OK. Since both IBT and Prime95 fail to stay stable, we can conclude that the CPU seems to be faulty.
I recommend:
1. Remove the CPU cooler.
2. Clean off all thermal paste from the contact plate of the cooler and CPU.
3. Reapply fresh thermal paste and re-seat the cooler.
Boot as normal. Now run the Standard test of IBT and report temperatures etc.
Alright, it will take me a bit to do this because it is very early morning here so no stores are open, but thank you for the help so far and I will update once I do this cooler re-application.
So I got the stuff to re-mount my cooler but before I do that I decided to dust the case out with compressed air (should have done this a while ago). I ran the IBT and after 2 passes it stopped and told me my CPU is unstable. The max temp I got to was 54.4*C, which should be within my operating temps.
I hopefully uploaded an image of the results and error.
So should I still go ahead and re-mount the cooler or is the fact the test failed even within my oporating temps and indication it may not be just a heat issue?
At this stage, its not possible to tell whether its a bad contact between the cooler and CPU, or the CPU itself.
Re-seating the CPU cooler (using new thermal paste) will tell us.
Question : is the system overclocked in any way?
It is not overclocked. I will get to re applying the cooler in just a bit then, will update soon.
Have you run memtest86+ yet? If not run it when you replace the thermal paste.
Please Run Memtest86+
InformationPlease download from this site only http://www.memtest.org/ in the middle of the page are the Download links, you can download the ISO.zip or the Auto USB Flash Drive installer.zip
Extract the Zip file. If you chose the ISO image, burn it to a CD using Windows Disk Image Burner or any Image burner you may have. If you downloaded the Auto USB installer, extract it, insert your USB 2.0 Flash Drive and take note of the drive letter. Run the installer, select the Flash Drive Letter, check the format box and press next. It will install memtest86+ to a flash drive. You can use either V4.20 or V5.01. Boot from your selected media. If you use V5.01 it will tell you to press certain buttons at the start, please press no buttons. The test will begin on it's own and continue to run until you stop it. It needs to run for 8 complete passes or until you receive an error. If you receive an error, stop the test. Even 1 error is a fail. Each pass tests a different part of the ram and each of the 10 tests in each pass tests something different. It takes a minimum of 8 passes to completely test the ram, more passes are better. It is quite a long test and will take several hours depending on how much ram you have. Due to the time length it is best to run overnight. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask
In case you need help applying thermal paste, maybe this will help. The brand doesn't matter much.
Also, please download and install CPUz (CPU-Z CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting) and post screenshots (Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums) of the CPU, Mainboard, Memory and SPD tabs. On the SPD tabs, you can select each Dimm Slot from a dropdown box in the upper left of the screen. We just need the Dimm Slots that are populated with Ram.
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