BAD day

KotOr · October 9, 2019

I gave to myself a late B-present (Sorry for my english)
I9-9900KF and Maximus XI Apex. I was so excited to put it together. But that excitement had short living. I update bios first, before first start-up because new R0 stepping.

First boot. Q-code error no display output ??? WTF reset. bad CPU OMG... i spent 1 hour debugging. Older bios, reading forums. But after some time i look into manual what that yellow diod F-mean (i should do it sooner because this teach me Q-code isnt that good). I try one more resert Q-code was CC and diod was bad RAM so i turn off pc and push onto memory and it click. OMFG i build some PCs in past but... Damn really 1 hour and so much stress because i didnt check it properly before start (having so much excitement isn't always good i guess). And i must say inserting memory into this board is hard. My mobo before Apex IX its easy. but this is new mobo so... its just my fault. But that stress. After i successfully boot up. First thought Did i damage memory? because they were just half, maybe 3/4 inside what about mobo? and CPU? Damn just KILL me... Soooo

But yea time for some tests my NH-U14S got hot because this chip is so HOT. I didn't do stock testing and i'm glad (because that would be bad :D). Vcore offset -0,040v LLC5 temps 95c in Cinebench15 ,-0,100v nice 82c. And for Mobo i dont understand why they choose to go from Eatx back to Atx that X-shape PCB is so nice. But i like that RGB on XI isn't so crazy. And really who designed onboard HDD led behind GPU? i cant see it but on IX its under PCH so its visible and YES its useful for me. And another bummer. I wonder why there isn't VRM temp sensor in bios? I was little shocked i didn't notice before but on main page for XI ASUS not marketing that there is VRM sensor (in section of this board have multiple sensors but no vrm . If you look on IX page there is VRM sensor. ) But luckily HWinfo is able to show VRM temps but dont how how much i can trust it.

No OC for now. But i didnt like Stock temps over 95c so i try undervolt and this is my result. Use HWinfo (vs probe points +/- 0,05V so pretty accurate) Use C15 as base test.

manual 1.2V LLC5 1.100 -1.2 Temp
LLC6 1.154 -1.2 (80-83)

                 Load and (end test spike)
Offset -0,115      LLC3   1.120   - 1.174           (65-70)   128W 114A                                     51
          LLC5    1.2     - 1.208           (80-84)                           Max ingame SoTTR (64)
          LLC6   1.160 -   1.288           (90-95)   191W 149A

my NH-U14S on IX apex and 7700k 4,9@1.31V 80c
So my CPU got little bit toasty at start but now is nice and cool. if my CPU can get stock 1.1V i tried OC on my offset LLC 5 but freeze on boot. I Try play with OC later now i just enjoy my new PC and hope I didn't destroy anything :)