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Scratched athlon XP PCB, poor performance

T

Tsitar

n00b
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
12
Hello to all,
Installing a Volcano 7+ over a 2600+, I forgot some of the screws that attach the fun cover to the copper base. The holes are in the base of the heatsink.
I screwed, really screwed by the way, but instead of finding the hole in the copper, the screw was turning between copper and cpu pcb (pcb, not the chip itself), scratching it badly in two corners.

Now it works, but benchmarking it shows it works as a 1300 mhz athlon!!!

Do you know if there's anyway to fix the scratch or any information I could check regarding this?

Many thanks in advance
 
Yes it is well configured.
Bios is recent, and 2600 + it is well detected in POST.
512 kb of Cache memory (it's a Barton) are well detected by CPUid and Sandra.
In fact it will run Prime95 or Superpi without errors, but the times to perform the loops in this program and the benchies of Sandra give poor performance (half of what it should).

Maybe by cutting some wiring in the PCB I have screwed some pin or function that cripples performance. Don't know.

Just searching for a solution, or at least the confirmation that there isn't and why.

Thanks again,
 
How recent of a purchase is this? See if you can return it under warranty?
 
Could you post the full printout from CPUid?
fsb, multi, and clock speed in particular.

Full system specs are helpful as well, particularly mobo, ram, and CPU details (or course we already know all about the CPU)

Don't try returning this proc just yet. If it's really badly scratched that's really a last-ditch option (and one I probably wouldn't even bother trying) since it'll likely just be rejected and you'll just end up wasting time & $$$. Plus I don't think it's actually hosed anyway. Give us some more info & I bet we can help you get it working.

There just isn't that much of anything you can do to the cpu's pcb that'd cause the thing to just be slow. Just about any kind of "oops" you make on the pcb is going to result in an unstable or inoperable cpu. Accidently cutting one of the multi adjustment bridges is going to raise your multiplier on that chip, resulting in it either running faster and probably being unstable or simply not working at all unless you drop the fsb below spec.
 
Thanx to all.
FULL specs:
ABIT NF7 V2.0
Athlon xp 2600+ / L2 512 / 166 fsb x 11.5
Volcano 7+ (full copper)
512 mb Infineon 3200 2.5/4/4/7
The rest was in my previous rig and gave no problems before
Nvidia GForce Ti 200 64mb modded into Quadro2
2 Seagate Barracuda 40 gb (one controlled through a PCI Raid Highpoint 370 card)
1 Maxtor 40 gb (very noisy!)
1 Aopen 52x cdwriter
1 LG DVD reader
350 watt PSU
Speed is around 1921 mhz. Memory is set to 5/6 divider to have RAM at 400 mhz.
Cpu settings in BIOS are left in default, except for memory up to 2.8 volts (just in case they're needed).

Temperatures reported:
System 28ºC/82.4ºF
CPU 35ºC/95ºF Iddle, Stressed won't go over 40ºC.

Benchmarks:
Superpi 1M: 1 m 32 s.
Sandra 2004:
Cpu Artim. ALU 4933 FPU 2020
Cpu Multim. MMX 11853 SSE 12174
Memory Int 1347 float 1231

Would a slow cpu ruin memory benchmarks?
I'm starting to think it has something to do with motherboard.

I hope it helps.

Thanks again,
 
Open CPUid. Look at what it says for your FSB, Multiplier, and RAM speed. Then post that here.

Post pics of the damage as well. :p

Lots of things can kill benchmarks, such as Apple, NVidia, ATI, and possibly even the RIAA. Other things could be your BIOS revision, having something turned off in your BIOS, you could have a bad Northbridge, or a bad stick of RAM.
 
CPUid shows 1921 mhz, 512 L2 cache at full speed, memory 401 mhz, 2.5 4 4 7. Stepping is 0. CPU is multiplier locked, but it's all set to default at BIOS with multiplier 11,5.

Even such slow timings for ram should not slow system so much.

I will try syncronous FSB - memory and 2 3 3 6 or whatever is stable, but I don't think that would make such a difference.
I will post pictures ASAP and also will try to stick this CPU in a friend's NF7 identical to mine.

Thnx
 
I doubt that the physical scratch is lowering your processor performance. In that case, i would not post at all.

Post what you find after you swapping CPUs.
 
Trying a clean install of Windows might help. I'd probably run some benches on a bare windows install (ie- no 3rd party drivers or software added yet). I might also start w/ a minimal hardware config. At least you've got 3 HDs, so you can just clear off one of them & maybe switch some cables/jumpers instead of having to nuke your system.
That's a load of work though. I'd try swapping chips and ram around & a new bios first though.
 
I've already clean installed again with same results.

Bytheway, how do I insert the picture?
 
Yeah i need pics of WCPUID and or CPUz and pics of the Dammage to tell you what the fuck the problem is
 
Hello to all,
I finally figured out what was going on.

I even plugged the CPU into another NF7 and the little scratched bastard smoked!! I was so glad I had not screwed the CPU.

Next thing was thinking RAM or Mobo were defective. Memtest was passed fine, and the thing was still slow....

Remember I hat a Highpoint 370A raid controller. I've used with a celeron 566@875, and with a duron 1000(morgan)@1200 and no problems at all.
I just thought unpluging it was about the only thing left to do, I did it and THAT WAS IT. Now the system flies, and does 2300mhz fine with the fan of the volcano 7 at the lowest position (not too noisy, the higher one is completely unbearable. Temps up to 46 ºC). It will do more, but I need to lower RAM timings (over 400mhz) and it's not completelly stable.

Your posts helped a lot. I was very encouraged to keep searching when reading that CPU must be either dead or perfectly alive, not slower. Funny thing I was a fool twice, first scratching, second trusting the Highpoing thing wouldn't be the problem.

HEY GUYS, THANKS A LOT AND GOOD LUCK
 
nice to hear

but when you said the scratched bastard smoked I was like :eek: another fried CPU, until I read the rest of the post hehe
 
Originally posted by Tsitar
Hello to all,
I finally figured out what was going on.

I even plugged the CPU into another NF7 and the little scratched bastard smoked!! I was so glad I had not screwed the CPU.

Next thing was thinking RAM or Mobo were defective. Memtest was passed fine, and the thing was still slow....

Remember I hat a Highpoint 370A raid controller. I've used with a celeron 566@875, and with a duron 1000(morgan)@1200 and no problems at all.
I just thought unpluging it was about the only thing left to do, I did it and THAT WAS IT. Now the system flies, and does 2300mhz fine with the fan of the volcano 7 at the lowest position (not too noisy, the higher one is completely unbearable. Temps up to 46 ºC). It will do more, but I need to lower RAM timings (over 400mhz) and it's not completelly stable.

Your posts helped a lot. I was very encouraged to keep searching when reading that CPU must be either dead or perfectly alive, not slower. Funny thing I was a fool twice, first scratching, second trusting the Highpoing thing wouldn't be the problem.

HEY GUYS, THANKS A LOT AND GOOD LUCK
Click to expand...

Smoked:D

Good to hear your rig still worls.
 
Remember I hat a Highpoint 370A raid controller. I've used with a celeron 566@875, and with a duron 1000(morgan)@1200 and no problems at all.
Click to expand...

Well that's frickin' strange! :eek:
 
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