I am going to redo it with your directions. I purchased a BE-2300 and should have it in tomorrow! I will let you guys know how it goes.

Chad

Up and running! Thanks for the help. I re-did the BIOS with the files you used. I did have to uninstall and reinstall the AMD processor driver to get Cool n' Quiet working.

I spent a couple of hours with a large machinists stone making the heatsink flat before putting it back on. It is also much smoother now. We will see how low the idle temp comes down once the AS5 settles in. I would love to find a solid copper heatsink to replace the aluminum with...

This is a great mod. The chip has a lower TDP and uses less volts under full load than the Semperon that came with the machine. I will run Prime95 on it tonight to see if it survives.

Great News!

I think the stock sempron TDP is 35Watts... The BE-2300 should have a 45Watt TDP.... that said I do think they're closer in heat/power than the TDP would suggest

Try Orthos instead of Prime95 -- it will stress-test both cores. With Prime95 you'd have to run two instances to get it to test both cores.

Newegg.com is out of BE-2300 Processors it look like we run newegg.com out BE-2300 Processors, great work guys

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Well, well..

While waiting for arrival of the BE-2350, I decided to try Orthos on the orginal Sempron. I had an error after 1 hr 22 min with the Small FFTs stress test.

Does it mean we should disregard this test for a single core processor, or does it mean that this test is too heavy for what the MSS is made for?

Any suggestions or insights?

Wow... but then again this is with the 'stock quantity' of heatsink paste yes?

I wonder what HP support would say to someone calling and saying "My (unmolested) MSS is not Prime SmallFFTs stable"

Do you suppose this is sufficient grounds for RMA?

Still, this does change my perspective on things a bit...

I would not RMA on this result, because first I don't know much about these tests and what they imply, second my MSS worked flawlessly since I got it 6 months ago.

My hypothese is that any stock sempron would act similarly!!!

Anyway, if someone else would try the test with their original machine...

A properly working processor should never fail one of these tests.

It implies that your processor can make bad calculations... there's a potential for data corruption

OK ymboc, thanks for these explanations, I was not aware of this... and a bit worried. Is it just the processor or is it a combination of different material in the MSS that can cause this issue?

Still waiting for the new processor though, should arrive soon! In the meantime I disassembled the MSS. When I removed the heatsink, the whole processor came with it (lever still down). I was not aware of this at first, but some processor pins where bent It took me quite some time and patience, of gentle realignement, to be able to softly drop it back in the socket. So be very careful when removing the heatsink (with the stock paste) so the processor stays on the board.

Yeah I should have been more specific. So while a failed test means your processor is able to make calculation errors it doesn't necessarily mean the processor itself is at fault. It could be any number of reasons...

Eg: My BE-2400 failed these tests but not because of it was a bad chip or because of heat but rather because it draws more power than the system (motherboard and/or powersupply) can reliably supply.

In your case however I'm guessing the failure was heat related. It ran 1h20+... so it was probably the buildup of heat that did it in. It's well known that the MSS ships with 'too much paste'... if you reapply (recommended) or even just remove the excess paste and test again it should hopefully pass stress testing. If not be sure to check to check your environment (ie: don't lock it up in closet -- it needs access to fresh room-temperature air)

You have to be careful when removing the heatsink from modern processors... even with just normal amounts of paste... the paste holds the two surfaces (chip & heatsink) together by vacuum. Think two extremely flat plates with a thin liquid film between them -- impossible pull them apart perpendicularly but you can twist them off. Same thing with modern chips. Gentle back & forth twisting while pulling upwards until it comes off is what's called for.

The Pins got bent because the chip pulled out of the socket before you could lift the lever. I hope your socket isn't damaged -- shouldn't be but it can happen.

A blurb about the orthos tests... The SmallFFTs test is the most stressful on the processor. The other tests available from the drop down menu let you involve more RAM in the calculation tests so you can check for overall stability.

Thanks, great knowledgeable post! We learn a lot around here

For the failure of the test on the Sempron, I didn't monitor the temperature when it happened, but I can tell that, during the Small FFTs test, the temperature of the processor had stabilized at 49 C after 15 minutes or so, and it was still at 49 the last time I checked it which is some 45 minutes after start. But it can of changed because of the accruing severity of the test afterwards.

I also hope the socket is not damaged 'cause I'm suppose to receive the BE-2350 today

First attempt with the BE-2350 - not commented!

OK, one comment

If you where waiting for adequacy confirmation of the BE-2350 with the MSS to buy it, wait again, it has not passed the stress tests yet.

I want the thermal paste to stabilize before beating the processor with Orthos. Lets hope everything works.

BTW my attention was arisen by the revision number of the BE-2350 which is G1, if I recall, the BE-2400 besides running at 2,4 GHz had revision G2. Don't know if this is a relevant obervation, but it's an observation anyhow.

VieuxJules thank you so much for your review

After hours of googling I wasn't able to find any 3800+ EE SFF
(well some had them which were labeled at $400!!)

So I am kinda deciding between BE-2300 and BE-2350..

Seeing some hope in BE-2350!

Never mind... I'm not able to read correctly

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