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Performance issues with Asus Strix Z270G & GTX 1080 ti OC edition

Braxwulf
Level 7
Hail and well met!! I am new to the forums. Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me. I just built out a new gaming rig for VR, gaming and cartography work. Here's the build...


  • Phanteks Evolv matx tempered glass
  • i7 7700k
  • Asus Strix Z270G Gaming motherboard
  • Asus Strix GTX 1080 ti OC video card
  • 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDr4 C16 3466MHz RAM
  • EVGA G3 860W power supply
  • 1TB Samsung 960 Evo NVMe M.2 drive
  • Nzxt Kraken x62 CPU cooler
  • Windows 10 Pro
  • Output to LG OLED 65" TV for now


I have two issues with the build.
1) The Corsair memory is not showing up in Asus Aura. Not sure why.
2) I have some performance and stability issues.

More on #2. After installing FPS game I noticed that the game was a little sluggish though I didn't look at frame rates or anything. I decided to run 3dmark Time Spy to get an idea of speed. The result was around 8000 with the GPU at 9100. This seems REALLY low to me. Temperatures were pretty low (nothing over 70C) if I remember correctly. After this terrible showing, I decided to turn on XMP in BIOS as well as performance mode. Then I put the video card into OC mode (no manual tweaks). From this moment onward, 3dmark would BSOD. Then, on subsequent reboot I would loose wifi. It still reported connected, but I couldn't ping anything. A second reboot would fix this issue. Very odd.

My troubleshooting so far:
- Went back to standard mode in BIOS and "gaming" mode in the video card -> BSOD with 3dmark
- Booted to Memtest86 -> no issues with memory
- Reinstalled wifi, BT, video, chipset, NVMe drivers -> BSOD with 3dmark
- Ran another Internet benchmark which gave me high marks for storage and memory speed but my CPU and GPU were in the 30% range of my peers with similar configurations

I'm currently attempting to reinstall Windows 10 Pro to see if there was possibly some corruption previously. It is also worth noting that when the Z70G showed up from Amazon, the box was already opened. Nothing was missing but you could tell that someone had removed the board from the static bag and tried to put it back in.

Top suspect for me is a bad board. Any thoughts?

Thanks!
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88 REPLIES 88

Nate152
Moderator
Hi Braxwulf

I suspect instability with your ram since you get BSOD's after enabling XMP.

Try setting your ram manually to the rated specs - Frequency, Primary Timings and Voltage.

If you still get BSOD's try raising:

CPU VCCIO voltage 1.15v - 1.25v
CPU System Agent voltage 1.15v - 1.25v

Try them both at 1.15v, if still unstable try them both at 1.20v then finally both at 1.25v if needed.

Does this stop the BSOD's ?

Nate152 wrote:
Does this stop the BSOD's ?


First off, thanks for your reply. It feels great to have someone respond so quickly. So I completely reinstalled Windows 10 and updated all drivers. I did this without any overclocking and XMP off. I also opened the chassis up for maximum airflow. No BSODs whatsoever. No issues with wifi. In fact, my wifi issues disappeared completely. Perhaps because I setup Windows to avoid turning off wifi for power savings. ??

So, then I ran 3dMark Tim Spy. No issues but got 10k on video test - much better than my original 9100 score - but only about 5k on CPU test. After this I overclocked the video card using the standard OC settings in Asus' software and ran 3dMark again. 10.5k on video. I'm not really concerned about video at this point. No instabilities whatsoever. I went back to standard mode on the video card. I also went back into BIOS with the intention of manually setting the memory settings per your recommendation. Oddly, the latency and speed were already set correctly. Also, I'm not sure if I was looking at the correct setting (there are lots of them) I think the DIMM voltage was set to 1.35V. Did it remember then setting from when XMP was turned on?? I shrugged and then ran 3dMark again. I got similar scores. I then turned on performance mode. Unknown to me, this automatically turned on XMP - I think. I saved and ran 3dMark again. This time my video score dropped to 10k and my CPU score dropped to 4.5k. One of the cores hit 91C during the test. Note that my Kraken x62 was set to use the most aggressive fan/pump curve possible. Also, the chassis fans were running in performance mode.

At this point I noticed that my computer wasn't shutting down properly. The OS would shut down but it wouldn't turn off. I went into BIOS and found XMP enabled to my surprise. I turned it off (along with performance mode) and the system stability returned.

A call to Asus revealed that my particular DIMMs were not part of their validation list. So my theory is that it could be one of two things.

1) Memory instability caused by XMP (per your suspicion) - To test this I am going to turn on XMP by itself and just see if the system loses any stability. If it does, I think I might just get different memory (see original issue #1). If that's the case do you have any recommendations? RGB really isn't that critical. I'd like to stay under $350 if possible.

2) The CPU thermal profile - This is probably not causing the post test instabilities, but it seems to be limiting my 3dMark scores. At this point I had to step back and determine if I really care about the scores. Ultimately I don't, but the fact that I'm getting average scores and I believe I have an above average CPU cooler makes me feel like I ordered a happy meal and didn't get my toy. It may be worth noting that I didn't apply any additional/new thermal paste to the Kraken (it already had some) but I did have to reseat it a few times because of the way the tubing stuck out from the side of the Kraken (bad design). Any suggestions? Shall I order a superior thermal paste and redo that? I could send the Kraken back and get a superior model.

Thanks again! You rock!

Chino
Level 15
DDR4-3466 won't be plug-n-play on all CPUs. Manual tweaking might be required to stabilize the memory.

Personally, Memtest86 is useless for DDR4 stability testing and I would avoid it. You're better off with HCI Memtest or the Google Stressapptest for Linux, with the second being the best test.

Chino wrote:
DDR4-3466 won't be plug-n-play on all CPUs. Manual tweaking might be required to stabilize the memory.

Personally, Memtest86 is useless for DDR4 stability testing and I would avoid it. You're better off with HCI Memtest or the Google Stressapptest for Linux, with the second being the best test.


I got the QVL list and Asus didn't validate any RGB memory from what I can tell. They did, however validate CMK16GX4M2B3466C16 which has the same stats but not RGB.

I'll check out the tests you recommend. Thanks for your input!

I'm starting to regret going Intel after all I've now read about the i7-7700 issues.

Chino
Level 15
With the amount of memory kits that manufacturers put out, it's impossible to always have an updated QVL. Usually if you don't find it on the motherboard manufacturer's website, you can check with the memory manufacturer.

I'm using Corsair memory with my i7-7700K, and it's been awesome. My i7's IMC is subpar though, so I only got as far as DDR4-3866.

1 Hour Google Stressapptest validation.
67574

What I would do in your case is make sure the motherboard's running the latest BIOS. Then test your system at stock defaults. If everything works as planned, enable XMP and test for DDR4 stability. If your test fails at DDR4-3466, you can either manually tweak the different memory timings and voltages to stabilize or just run your memory at a lower frequency.

Chino wrote:
With the amount of memory kits that manufacturers put out, it's impossible to always have an updated QVL. Usually if you don't find it on the motherboard manufacturer's website, you can check with the memory manufacturer.

I'm using Corsair memory with my i7-7700K, and it's been awesome. My i7's IMC is subpar though, so I only got as far as DDR4-3866.

...

What I would do in your case is make sure the motherboard's running the latest BIOS. Then test your system at stock defaults. If everything works as planned, enable XMP and test for DDR4 stability. If your test fails at DDR4-3466, you can either manually tweak the different memory timings and voltages to stabilize or just run your memory at a lower frequency.


Great advice - Thanks! I've actually been thinking of returning my i7 and getting an unlidded one. I am willing to spend a little more to get some better memory as well. What Corsair memory are you using?

Concerning the QVL, I just find it odd that Asus advertises support for Corsair in Aura yet no RGB memory is in their QVL..

Braxwulf wrote:
Great advice - Thanks! I've actually been thinking of returning my i7 and getting an unlidded one. I am willing to spend a little more to get some better memory as well. What Corsair memory are you using?

Concerning the QVL, I just find it odd that Asus advertises support for Corsair in Aura yet no RGB memory is in their QVL..



I'm not Chino but the part# to the Corsair modules he has is listed in the pictures posted above. They are 4133 kits.

Braxwulf wrote:
Great advice - Thanks! I've actually been thinking of returning my i7 and getting an unlidded one. I am willing to spend a little more to get some better memory as well. What Corsair memory are you using?

Concerning the QVL, I just find it odd that Asus advertises support for Corsair in Aura yet no RGB memory is in their QVL..


Vengeance® LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 4133MHz C19 Memory Kit - Red (CMK32GX4M4E4133C19R)

Your memory is fine. What you need to do right now is tweak your memory overclock for stability. 🙂

Nate152
Moderator
Since you remounted the waterblock it wouldn't be a bad idea to reapply a quality thermal compound. Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is the best non conductive thermal compound with a 12.5W/mk rating and is what I use.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/thermal-grizzly-kryonaut-hgh-performance-thermal-grease-1g.html

G.skill Trident Z is also popular and comes in RGB, here is 2x8GB 3200MHz CL14 kit.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232485&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm...

I delidded my 7700k and got about a 15c temp decrease, I used the Rockit 88 tool and was easy to do. If you;d like to see my results start here on page 9, 6th post down.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?92094-Maximus-IX-Code-A-little-insight-and-delidded-7700k/...

Here's Watchdogs 2 with clocks, voltage and temps. The 7700k is running at 5.2GHz, the BCLK is set to 200.