What's your defintion of STABLE??

[LarryJoe]

I have been running at 933 for 6 months very stable. I recently changed over to the 6.32 dets and have been experiencing 3D lockups with a few games. However, I can loop Q3 quaver for days with no problems. 3DMark loops for about an hour and kicks me to the desktop. I never took a lot of stock in 3Dmark besides the score for the default settings. SoF Gold will lock up once in a while as well as Motocross Madness 2. UT runs absolutely fine for hours on end.

I have determined it could be the 6.32's or the other few games games themselves. I would have to think that Q3 is the most demanding and well written game of all current games and since it runs very well, then the infrequent lockups are the game's unstable code or the 6.32's.

I guess the downside of overclocking is when something locks or crashes, you immediately think it is the overclocked system. I went 4 years as a non-overclocker and often had the same problems from time to time. Back then, gut instinct was to format and reinstall. Those days are over as I have had the same install of 98SE for 10 months and can't see wiping it clean unless I change mobo's.

I seriously doubt chip instability here but thought this would be a breath of fresh air topic given the boring, same old, repetive topics around here lately.

So............


LJ

 

[Coki]

Check the cpu temp's make sure it does not get too warm in the case.

Go back to the 6.18 drivers and see if you get the same lockups.

 

[apoppin]

What's up, LarryJoe? I've been hanging mostly in OT.

I would say make no changes except to drop your CPU down a notch or two in speed (or even to default) to see if the same lockups continue. If so, it's the new drivers or O/S instability. If not, then your CPU may be becoming more unstable (as they tend to do over time) - time for that new 1.2Ghz CPU!

Also monitor your case and core temperatures very closely.

 

[LarryJoe]

What's up apoppin? Thanks for the tips. Temps are fine and have unchanged. If it becomes a nusiance, then I will start tweaking, but right now it is only extremely occasional. I really just posted this thread to see what other people deem stable. I am not too concerned with my rig.

I am probably going to hang on to this CPU/Mobo until next summer. The setup has been just too good to me to start swapping parts out for a marginally faster CPU under the current architecture options. Going to wait for the P4, DDR RAM and a solid chipset to come out to support these.

LJ

 

[apoppin]

I am waiting for the same thing as you (except that I might go with AMD).

The only other suggestion I can make is to increase the voltage a bit if the instability becomes more than occasional.

 

[Valvoline6]

Just for fun give 1.75 volts a try. That's still well within a safe range too.

 

[koldklock]

sta·ble
adj. sta·bler, sta·blest.

1.
a. Resistant to change of position or condition; steadfast.
b. Maintaining equilibrium; self-restoring.

2. Immutable; permanent; enduring.

3.
a. Consistently dependable.
b. Not subject to mental illness or irrationality.

4. Physics. Having no known mode of decay; indefinitely long-lived. Used of atomic particles.

5. Chemistry. Not easily decomposed or otherwise modified chemically.

 

[Raincity]

Thank you Mr Webster for such a insightful post.

Rain

 

[Eug]

<< However, I can loop Q3 quaver for days with no problems. >>



Well, given that Quaver is a video card test, that's not really a meaningful test of CPU stability. What you want to do is loop demo001 at the lowest settings, if you prefer using Q3.

Anyways, what the heck are you doing that for? You should be using all those CPU cycles for cracking OGR-25!

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

<<<What is your definition of STABLE?>>>

To get back to the original question, my definition is:
&quot;a building to house farm animals&quot;

 

[LarryJoe]

Thanks for all the relevant responses. The other folks just reminded me of why a rarely post here anymore.

LJ

 

[snow patrol]

My personal definition of stable, is a computer that will perform all the tasks I want it to (be that gaming, applications, web browsing, benchmarking) without any hiccups. I don't run torture tests because I don't see the point. If I had a huge overclock that ran everything I used perfectly well but didn't quite complete a Prime Torture test, I'd say that was stable, in my eyes

 

[atomicbomberman]

well.. u all know that MS windows is not a stable system as it is. For your system to be stable, i'll say 90% of the work is to make your windows run as lean as possible. Rite now, at idle, if I do ctrl-alt-del and get the program running, I will only have 2, systemtray and explorer.

And ya.. my definition of Stable is when my computer can remain operational forever.

My record so far is 1 month and 12 days, as in the comp is been on and active for that long. No crash, no freeze.. no lockup.

That's stable.

 

[hans007]

my definition of stable, is with the case covers on and no holes drilled, it can run win2k for 3 weeks without it hard locking. Stable is being just like not overclocked, except faster

 

[Witor]

For me, stability means no crashing under any circumstances, in programs *I* use. On some occations ive seen certain beta gfx card drivers for my GF DDR crash on older games I sometimes fire up for a laugh, but I dont really worry about it unless it happens on games I play regularly.

 

[LarryJoe]

Seems like most of us consider &quot;stable&quot; to be the same thing. I think hans007 put it best

<< Stable is being just like not overclocked, except faster >>

.

LJ

 

[Raincity]

It is a interesting question that I have ponderd myself at time wondering if my defintion of stable in overclocking a system were too high. I have seen other forum members claim that their overclocked system was rock stable then posting for help on issues due to overclocking, like losing video on soft boot only to have it reinitialized on cold boot,or them fighting windows registry file corruption on a weekly basis but still insist that their overclocked system is rock stable. Im glad to see others with the same definition of stable as myself now.
As for for a fix for your lockups in gameplay, Sorry I cant help you. There is always reported issues with games on every driver set Nvidia releases. I have also seen reports on usenet regarding the Soyo 6BA+4 and gforce cards having memory timing issues with the Apg buss and ddr ram causing lockups in 3d display only. Some of the Soyo techs have also confirmed this also. If I run into any info of value, regarding this same issue on any of the usenet groups, I will be sure to pass it on to you LJ.

Rain


EDIT I Also forgot to apologize for my sarcastic remark made to Koldkock yesterday. I feel that forum members should be able to post any response with out any retaliation from other forum members. My sarcastic comment was uncalled for and I again give my humble apoligies. Thanks

 

[LarryJoe]

Thanks Rain, very insightful as usual. Yeah, I have no definite symptoms of overclocking related problems. I boot fine, no BSOD's and no registry errors. Just the occasional 3d game freeze that I am 100% positive I would get at default settings.

No real problem here, in fact it has been almost a week since I had the problem. Also, the more well written games like UT and Q3 run fine.

In regards to sarcasm, I also apologize if any one felt this offensive

<< I seriously doubt chip instability here but thought this would be a breath of fresh air topic given the boring, same old, repetive topics around here lately >>

This could have led to sarcastic and humerous responses. I come to this forum daily and can't find anything that interesting. I do admit that the plethora of Duron threads makes me yawn a bit because it is out of my territory.

No offense,

LJ

EDIT - spelling

 

[apoppin]

If you get bored, LarryJoe, just try OT forum. Plenty going on and sarcasm is the norm.

There is only one way to find out if your system is really &quot;rock stable&quot; - drop your CPU to default for a week and see if you have any further game lockups. If not, then your O/C'd CPU is at fault. If so, it is the drivers or O/S.

 

[flyfish]

stable=linux

 

[atomicbomberman]

CPU is usually never the problem, if it can boot into windows and run prime torture test fine, the cpu is ok. Then everything else is your OS. Since my computer ran fine for over a month, I'll say I got this 98SE down pretty well.. The thing you want to make sure is to have good Ram, and have as little &quot;background&quot; applications running as possible. Remember, Explorer and Systray are the only 2 program you need for startup. Anything else is redunent.

 

[kursplat]

stable is when the kids can hammer on it, all day long, and not have to ask me to &quot; fix &quot; somthing when i get home from work. day after day after day after day after day after day after...