Mugsy
Posts: 772 +203
I have been battling a stability problem with my new PC ever since I bought it several months ago. I'm running an Athlon XP 3200+ with Barton core (OEM) that I purchased online (checked with various cpu ID checkers). BIOS detects it as such and configures accordingly.
I began to suspect "heat" was the issue. Though the computer wasn't running *that* hot, it seems to crash when the cpu temp exceeds 50'C.
After doubling the size of the fan on my heatsink (solid copper btw), and adding fans to the case, I dropped both the die and case temps by 8'C (very good), but still the crashing persisted.
Eventually, I discovered that I can 100% stabilize the computer by running it at a slower speed (in BIOS, changing the 200MHz FSB setting to 166MHz so that it thinks I'm running a 2500+ processor).
After doing some research online, I learned that some "Athlon XP 3200+"s are really just modified Athlon XP 2500+"s with the "L12 bridge" cut. I've compared photos of a real 2500+ and real 3200+, but I just can't spot the difference.
I need to know what to look for before I pull out my own cpu to see if it's counterfeit. Please help!
http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=35855
I began to suspect "heat" was the issue. Though the computer wasn't running *that* hot, it seems to crash when the cpu temp exceeds 50'C.
After doubling the size of the fan on my heatsink (solid copper btw), and adding fans to the case, I dropped both the die and case temps by 8'C (very good), but still the crashing persisted.
Eventually, I discovered that I can 100% stabilize the computer by running it at a slower speed (in BIOS, changing the 200MHz FSB setting to 166MHz so that it thinks I'm running a 2500+ processor).
After doing some research online, I learned that some "Athlon XP 3200+"s are really just modified Athlon XP 2500+"s with the "L12 bridge" cut. I've compared photos of a real 2500+ and real 3200+, but I just can't spot the difference.
I need to know what to look for before I pull out my own cpu to see if it's counterfeit. Please help!
http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=35855