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At my wits end! PC Started to Freeze/BSOD! Puzzler

blaq_
Level 7
Hi,
Here's the specs:

ASUS ROG Rampage V Edition 10
Intel 5960X w/ Corsair H105 AIO & Noctua Fans x2
Corsair 16G x8
GTX 1080TI MSI SeaHawk x2
Corsair RM1000X PSU
OS is Windows 7 Pro

The system was running rock solid stable up to around a month ago. The CPU was modestly overclocked to 4.2GHz by only changing the VCore to 1.3V. The RAM was XMP 3200 profile that it was designed for. Nothing else was overclocked or modded in any way.

Games and programs started crashing randomly, so I suspected RAM. I removed each of the sticks and tested them individually with MemTest 86+. The testing process itself was quite odd. On various passes the RAM would either test all OK or have some errors with no particular pattern. But eventually I was getting a reproducible error with 1 stick of RAM (the other sticks all tested OK). So that RAM is now shipped off to Corsair for RMA. The remaining sticks of RAM have all tested good. Currently there's 4x16G sticks inside.

Then the PC started crashing again (BSOD with Error 0x124). A bit of googling seems to imply that that error is most likely to do with overclocking. So I reset all the settings in the BIOS to Auto, with the CPU running at the stock 3GHz and Turbo to 3.5GHz. RAM is now on 2133MHz.

And the PC still continues to crash, especially with Prime95 or ROG Benchmark. The temperature monitor doesn't show the CPU running hot (only gets to around 50c or so). If I go with 4.2GHz at VCore 1.3V it's an instant crash every time. If I leave it at stock 3GHz with Turbo to 3.5GHz, then it maybe crashes 50% of the time. Sometimes it BSOD 0x124 and sometimes the PC just freezes. It doesn't seem to crash when I max out the CPU doing other tasks, Eg. compressing with 7 Zip. Only occasionally with games and almost always with the benchmarking tools. I've run the Intel CPU diagnostic and it passes on stock @ 3GHz and 4.2GHz @ 1.28V. Using 7Zip to compress 15GB of data is still OK.

Nothing else about the hardware has changed in anyway. No recent major updates to drivers or windows.

Any thoughts? Could a faulty RAM stick have caused all this mess? Or is it more likely to be CPU (or something else) and has caused the RAM stick to be faulty? Or is it something else completely all together?
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6 REPLIES 6

jab383
Level 13
It's been a while since I've used my R5E10, so I can't get too specific. That overclock that ran for a long time was pretty good for X99. It doesn't appear that there was much stress on anything. Recent start of random crashes may indicate a slight degradation that makes voltages that worked before be not quite enough now. Degradation happens - its inevitable. My long time 4790K has gone through two stages of voltage increase to keep it running at a mild overclock.

BSOD 124 usually indicates Vcore too low for the clock. The cure is usually to increase Vcore by a step or two of .02 volts.

Freezes without a blue screen are often caused by memory errors. The combination of core and RAM errors/crashes could also be due to Vccsa and/or Vccio too low (or too high, but that's unlikely) due to slight degradation of the System Agent part of the CPU. If Vccsa and Vccio are under 1.25volts, try increasing by one or two steps of .02 volts.

Prime95 and memtest 86 are not very good. Prime 95 is all stress and no test - its high temperatures can cause degradation and it doesn't check it's results for errors. The Realbench test is better. MemTest 86 hasn't worked well at all for DDR4. Try HCIMemtest.

jab383 wrote:
It's been a while since I've used my R5E10, so I can't get too specific. That overclock that ran for a long time was pretty good for X99. It doesn't appear that there was much stress on anything. Recent start of random crashes may indicate a slight degradation that makes voltages that worked before be not quite enough now. Degradation happens - its inevitable. My long time 4790K has gone through two stages of voltage increase to keep it running at a mild overclock.

BSOD 124 usually indicates Vcore too low for the clock. The cure is usually to increase Vcore by a step or two of .02 volts.

Freezes without a blue screen are often caused by memory errors. The combination of core and RAM errors/crashes could also be due to Vccsa and/or Vccio too low (or too high, but that's unlikely) due to slight degradation of the System Agent part of the CPU. If Vccsa and Vccio are under 1.25volts, try increasing by one or two steps of .02 volts.

Prime95 and memtest 86 are not very good. Prime 95 is all stress and no test - its high temperatures can cause degradation and it doesn't check it's results for errors. The Realbench test is better. MemTest 86 hasn't worked well at all for DDR4. Try HCIMemtest.


Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately things are now crashing at stock (3GHz w/ Turbo to 3.5GHz VCore 1.0V and 4x16GB sticks at 2133MHz).
I ran Prime95 only once and haven't run it since.
I ran the Intel Processor Verification Tool and performed my own stress test (7zip @ 100% CPU usage) and the CPU doesn't seem to crash
The ROG Benchmark test however, crashes instantly with a 0x124 error, even when everything is stock.

Cheers,

Edit:

VCSSA (System Agent is Auto @ 0.824) and VCCIO is Auto @ 1.056V). I have never had to touch these figures at all.

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
Try raising VCCSA to about the 1.0v level...

Also worth noting that it doesn't take many BSODs to FUBAR the OS...so a fresh install might help

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Try raising VCCSA to about the 1.0v level...

Also worth noting that it doesn't take many BSODs to FUBAR the OS...so a fresh install might help


Still same. Tried with VCore 1.02 and VCCSA 1.0
Rock solid with Zipping/Intel Diagnostics
Instant Crash with ROG Bench H.264 encode
Also tried reinstalling => same issue

Only things left are either PSU or Motherboard 😞

Hey everyone, thanks for your help, it appears that it's the CPU (swapped it out with a 6800K and the issues disappeared).
Kinda bad luck, thankfully these can be had for not too expensive anymore.
Thanks again for your help!

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40