Goodbye MoBo! The computer stopped working after being overvolted.
Goodbye MoBo! The computer stopped working after being overvolted.
I was experiencing a lot of instability with my old PC. It was shaking a lot:
MoBo: MSI 880GMA-E55
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
GPU: GeForce GTX 750ti
RAM: 8GB Kingston (1333MHz)
HDD: WD Blue (1TB) - Storage, Hitachi (60GB) - System
PSU: 500W (came with the PC, likely reliable?)
Cooling: Corsair H50i
The system was unstable even without overclocking, frequently triggering CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT BSODs. My first thought was to lower the CPU speed, since the BSOD seemed driver or CPU-related. Reducing it to 300MHz still caused BSODs. Then I tried increasing the voltage, as my cooling setup is quite strong for the processor. I started raising the voltage in small increments of 0.01 while monitoring temperatures and voltages. After reaching around 1.30V, the temperatures stabilized near 55°C without any crashes or BSODs, even under full load. When I left it running a bit longer, the PC suddenly stopped completely, leaving a faint smell of burned plastic in the small room. I attempted to restart by turning on the power and checking the CMOS battery, but the PC failed to power up again, only briefly lighting the power LED before cutting out entirely. So far, I've tested the power supply—it worked fine. Removed the graphics card and didn’t try any other CPU or motherboard, though I suspect the CPU might still be functional since it never exceeded 55°C.
Why not give it a shot ??
Mainly because overvolting affects the boards and the VRM setup, and it seems the old MSI model is of fairly poor quality, likely struggling even with a 125w CPU.
MSI wasn’t a reliable choice for AMD boards before 2013—they really produced some low-quality products.
Why not give it a shot?
Mostly due to the fact that overvolting heavily affects the VRM setup, and from what I see, this older MSI model has a fairly poor quality 3+1 phase, making it likely to struggle even with a 125W CPU.
MSI wasn’t a trustworthy choice for AMD boards before 2013—they really produced some low-quality products.
Should I consider purchasing a new motherboard? If yes, perhaps you have recommendations for something reliable? I was evaluating these two options because they’re from late 2015 to early 2016:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/970-GAMI...o-overview
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/Fatal1ty%20...cification
I also spotted a sale on an older model:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-...-rev-10#ov
P.S. I meant by recent and older to refer to the availability of support for these boards, since I don’t really expect new models to appear for very old sockets.
The ds3p works well with that CPU and would be the most affordable option in a very long time?
It's not significantly cheaper, particularly when compared to the MSI board (just 20 dollars less), but it's certainly more affordable than ASRock (by 70 dollars).
If you're focusing on the lowest cost among popular options, this MoBo is the most budget-friendly choice.
You can check it here: http://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/N68-GS4%20FX%20R2.0/