Asus Strix X470-F Gaming owners thread

[cgmjr]

My IBT results are in. Mostly positive.

I followed @AniChatt's instructions, and did a few extra runs. Reset all bios options to auto and then:

Run #1: Failed after 7 runs of IBT. Only HWInfo running, but "turn off monitor" was set to 15 min. I disabled that, and did not start HWInfo, yielding:
Run #2: Passed 30 runs. Applied D.O.C.P. and tried again, no HWInfo, giving:
Run #3: Passed 30 runs. I started HWInfo and tested again, resulting in:
Run #4: Failed after 12 runs. Screen was on, I could move the mouse, but IBT, HWInfo and then all windows went unresponsive. I rebooted, started NZXT CAM:
Run #5: Passed 15 of 15 runs.

I surmise that my issue is monitoring software sensor collisions. My previous, unpredictable lockups were due to MSI Gaming App running in the background while HWInfo, Ryzen Master, and CAM were trying to access the sensors at various times.

Next step: run no monitoring software and play some ARK and WoW. See how it does. Then fire up one monitor and see how THAT does.

Next question: What is the real advantage of overclocking these rigs at all? Left on all-auto I've seen some cores running a 4.4ghz for short periods of time. What's wrong with leaving it alone?

-cgmjr.

[cgmjr]

I was wrong, apparently. I decided to change to PWM control on my chassis fans before I did a bit of game testing. Did that in Q-Fan in the BIOS and for giggles ran one more run of IBT. It failed on 5 of 15 runs. No monitoring software running.

*cuss*

Roll back to 4008? Reset Windows? Grrr...

[cgmjr]

Cleared CMOS (pretty lame that we have to short pins with a screwdriver, ya know?) Rolled back to BIOS 4008. Left all settings on auto. No monitoring software running. Failed IBT on 4th iteration.

That Gigabyte Aorus Ultra Gaming is starting to whisper to me...

Going to do a Safe Boot to Windows and try again...

Update: it passed 30 iterations while in Safe Mode. Disabling Aura...
Update 2: No joy. Locked up again after four iterations of IBT. Wiping everything, reinstalling Windows, StoreMi, etc... grr...
Update 3: [Morning after] I cannot get this system to stabilize. Did a FULL wipe & reinstall of OS, StoreMI, drivers...locked up again first run this morning. I'll debrief in a separate post...

[cgmjr]

It's been a long day and night of trying to diagnose why I can't get my shiny new Strix + Ryzen to stabilize. I had a looong post ready to go, and this ASUS forum system said I didn't have permission to post on this server. So very ironic to my entire, first ASUS experience.

So I'll list what I did as briefly as I can, in the hopes that one of you follow owners has an idea I missed, and/or to help someone behind me diagnose similar issues.

Issue: random freezes. All open apps become unresponsive, no BSOD, must hold power button 6 sec to halt system.

1. See previous posts in this thread. Bios 4011. Reset to default. Test with HWInfo and IntelBurn Test only. Many tests, but MSI Gaming App seemed to be the problem. But the issue returned. Rolled back to 4008, tested in Safe Mode, still would not stabilize. Used the nuclear option...
2. Wiped EVERYTHING. DISKPART/Cleaned the disks. Reinstalled Windows from DVD. Then StoreMI. It added a message at boot saying "UEFI Interactive Shell 2.2..." and a splash screen. That was not present before. Slowly added software back: Logitech drivers, Razer Synapse, Steam, ARK. Tested with IBT after each install. All good until I installed the drivers from the CD we get with this board.
3. First failed test after re-install. Switched from Ryzen Balanced to the default Balanced power plan. Passed. Went back to Ryzen Balanced. It passed Inconclusive again.
4. Suspected the chipset driver. Removed them, installed latest from AMD website v18.10. Resumed testing, and it looked good. Installed NZXT CAM software. Tested; good. Ran BOTH HWinfo and CAM to try to recreate the monitoring software collision that I initially thought was the problem. Even that passed! I applied TPU II in Bios. Passed. I applied DOCP. It failed.
5. At that point I noticed that my green Q LED (boot? boot device?) was staying on after boot. It blinks just before that "UEFI Interactive Shell" message appears, as if it is trying to go off. Since we don't have an LED to give us boot codes, I can't tell why. I tried various options in the Boot menu of BIOS, to no avail.
6. I reset BIOS to defaults and went to bed discouraged. I awakened this morning, fired things up, applied TPU II and then DOCP, and she failed on the first run of IBT at iteration 6.


The evidence seems to point to DOCP. I'm still running BIOS 4008. My last ditched efforts today will be to see if I can stabilize without DOCP, and then apply DOCP to recreate the problem. But there's that darn green Q LED glaring at me.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

[Craigo1986]

Docp mode i have found to be very unstable and caused no end of issues. In the end i selcted manual settings and set it up myself and my system has been 100% ever since. I put the docp crashes down to running the ryzen 2700x on the old x370-f board but im now wondering wether its just a general issue?

[cgmjr]

That's good to know. I'll likely go fully manual should things settle down.

Which, frustratingly, they have. I've been running all afternoon with DOCP 3200 14-14-14-34-48, Auto CPU clocks near 4100, and HWInfo while playing ARK. My loaded temp is 41c at the CPU and 67c GPU. Its like the system is teasing me...
-cgmjr

[Craigo1986]

Temps sound good there. Under load my cpu runs at 50degrees celcius under stress test it maxes at 62 degrees and gpu never exceeds 60 degrees either so your temps are good there. If i rememver right i have my ram clocked to 3266mhz ish and base cpu at 3.9ghz boosting to 4.5ghz occasionally goes to 4.6ghz wheen it feels like it lol

[AniChatt]

Temps sound good there. Under load my cpu runs at 50degrees celcius under stress test it maxes at 62 degrees and gpu never exceeds 60 degrees either so your temps are good there. If i rememver right i have my ram clocked to 3266mhz ish and base cpu at 3.9ghz boosting to 4.5ghz occasionally goes to 4.6ghz wheen it feels like it lol

for that 4.4 to 4.6 GHz pls have alook at the cpu voltage it might be too hing and I think you have the Override boost active. In that case don't allow to push more than 1.425 or 1.43v or it may get too high volt.

[AniChatt]

OK so far my system is stable and I am think to make a video on it what setting and stress test I am using.

[cgmjr]

I am happy to report that things seem to have settled down for me too. Perhaps I just needed to make a sacrifice of Time to the god of Motherboards.

I chose to wipe it all clean once again and change how I configured StoreMI. I put my OS on an 850 Evo, and I've set up my tier drive as non-boot with a 960 Evo M.2 and a 2TB WD Black mechanical drive. The weird StoreMI splash screen is gone, my Green Q LED is not staying on, and I've passed all but one IBT test (that one was with the NZXT CAM software running). I ran a seven hour MemTest86 on the ram last night, all passed.

I've gone manual on the DRAM timings and voltages. I have Aura off in the BIOS atm. I've started CAM to configure the X62 then closed it. CPU is still on Auto everything. My clocks are in the 4.1ghz area, occasionally hitting 4.4ghz for a moment. I'm game testing today because I'm tired of stress testing

Thanks again for the help. I appreciate having this forum.