Am2 x2 3800+ vcore question

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scraper

Weaksauce
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Aug 22, 2005
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I have some strange stability issues with my pc atm,

It's not the ram (it's 8 hours memtest stable)

I sometimes have random reboots, usualy when trying to load some things like opening a program or so but I doesn't crash/ reboot when gaming so i'm a bit confused about the cause of the problem.

So atm I'm running orthos on blend mode I still hasn't crashed or anything but according to speedfan and cpu-z the vcore is 1,18v (asus pc probe utility 1,35v @full load) seems a bit low to me because the official specs of an am2 x2 3800+ (according to amd's site) are 1,30v / 1,35v for the vcore, at idle the vcore is 1,20v according to speedfan / cpu-z (asus util: 1,40v). Is it normal to have lower voltages @full load? And how do you now what the actual voltages are (voltage meter?)

QnQ is disabled, nothing is overclocked bios is @defaults, ram also (667mhz@5-5-5-15@1,8v with 2x1gig Kingston hyperX ddr2)

It runs on an asus m2n-e motherboard with the latest 402 beta bios.
 
One of two things....

1: (Most likely) The Power supply is inadequate for the requirements o the PC. It doesnt matter if it says it's 500w, or a 1000w. What matters is if it is able to provide the current draw to all the rails. Look at the voltage, and tell me if the voltage drops on load. If so, then you need a good brand name power supply, with plenty of amps on each rail. Watch out for "SLI" or dual 12v rail Power supplies. Most of them dont have enough power on the 12v rails.

2: If the Power supply checks out, then it is most likely a problem with the Motherboard. Either a bug in the BIOS or a a hardware problem.
 
The psu is a thermaltake silent purepower 410w with these ratings:

+5v: 40A
+12v: 18A
+3.3v: 28A

And these are the actual readings (from everest):

+3.3v: 3.43v
+5v: 4.76v
+12v: 11.46v AND 11.33v under full load of both cores

The psu should be able to handle it I used to run a more power consuming system then it does atm (3hd's, 2 dvd burners, 9800xt , 3000+ @2.6, floppy drive VS 2hd's, 1 dvd burner, 7600gt, x2 3800+)
 
Although you shouldn't really trust software voltage readings (use a multimeter), I'd be willing to bet money that your PSU is stressed significantly beyond it's limits. Test another powersupply with your system, and I guarantee your issue will disappear.

Consider the XClio Goodpower @ $49, or the FSP AX450-PN @ $51.
 
I have to agree. the 12V level is really low for a modern PSU and the 5V really high. The high 5V/low 12V was the desired mix for P3/AthlonXP based systems that powered the CPU off the 5V rail. Modern CPUs tap the 12V rail for power instead, but your PSU has very little power available on it.
 
try running cpu intensive isntead of blend. blend doesn't give you 100% cpu.

18A on the 12v is pretty low, as shown by your 12v reporting 11.46. Thats right on the limit of being out of spec. Time for a new power supply, most definitely. Remember that your 3800 is pulling a LOT more power than that 3000+
 
I just tested my psu with a multimeter (no idea however how accurate the meter is) I shows something really different than the software apps did:

idle:
+12v: 12.05v
+5v: 5.15v

load:
+12v: 11.95v
+5v: 5.14v

pretty acceptable isn't it?

So what if the psu isn't the cullprit? Motherboard maybe? CPU itself?
 
scraper said:
So what if the psu isn't the cullprit? Motherboard maybe? CPU itself?
Click to expand...

Have you tried running RTHDRIBL along with P95/SP2004/Orthos? If the multimeter is accurate, those are certainly well within spec.

It could very well be a motherboard issue, if for some reason it isn't giving enough power to your proc; I'm just surprised that it doesn't crash while running dual P95 though. Perhaps it has something to do with your HD?
 
I'm having the same problem with my 3800+ single core. 450w FSP w/ x1800xt and cpu-z shows 1.28 volts, I up the volt in bios to 1.35 and then cpu-z shows 1.216 volts. :confused:
 
scraper said:
I just tested my psu with a multimeter (no idea however how accurate the meter is) I shows something really different than the software apps did:

idle:
+12v: 12.05v
+5v: 5.15v

load:
+12v: 11.95v
+5v: 5.14v

pretty acceptable isn't it?

So what if the psu isn't the cullprit? Motherboard maybe? CPU itself?
Click to expand...


it very well could be your motherboard. i had a similar problem. i went crazy trying to figure it out. i checked my rails with a voltmeter. they were rock solid. i ran memtest to test my ram for days without a single error. i even rma'd my video card because evga said the card was bad. the replacement card performed equally bad. i finally had enough. i bought a new mobo and i haven't had any more issues. hopefully you have, or can borrow a mobo to test it out. a bad mobo will drive you absolutely crazy before you can figure it out. good luck.
 
quadnad said:
Have you tried running RTHDRIBL along with P95/SP2004/Orthos? If the multimeter is accurate, those are certainly well within spec.

It could very well be a motherboard issue, if for some reason it isn't giving enough power to your proc; I'm just surprised that it doesn't crash while running dual P95 though. Perhaps it has something to do with your HD?
Click to expand...

I ran both programms (RTHDRIBL and Orthos) when testing with the multimeter,

about the hd, I recently (2 days) ago formatted my hd and reinstalled windows because I thought the crashes came from driver conflicts but that didn't seem to be it because is still crashes only it crashed less frequent though.

I yesterday also had some weird video corruption, after restarting windows for checking if QnQ was enabled my screen was al messed up with funcky artifacts in windows but after a reset everything was normal again. Is it possible for a videocard to cause random reboots / crashes?

And about the motherboard, I definatly don't hope that it's broke, in the beginning when first installing it I went trough hell trying to get it working (after 3 bios flashes it acctualy didn't crash when installing windows...), I can't test if it's broke because I don't have any other am2 motherboard en also don't know anyone who has one (most ppl I know are still on socket A ;) ) But I could try and RMA it to see if it's broke or not.

(ps sorry for my bad english in this one, according to me there are some weird sentence constructions in this one,,, because english isn't my native language (I'am Dutch))
 
scraper said:
(ps sorry for my bad english in this one, according to me there are some weird sentence constructions in this one,,, because english isn't my native language (I'am Dutch))
Click to expand...

nee, je spreekt goede engels :D (my mom is dutch)

It is possible that it's your videocard, but I'm leaning more towards your motherboard at this point, especially if you had such a hard time installing windows.
 
Ok dan! ;)

I'll contact the retailer and see what to do next, possibly try to rma the motherbord.

Thanks for all your help
 
scraper said:
I'll contact the retailer and see what to do next, possibly try to rma the motherbord.

Thanks for all your help
Click to expand...

heh....i haven't spoken dutch in a long time (been at college too long) so i'm really rusty...

if you know a decent place locally that would allow you to return a motherboard, you could just buy a motherboard, try it out, see if it's the issue, and then return it. that way you could avoid having to wait for the rma.
 
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