LN2 issues

[Dawgdoc]

Setup as follows:

Foxconn Mars mobo

Q6600 G0

2 X 1 GB of a variety of ram interchanged (Mushkin PC8500, Mushkin PC8500 extreme performance, Corsair XMS2 PC6400)

8400 GS (8800GTX is drying from silicone spray and Im only benching CPU tonight)

Corsair HX620W

Turn the rig on, POSTs fine (dry pot at the moment).

Go into BIOS and check CPU temp. All looks good. Hovering about 30C.

Dump some LN2 into the pot for the first time!! Temps move alot slower with the LN2 to start I guess you gotta load the pot? Im watching CPU temp in BIOS and wow.....it reading negative! First time Ive seen that....-30, -35, -40....I stop watching.

Set my volts/fsb/yada yada.....F10 out...no POST

Clear CMOS with the nifty little button on the mobo. No POST

Clear CMOS manually....POST ok...Good

Over the next 30-40 mins, I have a variety of issues with no POSTING and having all kinds of issues. I think its my KVM switch so I pull it. Things seem to go well for a lil while. Next.....something aint right with my vid card? (I dunno)...I switch out for a Radeon 1650 pro. Once again things go well for a little while...then no POST no clear CMOS issues again.

I put back the 8400GS instead of the Radeon...POST fine initially but then same problems...

As of right now, the latest issue which is preventing me from doing ANYTHING is as follows.....

POST ok, as the POST message starts it hangs on the words "Memory Test". Ive tried swapping to all different memory sticks and same thing happens.

Any clues on whats going on? Is this what a cold bug is? It seemed to be the same no matter if I am at -190C or -90C.....Did I freeze my DIMM slots or something?

Letting everything warm up since I have no other choice right now, and will try again in a little while but....Any clues?

BTW, after that first boot my BIOS would NOT read negative temps anymore. Stopped at 0C. Weird huh?

Now that I think about it...I assume I am done for the night? During the hour I was working on it a good amount of frost built up over the CPU pot and started on the resistors on the mobo too. When that melts....Im in trouble eh?

Sounds like Im done for the night

Im completely baffled.

BTW, board was working flawlessly (everything was working well) 2 nights ago when I last benched it on dice with a different CPU (X3220 G0)

 

[Mr. Smith]

Strange.

Was the mobo proberly insulated when you did your dice run... Did you bench, leave it, go to ln2 and it doesn't work? Maybe something went wrong on the dice run...

Afraid I have no ln2/dice experience so I can't offer advice.

NoL/Ham are your best bet.

 

[K404]

If the temps drop too much, the cold will creep and components on the board will stop working properly- material limits. LN2 cant be used freefall...try to hold it around -80 to start, then slowly work down to see at what temperature things stop playing nice.

Most boards crap out around -120, but iv seen as low as -170 once or twice from Coolaler, Victor and 4Q.

a Fluke/UEI/Voltkraft monitor is NOT optional for LN2- you MUST have the control over the temperatures

 

[Dawgdoc]

Thanks for the input so far guys.

Yes, I did not mention it but OF COURSE I have a temp gauge on the pot

Currently using a Fluke 51-II with a K thermocouple.

More details on board insulation/etc here: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=542978

I think you hit the nail on the head. This was my first run and I went WAY WAY too cold too quick and never applied a load. At least, thats what I did and the consensus is that that could definitely cause my problems.

I tore the rig apart last night and the mobo and socket are BONE dry. Slight wetting on the insulation/etc from frost melting, but everything else dry as could possibly be.

Im going to try again tonight and as you said, go lighter on the LN2, get into windows.....start some heavy loading with SetFSB, then start to fine tune my OC and temps once I get a load applied and work it more slowly.

TYVM for the input thus far!

Wow....Nol gets around LOL.....I have not been to 1 single OC forum where he is not known. Not one.....

 

[NoL]

Gave ya a PM

 

[K404]

Thanks for the input so far guys.

Yes, I did not mention it but OF COURSE I have a temp gauge on the pot

Currently using a Fluke 51-II with a K thermocouple.

Sorry for jumping to conclusions

GL for take 2!

 

[Dawgdoc]

Gave ya a PM

Who? me? no PM here. At least not here.

PM on OCF? on XS? LOL.....if its me PM where? I think Ive spoken to you on like 3 different forums about this so far

EDIT: Got the PM on OCF. TY

 

[Dawgdoc]

Allritey......

Just finished up my LN2 session for the evening.

All-in-all it went very very well. NO repeats of last night. All the hardware was in fine working order. I had NO coldbug, and in retrospect and with tonights testings in mind, I can say with absolute certainty that I coldbugged/coldbooted whatever you would like to call it yesterday.

In summary, I spent the entire night on LN2 (4 hours tonight). Overclocked a great amount, and if I wasnt allready OCing a chip that I beat to death on dice previously, would likely have some very very good screenies. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain any additional fsb or speed with LN2 as compared to dice.



Question:Is this possible that the chip maxed out at whatever -75C on dice could do for it? Or....is this more just a need for me to learn/experiment more with this chip on LN2?

In more detail, I did a fair amount of testing and kept some decent notes to look back on and try to figure out the sweet spot of this chip. Please tell me if my assessment is correct or off base.

Dry pot BIOS boot 31C. After 3-4 mins 36C. Not great but not that bad and I wasnt about to remount so I dropped the LN2 in until abou -60C. Booted into windows at 9X450 with no issues at highish volts. At around 85ishC I went to 542 FSB X 9 but didnt screenie since I have almost exactly 542 on dice allready. Jumped to 545 and froze (possible reboot too notes dont say).

Increase Vcore nd Vmch a tad. Posted ok at -92 but a bit slowish/choppy. Booted into windows at 475X9 again at -62C no probs. SetFSB froze when applying 540FSB at -95C but there was no reboot.

Increase Vcore and Vmch again. Booted at 450 X 9 this time. Got 542 FSB again at -90C but when applied 545 FSB at -89C computer froze with no reboot.

Maxed out all volts (just like I did with my best OCs with this chip on dice).

Boots from now on are 475 X 9 and went without any issues every time at anywhere from -60C to -90C.

SetFSB froze applying 540FSB at -105C. .Tried colder here but didnt pan out.

Thought I was able to get the 545FSB screenie at -91C, but I guess it froze a millisecond before I got to save it Was able to successfully apply 545 FSB at -91C though!

SetFSB froze at 530FSB at -92C with the pot getting colder

SetFSB froze at applying 525 FSB at -112C

Windows froze without any provocation at -125C, and I did not go near -125C or colder than -125C again tonight.

So......from my assessment it appear that additional cooling over dice offered me nothing for this chip/mobo combination. Sweet spot appeared to be approx -85C t perhaps -91C. Said sweet spot on LN2 did not offer me any better overclocking capabilities than what I allready received on dice, seen here.

Agree or Disagree?

Thanks again guys

8800 GTX was dry this evening, so tomorrow night Im gonna hit up my 1st practice run 3D on 8800GTX LN2, but will switch the CPU from the Dragon Evo to my TRUE 120 to focus on learning the Tek9 pot. TRUE 120 is benchable at 4050 on my P5K premium, so actually I may get 4100 or 4150 perhaps on the Mars even. Not all that far off from what I would likely get on dice/LN2 anyhow actually unless someone sees a flaw in my logic or technique.

 

[Luigi]

dude, what mobo settings are you using? that a sick FSB for a quad!!

 

[NoL]

Nah hes right at the top of the Ln2 range.

 

[Dawgdoc]

Actually that particular screenie was on dice.

I got the same exact FSB on LN2 but was unable to go ANY higher at all

Have I just reached the max on this chip do you think, or is it worth playing with LN2 temps and volts a bit more?

Some people have suggested actually going LOWER on volts to see if that has any effects.

What do you think?

 

[NoL]

Maybe a bit lower voltage, but I think your maxed really. Thats why so many people spend on the higher multiplier

 

[darkone]

where do you even get LN?