Stability Question

[gvblake22]

I've heard of several people (I think it was Tyreal and/or Lead Head), where a previously stable overclock becomes unstable and now requires an extra boost in voltage to remain stable. I'm really not sure exactly why, but Telexen's explanation sounds reasonable.

[Yellowhello]

Yeah, the CPU block might have come lose over time, but I didn't notice any rise in temps before it got unstable... A mystery to me... But the good news is I have it stable at 2.4GHz, 1.375V.

[PrOLifIC_onE]

Originally Posted by Telexen

It's a good point; the problem it causes would be bad contact for the CPU/RAM. Dust in general would only cause bad temperatures.

I've known of some PCs to have stability issues, freeze ups, BSODs and/or auto-restarts just from having high temps due to dust.

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by PrOLifIC_onE

I've known of some PCs to have stability issues, freeze ups, BSODs and/or auto-restarts just from having high temps due to dust.

My PC is water cooled, so I don't see how dust could affect the temps, unless dust clogged the radiator, but the radiator is outside of the case, so that would be pretty difficult...

[Telexen]

Originally Posted by PrOLifIC_onE

I've known of some PCs to have stability issues, freeze ups, BSODs and/or auto-restarts just from having high temps due to dust.

They absolutely will; but it's a moot point, because he's posted his temperatures and they're just fine.

Originally Posted by yellowhello

My PC is water cooled, so I don't see how dust could affect the temps, unless dust clogged the radiator, but the radiator is outside of the case, so that would be pretty difficult...

Maybe hinder a chipset cooler's ability to cool it, the PSU can become a little clogged up, there's all kinds of things.

[One4yu2c]

More than likely, your system just wasn't fully stable to begin with. Running Prime95 or Orthos can be very beneficial in rooting out potential stability issues from the get-go, but passing either/both doesn't necessarily mean that everything is hunky-dory. Nor does short term real world testing. As you're seeing first hand, long term (or at least longer term) real world testing will ultimately determine whether or not your system can handle the OC at the given settings, and in your case, it couldn't. There are many variables that come into play with stability issues, and how quickly a system freeze, reboot, or BSoD occurs can vary at any given time.

If you're worried that you damaged your processor, don't be. It's very unlikely that your CPU (or any other component) degraded, especially that quickly. Tinkering is part of the OC process, and you can elect to try more/different settings (that's half the fun, isn't it?), or remain content at 2.4GHz (a decent amount of horsepower on the Core 2 architecture).

EDIT:
On a related note, definitely keep tabs on your chipset cooling, especially since you're water cooling. I recently had a chipset overheating problem on my 680i board that didn't manifest more frequent stability issues until recently. The fix? Install the 'optional' chipset fan ECS bundled with their motherboard. Without it, the passive heatsink was extremely toasty to the touch, and putting a box fan against the side of my PC with the side door whisked away had no effect.

Matt (Prolific_One) is also correct in recommending checking for dust buildup as a general troubleshooting step. Assuming they're accurate, your CPU temps are fine, but chipset (as mentioned above), RAM, and hard drive temps can all affect stability too. Monitor any intake fans on a regular basis (that's just good housekeeping).

[Yellowhello]

OK, thanks for all the help guys. I ghetto modded a fan onto my NB, but that thread must have been lost in the server transfer. I'm perfectly happy at 2.4GHz, so I'm not worrying.