoff if they detect too high of temps.

They can short out however, and if that did happen, it was probably not your fault. A while back, when I got my i5 750 (which uses a similar LGA/socket design) they had a batch of defective motherboard sockets. At OC and even stock loads, some of the pins could short, killing the CPU (and anything nearby). In these cases though, a clear burn mark could be seen on the base of the CPU.

 

[steve2470]

Best answer selected by steve2470.