And now the LAN burned out on my ASUS AM3+ MB while i was overclocking the CPU to 4.4GHz with 1.55V


it is getting funny... First, i get a DoA MB. Then i get a MB where the PCIe riser pulled right out of the slot with the card (yes, i *isolated* all of the pins). And now, the same MB's LAN is not recognized in Device Manager

It appears that others have had my SAME *exact* issue with DoA boards and burned out LAN
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131735

i am only trying for 4.4GHz on air and i am using (now) 1.525V as max (AMD says 1.55V is the limit to try - when the LAN died after the crash and CMOS reset). i have a 775W Thermaltake PSU powering my PC and a second identical unit powering the HD 6990. So there is plenty of stable power to it.

AMD said they will put me in contact with ASUS .. in the meantime i will continue on with O/C'ing and if i can get a stable one, i can do all of my benches except for the online ones (HAWX 2/3DMark11/Battleforge and whatever Steam and EA allows without requiring re-activation; unless i can use an old PCI LAN card).

It looks like i finally have a working-wounded MB with a stable OC at 4.4GHz .. wish me luck!

. . . . . . .


uh, GOOD luck!!

OK, no Steam games without an Internet connection ... i will go digging for my old LAN card; probably won't be able to find drivers for it, however .. and i am NOT going to put a 56K modem into it

i asked AMD for another MB ... or perhaps that will go through ASUS; i benched a few games and there is BETTER CrossFire scaling (almost like normal) at 4.4GHz

AND i'd ALSO like to report two BUGS

- DueSex: Human Revolution and Total War: Shogun II, both BSoD the computer on launching either game. At first i thought it might just me me and my flaky MB ... but not just me ... just like this site reports:
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/842-22/ ... -1404.html

Notice that these are "Gaming Evolved" titles

Yes, I started noticing that a few days ago, popped up on forums here and there.
Wrote a blog about it today, since nobody else seems to have done so:
http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2011/10/19 ... ven-worse/

Well, i tried to add both games back into my (shortened) benching suite and noticed that they would crash upon launch
---i am in contact with AMD on this and this is what they had to say:



Now i am hoping that ASUS will quickly exchange the MB - i'd like to get back to OC'd results - CrossFire scaling improves solidly with the CPU at 4.4GHz.

LOL! It seems that Bulldozers power consumption and heat production is positively lethal to the motherboards you plug the processor into.

Realistically though, it sounds like ASUS have a bad batch of motherboards on their hands. Sometimes they outsource production, and I'd imagine this is the root cause of the problem. Interesting that they (appear to) choose AMD motherboards for outsourced production, even premium models ....

FUDdy, Baumann and their merry little band of fanATIcs would love everyone to think that nvidia's TWIMTBP program wrecks games and makes gamers experiences worse. Of course, that is something they have never been able to prove. However MAD's Gaming Evolved/Get in the Game program wrecks gameplay and not for the competition either, for MAD's own customers!

Gaming Evolved... More like Gaming Devolved!

From AMD; perhaps you missed it, already posted:

i have to say that AMD's support is top notch

They are sending me ANOTHER motherboard so that i can finish my benching!
- i should get it tomorrow and finish up benching (including GTX 580 SLI results, with luck) by the end of the weekend - Part II of FX-8150 eval should be published next week with a conclusion finally about Bulldozer gaming. Part III of CF vs SLI scaling should emerge right after it (the following week) and it will include a comparison of dual core including i3 and Phenom II for (relatively) high-end gaming.

i am getting this z68 ASRock MB tomorrow to power my i3-2105 that Intel sent me the day before yesterday
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157271
- it's only $125 and good bang-for-buck as it looks like it will support CF/SLI as well as PCIe 3.0 when Ivy Bridge is released. The Thermaltake case review should be up after i water-cool the AMD CPUs; and i'll test the Tt Meka KB when i have time to get back to gaming. Best of all, Leon says he has a couple of (mystery) reviews coming up soon.

Well, lookie who made AMD's list for "approved" Bulldozer reviews

http://blogs.amd.com/news/2011/10/20/am ... +of+AMD%29
(ABT is listed as No.11)

A lot of sites are not listed.

That's pretty silly though.
AMD approving of reviews on their own CPUs
I've never seen Intel or nVidia do that, and I hope I never will.
(Reputed sites such as Tomshardware and Anandtech not in there?)