Sure, you can run a CPU test without a motherboard by using software tools or virtual environments.
Sure, you can run a CPU test without a motherboard by using software tools or virtual environments.
You built a 6850K/X99 system several years ago and faced memory problems around early 2020, often seeing blue screens when using your XMP profile. By disabling XMP, you regained stability. Later, after applying an undervolt to your CPU, issues resurfaced with a boot error referencing the "CPU North Bridge." You tried factory settings for a while without success before upgrading to a new CPU and motherboard. Now you're considering selling either your 6850K or your X99 board, unsure which caused the problems.
It seems Northbridges are running on the CPU, which means my investment is there.
It’s really not a good idea to sell that board and CPU despite the problems. I’d just send it to an electronics recycling center for proper disposal. You might check if any nearby computer shops have spare parts you can test, but honestly, there isn’t much you can do except compare it to a known working unit.
If you say they're working then yeah that would be scummy. Just list them as for parts/not working and there's no prob. If you mean the IMC then yeah, mem controller is on CPU now, has been since I forget what chips, I think the Core series so 2008-ish. X99 was first gen DDR4 and had a lot of teething issues, Haswell-E IMCs were poor and I don't know if the Broadwell-E ones were markedly better. I haven't really looked into it too much as I haven't gotten into messing with memory yet. You'd have to get your hands on a cheap X99 board (honestly even the knockoff chinesium ones would probably work for CPU testing) or else list the combo as for parts/not working. If you're in the continental US and willing to trust a random internet stranger, you could ship the CPU to me and I can test it on my known working boards, and either ship it back or buy it off you (depending on the price, I haven't looked at what these CPUs are worth used since I got my 6950X - from a quick peek at eBay sold listings it looks like $50-130 is the general range) if it works.
The goal of this discussion was to determine if it's possible to connect two magic jumpers or something similar that would confirm the motherboard is faulty. From everyone’s input, it seems a functional X99 board would be necessary for testing. I’m confident most forum members are reliable, but I plan to reach out to classmates and nearby contacts first to see if anyone has a working X99 available.
PCH, previously called Northbridge, now handles roles of South Bridge and Northbridge. The large heat sink on your motherboard is the PCH chip, often referred to as a south bridge for SATA controller, though it's actually a PCH. The X99 Chipset Platform Controller combines the duties of both the northbridge and south bridge. No, the "NorthBridge" isn't part of the CPU since a Northbridge doesn't exist here. Therefore, the problem likely lies with the motherboard itself unless there were issues on the QPI connection on the CPU side.