First signs of CPU degredation?

[ArjenVdv 190]

I've been running 4.7 GHz on my i5 2500K for 1.5 years now or so. And yesterday, right in the middle of a race in iRacing I got a BSOD saying "Windows encountered an uncorrectable hardware error." And the stopcode was 0x000000000124. As far as I know those last three numbers are indicating that voltage is too low for the PC to maintain the overclock properly. Then I increased offset by 0.005 but today again in the middle of a race the exact same BSOD. My settings are offset voltage +0.040 which gives me 1.40V. DRAM is 1.5V, and CPU PLL is 1.725. LLC is Ultra High. Intel Speedstep has been enabled since I started this overclock but this shouldn't be causing any stability problems. For the rest spread spectrum is disabled obviously, same goes for all power saving modes C3 and C6 with the exception of C1E which is required for Speedstep to kick in.  I ran these settings for 1.5 years without any problems. But, could this be the first sign of CPU degredation, that it now needs even more voltage to run stable? Temps are not too high, around 75C on 100%.

So before I lower my OC to 4.6, are there any other things that could help? Increase CPU PLL voltage or something? 

Lesson learned: if your PC runs like a charm, problems can arise out of nowhere...

[WILDHEART3003 8]

Interesting topic. I am having the same issue on my 2700K, lowered to 4.6ghz for now. Will try and tweak it again when I got the time. But my cpu only 2 months old, begin to wonder it may be the mobo not suitable for overclocking...

[ArjenVdv 190]

Interesting topic. I am having the same issue on my 2700K, lowered to 4.6ghz for now. Will try and tweak it again when I got the time. But my cpu only 2 months old, begin to wonder it may be the mobo not suitable for overclocking...

If you're having those same BSODs it's certainly not CPU degredation unless you've been running crazy voltages of 1.5+. If you're running at or below 1.4 that CPU degredation normally starts after 2 years or so. In your case it's probably just an overclock that has always been unstable. Some just don't make it as far as others too. 

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Yes, degradation is normal over time. Keep pumping the voltage, you're still well within limits. Besides, it's not like you're intending to keep the chip for 10 years, right? Overclocked chips will all degrade and require more voltage eventually, even if only running minor clock and voltage bumps. Heck, even a stock CPU can need a voltage bump if you keep it long enough. I even had a new chip that needed more volts to run at stock speeds back in the Athlon XP days.

[ArjenVdv 190]

Yes, degradation is normal over time. Keep pumping the voltage, you're still well within limits. Besides, it's not like you're intending to keep the chip for 10 years, right? Overclocked chips will all degrade and require more voltage eventually, even if only running minor clock and voltage bumps. Heck, even a stock CPU can need a voltage bump if you keep it long enough. I even had a new chip that needed more volts to run at stock speeds back in the Athlon XP days.

Ok thanks I will try that. And no I am not intending on keeping it for years and years. I want it to last at least until Broadwell, in other words, around another year or so. Then I'm going to upgrade my CPU, mobo and case anyway. But still, I want my CPU to be sellable so I don't wanna to sell a fried chip to someone...

[dazz 69]

Did you run any stability tests when you overclocked it Arjen?

[ArjenVdv 190]

Did you run any stability tests when you overclocked it Arjen?

Yes Dario of course. In fact, in the beginning around one and a half years ago, I ran a 12 hour small FFT test and a 12 hour blend test in Prime95 and both passed. Haven't had any major issues since then apart from my PC shutting down randomly from time to time which just turned out to be a loose CPU power cable. Also did a IBT test but that would always fail after 10 runs of extreme no matter how high the voltage, but I don't care as I never had problems in general use. For the rest I've never had any CTDs when using FSX "normally" (which means don't select a new airplane in a flight and run a tweaked FSX.cfg with high settings (but not too extreme)), haven't had any CTDs in any other games or applications as well. But yesterday just BOOM, BSOD during a race in iRacing and today again...

[dazz 69]

I wouldn't worry too much about degradation. There's no way to warrant that an OC is 100% stable under any workload. The fact that it failed IBT could be an indication you were in the brink of instability under certain conditions, and looks like there's something about iRacing that crosses that thin line. Just settle for 4.6 and go racing & flying man

[ZachLW 37]

I wouldn't worry too much about degradation. There's no way to warrant that an OC is 100% stable under any workload. The fact that it failed IBT could be an indication you were in the brink of instability under certain conditions, and looks like there's something about iRacing that crosses that thin line. Just settle for 4.6 and go racing & flying man

 

I'm with Dario.  I can run a linpack stress test for hours; no problem, but 2 hours of World of Tanks induced a BSOD two weeks ago.  You were right at the brink of instability and something in iRacing sent a screwy command to the CPU.  No worries.  We've got folks here running much more aggressive voltages and they'll run them for the next several years.

[superglide17 11]

Have you checked for heating issues? Are your temps elevated?

 

Open the case, clean out the dust and cobwebs. 

[coa1117 53]

Some things I've come across while researching my own very rare 0124 BSODs:

 

If the game is causing BSODs your 0124 errors may be GPU-related, specifically something weird that the game is doing in interaction with your GPU. Google "BSOD 124 GPU" and you'll find some suggestions that this error can be caused by graphic card drivers. Have the BSODs begun after a recent driver update? Also, utilities like MSI Afterburner and Asus GPU Tweak that directly access video card voltages have been implicated in 0124 BSODs.

 

There are also many suggestions by overclockers that a good strategy when encountering occasional 0124 errors is to first try raising default VCCIO a bit for increased stability. For example my Asus P8P67 rev 3.1 mobo has an Auto VCCIO value of ~1.065 and can be adjusted in increments of 0.0625. The value should be within +/- 0.50 of your recommended DRAM voltage. I raised VCCIO to 1.125 and have been BSOD-free for 4 months. So, rather than increasing Vcore, you could try tweaking up VCCIO which may help with stability.

[MarkW 1,493]

"Windows encountered an uncorrectable hardware error." And the stopcode was 0x000000000124

 

here is the stopcode list from Xtremesystems.

 

BSOD Codes for SandyBridge
0x124 = add/remove vcore or QPI/VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)

[Dicko 3]

I've been running 4.7 GHz on my i5 2500K for 1.5 years now or so. And yesterday, right in the middle of a race in iRacing I got a BSOD saying "Windows encountered an uncorrectable hardware error." And the stopcode was 0x000000000124. As far as I know those last three numbers are indicating that voltage is too low for the PC to maintain the overclock properly. Then I increased offset by 0.005 but today again in the middle of a race the exact same BSOD. My settings are offset voltage +0.040 which gives me 1.40V. DRAM is 1.5V, and CPU PLL is 1.725. LLC is Ultra High. Intel Speedstep has been enabled since I started this overclock but this shouldn't be causing any stability problems. For the rest spread spectrum is disabled obviously, same goes for all power saving modes C3 and C6 with the exception of C1E which is required for Speedstep to kick in.  I ran these settings for 1.5 years without any problems. But, could this be the first sign of CPU degredation, that it now needs even more voltage to run stable? Temps are not too high, around 75C on 100%.

 

So before I lower my OC to 4.6, are there any other things that could help? Increase CPU PLL voltage or something? 

 

Lesson learned: if your PC runs like a charm, problems can arise out of nowhere...

This has happened to me also. Offset voltage has been raised a couple of times over 1.5 years to maintain stability after a BSOD.