I wonder if the voltages might be the problem.

I don't believe temp is problem. This CPU is a lot cooler than the
1.333 MHz processor.

After running memtest for 6 hours I had no errors, so, I believe the
memory is fine.

I lowered the FSB to 133 from 166 and I have a stable system. Prime95
stress testing runs fine.

Bottom line, after some investigation is that I beleive this motherboard
isn't the best. I have used the SPD settings for RAM and also tried
setting manually when running @ 166 FSB. Interestingly, the manual
settings do not allow 7 for tRAS in the bios. Only 5 or 6. Either
setting and Prime95 crashes.

So, I wonder, should I run @ 166 and forget about Prime95, or run @ 133
and suffer a performance hit, but be able to run Prime95.

I wonder though... if Prime95 is crashing at best settings, would other
apps or the OS be unstable?

Any opinions are appreciated.

Wes Newell wrote:
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:37:06 +0000, Anonymous wrote:


Hello,

I need suggestions.

I just upgraded my CPU from an Athlon 1.333 to an Athlon XP 2800+ Barton.

The motherboard is an ECS K7VTA3 v6.

When I had the slower CPU, Prime95 ran fine.

After the new CPU, I crash Prime95 immediately. I am wondering if
perhaps my memory isn't quite up to snuff. The specs are 512MB nonECC
2.5 3 3 7 @ 166MHz or 2 3 3 6 @ 133MHz. However, I have been running
MemTest for over an hour so far with no errors. I will say the memory
isnt the problem if I get through 6 hours.

I was thinking of underclocking the CPU by lowering the FSB to 133 to
see if Prime95 would work then. That would be lowing the CPU to a 2200.

Could I have a bad CPU?


It's possible, but it's usually something else like power, heat or
something else.Have you tried monitoring your voltages and temps for high
temps or voltage fluctuations? If you're using your old cpu cooler it
could be it's not good enough or you have it not on the cpu good. You
might also need to increase vcore a tad. This can be done with the pinmod
if your board doesn't allow voltage changes.