Cause of death

[Faaip De Oiad]

An Abit max III board I bought gave me problems from day one - it randomly worked some days and not others. I left it for weeks unused at a time and tried it again to find it working again. I finally got around to getting it refunded yesterday and now I am stuck with my crappy MSI 875p-Neo FISR board.

Basically I want to know what you guys think could have caused these random lengths of brokeness because I have been at my wits end trying to figure it out.

My system was cooled via a Mach II GT so the number one cause I can think of is condensation problems. (I have had no diletic grease in my socket [should I have been using some?])

It wasnt the CPU (I used two different ones), it wasnt anything to do with OCing (problem even occurred at stock), and wasnt the RAM (used two different onestypes), and not PSU (OCZ 580powerstream).

I am now in need of a new board that OCs well but don't know what to do.

Was I just unlucky with a faulty board? Or did I kill it from condensation?

Shall I buy another or get an IC7-g?

Please help, thanks

 

[Firelord]

Either go for an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

OR

Ditch the PIV and get a AMD 64 3500+ and decent board.

If you keep getting condensation then there is obviously something wrong with the way you put the kit together

 

[Faaip De Oiad]

ThickBrit has lost 6 max IIIs to condensation apparantly. Is condensation inevitable?? This can't be true, someone please tell me they don't get any problems with condensation, and how...?

 

[Firelord]

I have never suffered from condensation on a Mach I, II or GT.

Maybe its some components on the back of the board thats stopping it from getting an air tight seal.

In fact I can only really remember one person with bad condensation on a A64 system and that was the TheDude at XR before the A64 headkits where available.

 

[boardy]

The Max III's hate Phase Change. Mine didn't work properly either, took ages to get past POST even with various BIOS flashes so I went back to my P4P800 which working flawlessly.

It's pretty much a given that the Max III's will die in a Phase Change, as proved by Thicky. I would get a IC7-G. A friend of mine has one and it's been under his Mach I for over a year now, no problems what so ever. Wish I'd got it instead of the Max III. The P4C800's seem to get pretty hot aswell, some have even caught fire due to the mosfets overheating when overclocking under phase change.

Cheers

Boardy

 

[gorby]

some have even caught fire due to the mosfets overheating when overclocking under phase change.

Cheers

Boardy

Cool!

 

[Faaip De Oiad]

The Max III's hate Phase Change. Mine didn't work properly either, took ages to get past POST even with various BIOS flashes so I went back to my P4P800 which working flawlessly.

It's pretty much a given that the Max III's will die in a Phase Change, as proved by Thicky. I would get a IC7-G. A friend of mine has one and it's been under his Mach I for over a year now, no problems what so ever. Wish I'd got it instead of the Max III. The P4C800's seem to get pretty hot aswell, some have even caught fire due to the mosfets overheating when overclocking under phase change.

Cheers

Boardy

Exactly the same errors I got! Extremely slow posts / ones that never complete / all sorts of boot up problems... You've made me feel tons better - I was starting to give up phase all together I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong...

Well I've ordered an Ic7-g now for 90-odd quid, wish me luck and thanks for the help.

One more thing - can anyone tell me where I can buy some dialetic grease from?

 

[SAS91]

Exactly the same errors I got! Extremely slow posts / ones that never complete / all sorts of boot up problems... You've made me feel tons better - I was starting to give up phase all together I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong...

Well I've ordered an Ic7-g now for 90-odd quid, wish me luck and thanks for the help.

One more thing - can anyone tell me where I can buy some dialetic grease from?

Not sure...heard vasalene works though

 

[Master_G]

If you are looking for dielectric grease, i know one online place that sells sit, dont know if i cant link so i wont, PM me for the link if you want it.

Apart from that, quite a few car places have it.

I'd be wary about using vaseline, im not sure it cant stand the low low temps.

G

 

[ibby]

iam not saying u guys are doing any thing wring but i used my max 3 on phase change on a mach 1 and then a mach 2, it is now still working fine, after taking a 6 months battering on phase change.

I never had any condenstation in the socket, nor any odd issues with POST.

i was running a resonable fsb 1:1 , i think it was 285 or sumat close to that.

I love my max 3.