i7 920 :(

[Bigbacon]

Well after 7 years of being overclocked, I think my i7 920 is finally starting to die

bought it Jan 4th 2009, been overclocked to 3.8ghz since and now i am getting multiple BSOD every day saying an interrupt was not received by a secondary processor.

Sad days....

I'm not even sure what to replace it with anymore as I haven't been following CPUs. Mobos, etc at all in years that and the probably 800 to 1000 bucks it will cost to get newer stuff.

 

[Betaboy1983]

RIP 920! Sounds like it served you well though. Best of luck hardware shopping. I feel the same way about upgrading. Lots of choices/dilemmas.

 

[Brian_B]

920 is probably the best CPU I can think of in recent memory in terms of longevity and flexibility. Good performance, 8 threads, nice overclockers in general, and still able to compete today.

Still being able to use a 7+ year old CPU today is saying something. I retired my 920 last year, not because I had to, I just had some bonus money and figured I'd put it toward a new PC. That, and I was tired of hearing all the rad fans in a full tower. That 920 is still tucked away, it still works, mine would post to 4.2, run stable to 4.0, but I left it at 3.6 just because of the fan noise.

New build, not really all that much faster than my 920 really. Sure, the benchmarks will say different, but for the stuff I use it for day to day, I didn't notice a whole lot. But it's a lot smaller and quieter, so it was worth it.

Sounds like it's finally time for a new build though. Today I don't know what I would go with either.

 

[cortexodus]

Sad days....

I'm not even sure what to replace it with anymore as I haven't been following CPUs. Mobos, etc at all in years that and the probably 800 to 1000 bucks it will cost to get newer stuff.

You could just drop in one of those hex-core Xeons that people seem to like for the X58 platform and save yourself a chunk of change.

 

[Derfnofred]

If you're not ready to spend the $$, why not jump into another 1366 processor? Don't know what 970's are going for nowadays, but if you were still happy yesterday with your performance, then probably the cheapest route (for the moment) is to grab another processor from that line. Otherwise, try and sneak an Ivy Bridge - era mobo and processor (Xeons might be good perf/$!) that allows you to reuse everything else you already have.

Obviously you're already comfortable riding the back side of the wave (ditto), so things can be a lot more cost effective than sitting on the gilt edge.

 

[Bigbacon]

You could just drop in one of those hex-core Xeons that people seem to like for the X58 platform and save yourself a chunk of change.

I'm not sure keeping a dying platform alive is the way to go.

If you're not ready to spend the $$, why not jump into another 1366 processor? Don't know what 970's are going for nowadays, but if you were still happy yesterday with your performance, then probably the cheapest route (for the moment) is to grab another processor from that line. Otherwise, try and sneak an Ivy Bridge - era mobo and processor (Xeons might be good perf/$!) that allows you to reuse everything else you already have.

Obviously you're already comfortable riding the back side of the wave (ditto), so things can be a lot more cost effective than sitting on the gilt edge.

the money isn't really a big deal, just not something I was expecting to have to deal with. I also think my motherboard also has problems with the one of the PCIe slots. For a really long time I had watercooled video cards that had those heavy full copper blocks on them. I think the weight of the cards in the slots eventually bent the pins in a way that cause them to not connect sometimes. Sometimes the PC crashes and only one video card comes back to life. I jiggle or reseat the missing card and it comes back.

the thing I'm seeing with new stuff is the SLI card placement..that would require me to buy some new watercooling stuff to get the cards connected to the loop since the bridge I have is meant for the cards to be in slots next to each other and looks like all new motherboards require 2 way SLI to be in slots away from each other.

I guess if I was going to upgrade it would be to a 5820k, 16bg ram, and X99

 

[Derfnofred]

Given the goodies you've got (esp the cooling system), and the proximity of the 14/16nm GPU's, does it make sense to get *something* that way you could offload your 980's for a single card solution and make a wholesale system jump at that point? I know there's always new tech coming online, but the 28->14/16 has some pretty serious promise and if you're going to have to tear apart your WC rig, might as well do it once, correctly.

Food for thought at least. I'm waiting for the day where I have to make a similar post for my 860.

 

[bwang]

I'm not sure keeping a dying platform alive is the way to go.



the money isn't really a big deal, just not something I was expecting to have to deal with. I also think my motherboard also has problems with the one of the PCIe slots. For a really long time I had watercooled video cards that had those heavy full copper blocks on them. I think the weight of the cards in the slots eventually bent the pins in a way that cause them to not connect sometimes. Sometimes the PC crashes and only one video card comes back to life. I jiggle or reseat the missing card and it comes back.

the thing I'm seeing with new stuff is the SLI card placement..that would require me to buy some new watercooling stuff to get the cards connected to the loop since the bridge I have is meant for the cards to be in slots next to each other and looks like all new motherboards require 2 way SLI to be in slots away from each other.

I guess if I was going to upgrade it would be to a 5820k, 16bg ram, and X99

Highly recommend one of the hex-core Xeons - it is 50%+ boost in performance (32nm silicon overclocks better and you get two more cores) and is minimal effort on your part just a simple CPU swap.

 

[ssnyder28]

Considering you already have a fully built WC loop you might as well just drop a 6 core xeon in (they will OC great in a WC setup). You'll be surprised on the performance boost you'll see with that alone. It depends on whether or not you want to do a complete system overhaul for a small performance bump.

 

[Dekar12]

Just as a thought, have you checked temps/thermal paste?
I know my 920 started acting weird and I was actually getting some temp spikes that were making my OC unstable. Hadn't touched the block in like 3 years and the paste was pretty dried up.

Also, I vote for a X5650 or X5660, bios flash, drop it in and enjoy. It is a cheap $100ish dollar change and gives you more time to decide what to do. Especially as some of the others have pointed out, in a few months some new GPU tech is coming that keeps getting hyped a lot. Potentially offload a 980 soon and really give yourself some extra cash to set aside for a whole new build. Then sell off the second one once you are ready to upgrade, to maximize resell value on both cards.

 

[davewolfs]

Same happened to me, I went with two E5-2670's

 

[verylostindeed]

RIP, 920! I retired mine a few months and upgraded to a 6700k. Frankly, I don't see much of a difference for the most part.

 

[MN Scout]

My 920 was a stepping that barely overclocked. I was

Was happy to replace that a year or two ago with the X5670 howling along at 4GHz.

 

[primetime]

i Recommend shopping ebay for a xeon x5675 for 4.2-4.6ghz, x5670 for solid 4.2ghz or x5660 for a possible 4.2ghz overclock.....i love my 5670 but if i were buying today i would be interested in a 5675 if the price was close

 

[Bigbacon]

Just as a thought, have you checked temps/thermal paste?
I know my 920 started acting weird and I was actually getting some temp spikes that were making my OC unstable. Hadn't touched the block in like 3 years and the paste was pretty dried up.

Also, I vote for a X5650 or X5660, bios flash, drop it in and enjoy. It is a cheap $100ish dollar change and gives you more time to decide what to do. Especially as some of the others have pointed out, in a few months some new GPU tech is coming that keeps getting hyped a lot. Potentially offload a 980 soon and really give yourself some extra cash to set aside for a whole new build. Then sell off the second one once you are ready to upgrade, to maximize resell value on both cards.

could be...it has been on the same water block for nearly its whole lift and I have never removed it in fear of breaking something.

Again. cash isn't the issue. I could blow 2k if I really wanted too. Sadly the 980s are staying for a while.

Guess what I'm weirded out about is I get semi bad performance in some games, like fallout 4, it doesn't always run smoothly with max graphics (i think godrays is lowered though) and someone said my CPU is a bottleneck. I sort of don't believe that but I don't really know anymore. I'm so far out of touch with all this stuff.

Does the xeon require a different heat sink/water block setup? Do they overclock that well most of the time? I guess I need to check first if my Asus board can even use one.

EDIT:
Looks like the P6T does not support xeons, at least from Asus's wbsite. I could get a Extreme 980x though

 

[extide]

Dude, it's probably not your processor that's bad ... I bet it's the mobo or RAM. CPU's almost never die. Almost.

 

[Bigbacon]

Dude, it's probably not your processor that's bad ... I bet it's the mobo or RAM. CPU's almost never die. Almost.

I've actually done those extensive ram tests a few times in the last 6 months or so. Not that those are a definitive test but leads to be think it isn't ram based.

 

[cyclone3d]

Dude, it's probably not your processor that's bad ... I bet it's the mobo or RAM. CPU's almost never die. Almost.

My 920 died after a few years of running it at 3.84Ghz.. but it had a horrible IMC and I had to up the voltage on it quite a bit to get decent RAM speeds so that may have been why.

I also wouldn't say CPUs almost never die as I have seen my fair share of DOA Intel CPUs as well as some that had either the cache or something else go bad in them.

This is for both desktop and laptop systems.

 

[FrgMstr]

Well after 7 years of being overclocked, I think my i7 920 is finally starting to die

bought it Jan 4th 2009, been overclocked to 3.8ghz since and now i am getting multiple BSOD every day saying an interrupt was not received by a secondary processor.

Sad days....

I'm not even sure what to replace it with anymore as I haven't been following CPUs. Mobos, etc at all in years that and the probably 800 to 1000 bucks it will cost to get newer stuff.

Check FSFT, nice ones for sale there.

 

[polonyc2]

sorry about your 920...my i7 980X is still going strong

 

[Bigbacon]

guess what sucks the most is no matter which route i take, new stuff or another CPU, the amount of work to swap the CPU is the same.

 

[primetime]

could be...it has been on the same water block for nearly its whole lift and I have never removed it in fear of breaking something.

Again. cash isn't the issue. I could blow 2k if I really wanted too. Sadly the 980s are staying for a while.

Guess what I'm weirded out about is I get semi bad performance in some games, like fallout 4, it doesn't always run smoothly with max graphics (i think godrays is lowered though) and someone said my CPU is a bottleneck. I sort of don't believe that but I don't really know anymore. I'm so far out of touch with all this stuff.

Does the xeon require a different heat sink/water block setup? Do they overclock that well most of the time? I guess I need to check first if my Asus board can even use one.

EDIT:
Looks like the P6T does not support xeons, at least from Asus's wbsite. I could get a Extreme 980x though

They do in fact support xeons with latest bios revisions and only people who have issues are ones with older bios versions and no way to update to newer one.

 

[Bigbacon]

what is the difference between a xeon and a extreme i7?

 

[LZ_Xray]

Another salute to the dead 920. I've had one running since 2009 in an EVGA X58LE and it's been a real trooper. Think mine came from the same batch as MN Scout's though, as all it could ever do was about 3.4 and I left it at 3.3. Probably my favorite proc of all time even though mines a crappy clocker.

 

[Bigbacon]

Another salute to the dead 920. I've had one running since 2009 in an EVGA X58LE and it's been a real trooper. Think mine came from the same batch as MN Scout's though, as all it could ever do was about 3.4 and I left it at 3.3. Probably my favorite proc of all time even though mines a crappy clocker.

i was able to get this one to post 4.0 and just about get into windows but I could never get it to fully work at 4. I could sort of get a stable 3.9 but 3.8 has been rock solid unitl now.

 

[primetime]

what is the difference between a xeon and a extreme i7?

well the awesome thing about xeons there mainly cheaper for same clock speed....and can be used in muli socket rigs...main benefit is the resale costs

 

[horrorshow]

Still rocking my old Nehalem I bought in Nov. '09.

Sorry to hear yours kicked the bucket....

 

[BeavermanA]

Interesting. Thought 4+ ghz was practically guaranteed from these bad boys.

Ran mine at 4.2ghz for 5 years, and didn't need much voltage over stock. Best $200 ever spent on pc parts.

Went to 4790k, think it helped with min fps and some stuttering in the newest games. Or I just need an excuse to justify it lol.

 

[Bigbacon]

Interesting. Thought 4+ ghz was practically guaranteed from these bad boys.

Ran mine at 4.2ghz for 5 years, and didn't need much voltage over stock. Best $200 ever spent on pc parts.

Went to 4790k, think it helped with min fps and some stuttering in the newest games. Or I just need an excuse to justify it lol.

on later ones. I have pretty much one from when t hey first hit the stores.

Kinda interested in the xeon idea now. 2 extra cores and probably the same clock or more with an OC and they seem pretty damn cheap.

 

[extide]

With the Nehalem/Bloomfield chips 3.8Ghz was guaranteed, 4.0 was a decent chip and beyond that was great. For Westmere, 4.2 is pretty much a given, and I have seen them up into the 4.8Ghz range. That 32nm shrink was probably the last great overclocking shrink. :/

 

[butterfliesrpretty]

My 920 died after a few years of running it at 3.84Ghz.. but it had a horrible IMC and I had to up the voltage on it quite a bit to get decent RAM speeds so that may have been why.

I also wouldn't say CPUs almost never die as I have seen my fair share of DOA Intel CPUs as well as some that had either the cache or something else go bad in them.

This is for both desktop and laptop systems.

Been repairing pc's for close to 20 years and I've never seen a dead cpu, except the old amd athlons that would burn up if the hsf wasn't on correctly. More than likely the thing is just overheating or the mobo, that generation was known to have bad caps on the mobos.

 

[Iching]

Time to buy a hexacore. Don't even get any stupid ideas about getting Skylake etc.

 

[Meeho]

Well after 7 years of being overclocked, I think my i7 920 is finally starting to die

bought it Jan 4th 2009, been overclocked to 3.8ghz since and now i am getting multiple BSOD every day saying an interrupt was not received by a secondary processor.

Sad days....

I'm not even sure what to replace it with anymore as I haven't been following CPUs. Mobos, etc at all in years that and the probably 800 to 1000 bucks it will cost to get newer stuff.

Have you tried just upping the vcore or lowering the clock?

 

[Bigbacon]

Have you tried just upping the vcore or lowering the clock?

if I need to start doing this then something is wrong and it needs to go.

 

[Dekar12]

The Xeon's in the same socket like the X5650 are identical as far as heatsink/water blocks are concerned.

As another poster said, you have to get the latest bios for your board, do a search for your board model, there are plenty of people using Xeon's in them.

I did notice that you sometimes have issues with both your gpus being detected, it is possible that there is something else going on beyond the cpu. Does everything work correctly if you are back at stock settings?

If you are questionable about other hardware in your rig, you may want to switch the cpu/mobo/ram.

 

[primetime]

With skylake 6700 @ Stock you can expect a 30% single thread bump over x58 Xeon, and about a 20% multithread bump over x58...and of course the lead gets even better overclocked...still for the tiny investment x58 still does well

 

[cyclone3d]

Been repairing pc's for close to 20 years and I've never seen a dead cpu, except the old amd athlons that would burn up if the hsf wasn't on correctly. More than likely the thing is just overheating or the mobo, that generation was known to have bad caps on the mobos.

I did Dell warranty repair for 2 years and saw 2-3 DOA Intel CPUs, a DOA Athlon 64 CPU, and 5 or 6 Intel CPUs where the cache or something else had died.

And in the past 5 years I have seen a few laptops have CPU issues, all Intel.

The most notable one was a laptop that was having trouble booting to the Dell diag CD. It would take anywhere from 15-45 minutes.

Dell replaced absolutely everything in that laptop except the CPU and it didn't help one bit.

Instead of replacing the CPU like I initially asked them to because I very much expected something in the I/O portion of the CPU was dying, they ended up replacing it with a newer model laptop.

Dell would rather replace the whole machine than replace a CPU, so it happens more than they will let on. I really wonder if Intel has some sway in the matter, especially since they end up spending way more money in the end for multiple service calls or parts dispatches when I specifically tell them I suspect the CPU.

 

[Bigbacon]

The Xeon's in the same socket like the X5650 are identical as far as heatsink/water blocks are concerned.

As another poster said, you have to get the latest bios for your board, do a search for your board model, there are plenty of people using Xeon's in them.

I did notice that you sometimes have issues with both your gpus being detected, it is possible that there is something else going on beyond the cpu. Does everything work correctly if you are back at stock settings?

If you are questionable about other hardware in your rig, you may want to switch the cpu/mobo/ram.

different errors though when the video card goes out. The BSOD i get are either the one I posted or one different one (can't remember what it says right now).

I don't get lots of different BSOD, one or the other. Video card one hasn't really cropped up since I got rid of the copper clad 5 pound monster blocks that were on my old 480s. the 980s haven't done it yet and I suspect that is because they weigh significantly less because of the waterblocks I put on them.

Also there is P6T SE/Deluxe board which is different than the vanilla P6T. I can find tons of references to peeople using xeons on the SE/deluxe version but nothing on the plain base version.

 

[Iching]

With skylake 6700 @ Stock you can expect a 30% single thread bump over x58 Xeon, and about a 20% multithread bump over x58...and of course the lead gets even better overclocked...still for the tiny investment x58 still does well

My i7-3770k @ 4.5Ghz has to sweat more in games than my x5650 @ 4.250GHz. I keep my frames capped @ 120.

 

[Araxie]

My i7-3770k @ 4.5Ghz has to sweat more in games than my x5650 @ 4.250GHz. I keep my frames capped @ 120.

having a 3930K, 4960X and 5820K I don't know how is that possible except with a couple of games but in general scenarios, 95% of the time your 3770K at 4.5ghz should be a best performer than the x5650.

Of course if you only pay attention to overall CPU usage it will appear that the 3770K is doing a greater effort due to less thread, but what you have to really do is look at each thread load as if you have a game that are using only 4 threads at 100% in the 3770K it will showed as 50% CPU usage while in the x5650 will be much less due to extra threads idling. but what matter really is single thread load as most of the time you can have 2 or 3 threads doing all the work and the rest doing little to nothing, so sometimes general CPU usage tend to mislead..

as primetime said best option in any case like this is always to look for a hexa-core xeon those doesn't even reach the 100$ range most of time, is the best bet.