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Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit crashing (thermal issue?) with Maximus VI Gene

BorisMaximus
Level 7
I recently put together a new system around the Maximus VI Gene mainboard. Since then, my rig has been experiencing a lot of crashes (blue screens), the cause of which I suspect is the CPU temperature. At idle, with CPU fan and all three case fans running at turbo speed (set through Asus AI suite), the CPU running at factory speed of 3500 MHz, is hovering around 45 degrees celsius. This seems like a lot, and I wonder what is causing this.
I have put the system together carefully, using thermal paste (just enough, not a lot, and carefully spread it thin) and aligning cable so as to keep airflow blockage to a minimum.
I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

The components I'm using are:
- Case: OrigenAE S16V (which is a HTPC model)
- CPU: Intel i7 4770K
- PSU: BeQuiet StraightPower E9 CM 580w
- SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
- HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda St3000DM001
- GPU: Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate Silent
- CPU Cooling: Zalman CNPS7X with the CPU fan that comes with it
- RAM: Crucial Ballistics Tactical PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600)
- Fans: 3 OrigenAE 90mm case fans

I also checked the temperatures with CPUID HWmonitor, as I read that Asus AI can be buggy, but it shows the same results.

I also checked with WhoCrashed what has caused the system crashes, and it suggest either a software driver problem (but not which) or a thermal issue.

Does anyone have a clue what might be the problem here? And if it is a thermal issue, how can I get CPU temp down? All fans are already at max speed., and there is no cabling in the way at all.
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20 REPLIES 20

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
Hello there, welcome to the ROG Forums. What BSOD are you getting and what TIM are you using?

BorisMaximus
Level 7
34230

Hi MykSilentShadow,
there are various causes I can see (used BlueScreenView). I'm enclosing a screenshot. What is a TIM?

Tokens210
Level 10
TIM = Thermal paste

Also never used the blue screen view so idk what u highlighted but the top line in red listed as asmedia is the sata controller for all the non Intel controlled ports
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advanced/ Maximus VI Formula/ I7-4770K/Swiftech H320/ Corsair HX850/ G.Skill Trident X (2x8) 16gb 2400MHz/ 2x 840 EVO 120gb(Raid 0)/ WD 1TB HDD (Backup/Storage)/ EVGA GTX 1gb 560 TI/ Asus 12x bluray combo

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
What drives do you have connected to ASMedia ports?

Tokens210
Level 10
As shadow asked what exactly is plugged into the asmedia ports, if your unsure which is which the manual should tell ya
I looked on Asus page and according to that your board has 8 sata ports, 6 controlled by Intel, 2 controlled by asmedia, so most likely if u were looking at the board upright(CPU up top, PCI slots on bottom) the sata is on ur right, the bottom 2 should be the non Intel ones

I've seen at least 2 threads on here where the asmedia was causing issues randomly, especially if a raid setup was hooked to it



As for you CPU temp. Harwell's run very hot although yours does seem a little high for idle, I don't have our board but I've got a maximus vi formula with the 4770k not over clocked yet cause I'm running the stock Intel cooler and my idle is 800-3900MHz at .720-1.232V with a temp of 28-32 C, my case is a HAF 932 Advanced which is big but I believe your corsair is bigger so that combined with you non stock cooler I'd say yea your running a little hot


Remember tho that all haswells are not created equal, its basically the haswell lottery, some run hot all the time, some can't even overclock, some can over clock but can't do it with over clocked ram, its literally a grab bag type toss up

Only real things you can do are
1. Redo the CPU cooler/ thermal paste, many things here could be to much paste, could be too little paste, could be not properly making contact with all the cpu

2. If your lucky enough to have a spare cooler around you could (if you felt the need or want) try a different one and see if the results are better or worse, my guess tho if you reseat the cooler is its probly the CPU itself
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advanced/ Maximus VI Formula/ I7-4770K/Swiftech H320/ Corsair HX850/ G.Skill Trident X (2x8) 16gb 2400MHz/ 2x 840 EVO 120gb(Raid 0)/ WD 1TB HDD (Backup/Storage)/ EVGA GTX 1gb 560 TI/ Asus 12x bluray combo

Zka17
Level 16
45C is pretty high for that CPU on idle... is it idle temp or during the load? What is your ambient temp (the temp in the room you have that system)?

Thank you all for thinking with me, I really appreciate it!

- I used the thermal paste that came with the CPU. Can i just unhook the CPU, wipe off the paste and redo it (with a high quality paste)?
- The cooler is the best one that I could find, considering I have a rather low case. I could replace it with the Intel stock windmill, but I doubt that that would do much good 🙂
- Yes, the 45 degrees is at idle, and with all fans at max speed. I did try to overclock it a while back, but whatever change I made, even the smallest step up, caused the system not to boot up at all, so I put everything at stock speed from then on.
Room temperature is around 20 degrees. I do have central heating quite close to the back end of the machine, but the past weeks have been warm, and I haven't had it on much, where I did a month ago, when there were fewer blue screens.
- Connected to the ASMedia ports: one of the Seagate Barracuda 3TB disks was hooked up to it (second port unused). I actually had the hdd swapped for a new one just this week because it had bad blocks that couldn't be fixed. But the new disk hasn't solved the blue screens.
- If I look at the screenshot of BlueScreenView (the top item is only highlighted because that was selected by default), I get the idea that the cause of the blue screens seems to change a lot. That, combined with the report in WhoCrashed (free crash analysis tool), which suggests a thermal issue might be the cause of some of the blue screens (crashed on kernel) set me on the heat issue as the possible cause.

What I've done for now:
- connected the HDD to an Intel SATA port instead of the ASMedia.
- Updated iastora.sys (driver file for the ASMedia chipset)
- Updated Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver

If that doesn't help, I will redo the TIM.

Tokens210
Level 10
If the thermal paste you used was like regular thermal paste, kinda Greg sludge type stuff then you should be able to use isopropyl rubbing alcohol, probly at least 75%, but higher is better to remove all of it from both the CPU and any on the coolers heatsink/cpu contact point

Since u said u used what came with it I'd guess its normal paste, liquid metal ones can be removed as well I'vejust read it takes a bit more elbow grease lol


Yes your cooler should be fine, I was suggesting it in case you had like a big coolermaster 212 or another higher quality heatsink lying around, but you shouldn't need to and I wouldn't downgrade to the Intel from what u got lol


But yes at pure idle 45 is high, as I was saying I'm running the formula vi with the same processor at stock clocks, and I'm even using the Intel stock windmill and my idles are never higher then 32


But again you could have just gotten a poor quality CPU in the "haswell lottery"
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advanced/ Maximus VI Formula/ I7-4770K/Swiftech H320/ Corsair HX850/ G.Skill Trident X (2x8) 16gb 2400MHz/ 2x 840 EVO 120gb(Raid 0)/ WD 1TB HDD (Backup/Storage)/ EVGA GTX 1gb 560 TI/ Asus 12x bluray combo

Zka17
Level 16
I don't think that your storage setup has too much to do with the temps... and at 20C ambient 45C idle is way too much!

Beside reseating the cooler, with new TIM application, I would check in the BIOS what voltages are applied... you may need to lower the voltages and/or the over clocking too...

I wouldn't recumbent the liquid metal type TIMs... they're conductive and can cause a big mess if using wrongly... just get a regular non-conductive one like Arctic Silver MR-2, Gelid GC Extreme, Noctua's PK-1... you rely need just a small drop on the middle of the CPU