Overclock related crash?

[Rennn]

I was overclocking my CPU to 3.5Ghz, without increasing the voltage. I didn't have any issues for a few days, and FRAPS indicated a 3-5 fps increase in CPU limited games such as Oblivion or Dragon Age.

 

Then, I was playing Dragon Age and my sound turned into static. A few seconds later, my game crashed. It wasn't because of Dragon Age, because after that every other program on my PC either refused to run or caused more static. I rebooted my PC, and the issue disappeared. I removed the OC from my CPU, and I haven't had the problem since, so I'm assuming it was caused by the OC, but I can't be sure.

 

Is there any other reason why this could happen, in case it wasn't caused by overclocking?

Is there something I could change to keep the overclock without this happening again?

 

My CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 955, and it's normally at 3.2Ghz. As mentioned, I had overclocked it to 3.5Ghz without increasing the voltage.

[Phalanx108]

Up the voltage a little, then try again. Don't crank it up to like 30v though, just do it a little at a time until it's stable at 3.5GHz.

[Werne]

Up the voltage a little, then try again. Don't crank it up to like 30v though, just do it a little at a time until it's stable at 3.5GHz.

Unless Rennn overclocks on a regular basis, I'm guessing the CPU has a stock cooler, in which case it'll just blow up instead of freezing.

 

 

@Rennn A small change in FSB speed shouldn't crap out like that, I still have an Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 in my media PC which is upped from 200MHz FSB and 2.20GHz to 273MHz and 3.0GHz (~36-37%) without fiddling with voltages (mobo doesn't support overvoltage). The Phenom II x4 955 has a 16x multiplier with an FSB of 200 like my C2D, to get 3.5GHz it's a ~10% increase in FSB frequency (220MHz) which is practically nothing.

 

My guess is that it overheated, the games that heavily rely on CPU tent to strain it as much as a decent benchmark. You can try and see if that's the issue, up it to 3.5GHz again, run Prime95 when and monitor temperatures, if it reaches around 60-62^oC, stop the benchmark, return to stock speed and buy a new cooler (or a new CPU).

[Phalanx108]

I've never had an overheated CPU cause that static sound however. Generally (if it's set to do so), the computer should just shut off. :|

 

Then there's the whole

because after that every other program on my PC either refused to run or caused more static. I rebooted my PC, and the issue disappeared.

If it were just an overheat then the issue wouldn't just go back to smooth operations after a simple restart, you'd need to let it cool back to normal range obviously.

However, you are definitely correct about the small change aspect though. It shouldn't theoretically jack up the voltage for a small change, but that doesn't make it impossible... I'd need to see the computer to make a suitable diagnosis.

 

Another thing: 60^o is being a bit conservative. If it gets to 60 and stables out there, then it's perfectly fine.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Phalanx108

[raatorotta]

I have same problem with Phenom II x4 960T, all games crash and i dont even OC.