Random Freezing - MSI 970 / AMD FX 8350

[squatman]

Hi there,

In 2017 I built a PC with the following components:

• Mobo: MSI 970 Gaming
• CPU: AMD FX 8350 Black Edition
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
• RAM: HyperX FURY 2x8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10
• SSD: Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB
• GPU: Sapphire AMD RX480 Nitro+ 8GB
• PSU: Corsair RM550X
• WiFi Card: TP-LINK TL-WN851ND 300Mbps
• LED Card: NZXT 2m LED Cable
• There are two case fans.

The machine ran perfectly for around a year and then started freezing randomly. This isn’t a blue screen, it just freezes on whatever is on the display. Only way to shutdown is to hold the power button.

 

There is no overclocking active in the BIOS.

 

I originally had the RAM in slots 1 & 3, but read the motherboard manual and saw that 2 & 4 are recommended so I swapped them over. Eventually within a day or so it froze again.

 

The freezing is so intermittent and no way of triggering it. I can a game fine for hours, then when I close the game and browse the desktop is can freeze. I can boot the computer up fresh and it will freeze logging in. Sometimes it will freeze just browsing the internet. Sometimes it will freeze a couple of times in a quick succession, sometimes it won’t freeze at all.

 

I’d added a 1TB HDD to the system during all this also.

 

I hadn’t used the PC for a while and only started using it again recently and the freezing still exists and I’m not determined to solve it.

 

I’ve tried disconnecting the HDD to save some power. But still it froze.

 

I reseated the GPU, RAM and disconnected/reconnected power cables. It ran smooth for about a day, so then I removed the RAM and just sat one module in slot 1. This ran well for around 3 days I thought I’d solved it. I removed the RAM module and sat the other module in slot 2 but it eventually froze.

 

I have done some reading online for MSI 970 and AMD FX 8350, it mentioned about over and under volting the CPU I tried both but it eventually froze. I read that VRMs could over-heat.

 

I downloaded HWInfo/Monitor and the motherboard temperature was around 30-40 degC.

 

I stress tested the machine using AIDA64 and it didn’t cause a crash.

 

I ran a windows memory check and it didn’t detail any issues.

 

I’ve formatted the SSD and re-installed Windows 10.

 

Still it completely randomly freezes.

 

The only things I can now think to try are different RAM <1866MHz, a different (perhaps larger) PSU and finally try a different motherboard…

 

If anyone has some suggestions or thoughts as to what might be causing the issue or what I can do further to troubleshoot it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Guest]

Generally with an FX chip, a hang is from low v-core at a given moment.  Also known as v-droop or v-drop. This is where the voltage (or current) unexpectedly drops suddenly or droops just too low. Then transistors stop working and your stuck on a display screen.

This was a pretty big issue with the big brother FX-9590. I did a couple of write ups, but would still pertain to the similar issue you are currently having. 

I'll place a link to that thread here if you care to read it. 

https://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/758169-Formula-z-and-FX-9590-Hangs-and-Freezing

 

Anyhow,

I can recommend to increase the LLC, if it's on auto, try lvl 4 or 5.... Or in some boards the wording would be high and extreme levels. 

 

Would like to see screen shots with the system at a load to determine the amount of v-droop you get.

[squatman]

Shrimp,

 

Thank you very much for your response, and the detailed post you linked.

 

In the MSI 970 BIOS I can't find a setting for LLC, so I've assumed CPU Voltage which was set to [Auto] and shown at 1.464V. (I've attached a generic picture from google of the settings).

 

I changed the setting from [Auto] to [+0.100] and I read that the VRAM voltage should be 0.1V higher, so I ensured this was at 1.65V.

 

Making this change it ran fine last night whilst playing Modern Warfare.

 

I've attached some screenshots of HWInfo and AIDA64.

 

If I'm looking at the right thing, it looks like the idling CPU voltage is 1.568V, then on full load it appears to drop to 1.560V. Assume this is perhaps what you'd been talking about and luckily now is dropping low enough to cause an issue? (See attached screenshots)

 

I'll keep you updated, or if I've missed something please let me know.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.

 

 

[Guest]

Welcome! It look good. 

You can play around with the vcore offset like you had, that'll do fine if LLC isnt in your bios. If you feel 1.545v is too much, perhaps try a positive offset of only 0.050v. 

You'll have to fine tune this, but if you dont have issues or less of them then you're on the right track.

 

Thats all thers really is to it. FX is a voltage and cooling hog. 

 

[squatman]

Shrimp, thank you very much.

 

I'll see how it goes. Really appreciate your time.

[Tristerin]

95w TDP board

 

meets

 

125w CPU

 

 

EDIT - those spaces were to indicate hang ups in my communication as a joke

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Tristerin said:

95w TDP board

 

meets

 

125w CPU

 

 

EDIT - those spaces were to indicate hang ups in my communication as a joke

Pretty sure the FX 8350 is a 95w part. The 8150 was 125w.

 

Dont quote me, been a few years, but pretty sure. Probably wromg though lol.

[Tristerin]

1 hour ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Pretty sure the FX 8350 is a 95w part. The 8150 was 125w.

 

Dont quote me, been a few years, but pretty sure. Probably wromg though lol.

125w - have one on a correct high end board for pushing that power delivery.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Tristerin said:

125w - have one on a correct high end board for pushing that power delivery.

Indeed you're correct sir.

The 8370E was the 95w 8 core part.

Had one of those as well.....

Crosshair Formula V-Z I believe is the top board, next the sabortooth 990fx If memory serves well today.

[Tristerin]

44 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Indeed you're correct sir.

The 8370E was the 95w 8 core part.

Had one of those as well.....

Crosshair Formula V-Z I believe is the top board, next the sabortooth 990fx If memory serves well today.

I wasn't nearly as versed in PCs back when I built this (cause I should never have went FX knowing what I know now) but have the ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0 which as I understand it is the third (next in line after the Sabertooth) but built to handle the FX 9590 with no issues (6+2+2 beefy power phase) (Im just glad I got a good board for that chip when I did lol cause I Would probably have experienced problems if not)

 

EDIT - Ive got this board and the chip with a waterblock installed on my test bench right now.  Since Covid hit though my free time has went to other things (work got...more for me personally lol) so haven't put it on ice water, which is the next step

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I wasn't nearly as versed in PCs back when I built this (cause I should never have went FX knowing what I know now) but have the ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0 which as I understand it is the third (next in line after the Sabertooth) but built to handle the FX 9590 with no issues (6+2+2 beefy power phase) (Im just glad I got a good board for that chip when I did lol cause I Would probably have experienced problems if not)

 

EDIT - Ive got this board and the chip with a waterblock installed on my test bench right now.  Since Covid hit though my free time has went to other things (work got...more for me personally lol) so haven't put it on ice water, which is the next step

You'll get about 5.4-5.6ghz on the Ice water. (roughly). I did quite a few variations of cooling with FX, yes including LN2, but not limited to TEC chilling. 

The experiement with the Peltier was to remain frozen at all costs, which again meant shutting down cores to keep the heat down as best as possible. The results where actually pretty darn good all things considering. 

 

I bought into FX because it was dirt cheap. Pretty sure I was able to purchase 3 chips for the price of a single Intel chip of the time. Did what it needed to and was just a blast of a platform while Intel had ditched the FSB (or what is called BCLK today) or reference clock if you will, AMD had not. So it was enjoyable to overclock in the same old fashion we'd done for years before hand. And also, the FX platform made it super easy to join the 6 and 7 Ghz clubs, while I never did make it to the 8ghz club, was pretty happy either way just to have fun.

 

I also had de-lidded quite a few. including the FX-9590, I did 2 but killed one of them. Nicked the PCB with the razor and sliced a couple of tracings. Off, that was a 200$ mistake lol. But gave it a second shot at it, and was successful. End result, and still holds to this day, the highest recorded (hwbot) clocked FX-9590 on liquid cooling of 5.7ghz. There's tons of people with a little more experience than myself, but gotta say had a blast for a few years. This chip I never did put under LN2, but gave it away in a bench-off at our hwbot team forum. 

 

Most of my extreme overclocks where done on 50$ Asus M5A78L MX plus motherboard with 4+1 VRMs. I discovered how to crank 2.0+ volts through the board many OCers of the time didn't think was possible, well with the help of AMD Over-drive, I found a way to get that kind of voltage. Gotta video somewheres of it on you-tube I think. 

 

Any how, I could go on and on and on....... Need info, links, screen shots, ideas or pointers, just ask!! I'm happy to share these experiences as they are a thing of the past now. So many people "hated" on the FX platform. Total shame because they where thinking of productivity, where I just wanted them long pipelines and get high clocks  !

 

 

[HCwalid]

On 4/20/2020 at 9:57 PM, squatman said:

Hi there,

In 2017 I built a PC with the following components:

• Mobo: MSI 970 Gaming
• CPU: AMD FX 8350 Black Edition
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X
• RAM: HyperX FURY 2x8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10
• SSD: Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB
• GPU: Sapphire AMD RX480 Nitro+ 8GB
• PSU: Corsair RM550X
• WiFi Card: TP-LINK TL-WN851ND 300Mbps
• LED Card: NZXT 2m LED Cable
• There are two case fans.

The machine ran perfectly for around a year and then started freezing randomly. This isn’t a blue screen, it just freezes on whatever is on the display. Only way to shutdown is to hold the power button.

 

There is no overclocking active in the BIOS.

 

I originally had the RAM in slots 1 & 3, but read the motherboard manual and saw that 2 & 4 are recommended so I swapped them over. Eventually within a day or so it froze again.

 

The freezing is so intermittent and no way of triggering it. I can a game fine for hours, then when I close the game and browse the desktop is can freeze. I can boot the computer up fresh and it will freeze logging in. Sometimes it will freeze just browsing the internet. Sometimes it will freeze a couple of times in a quick succession, sometimes it won’t freeze at all.

 

I’d added a 1TB HDD to the system during all this also.

 

I hadn’t used the PC for a while and only started using it again recently and the freezing still exists and I’m not determined to solve it.

 

I’ve tried disconnecting the HDD to save some power. But still it froze.

 

I reseated the GPU, RAM and disconnected/reconnected power cables. It ran smooth for about a day, so then I removed the RAM and just sat one module in slot 1. This ran well for around 3 days I thought I’d solved it. I removed the RAM module and sat the other module in slot 2 but it eventually froze.

 

I have done some reading online for MSI 970 and AMD FX 8350, it mentioned about over and under volting the CPU I tried both but it eventually froze. I read that VRMs could over-heat.

 

I downloaded HWInfo/Monitor and the motherboard temperature was around 30-40 degC.

 

I stress tested the machine using AIDA64 and it didn’t cause a crash.

 

I ran a windows memory check and it didn’t detail any issues.

 

I’ve formatted the SSD and re-installed Windows 10.

 

Still it completely randomly freezes.

 

The only things I can now think to try are different RAM <1866MHz, a different (perhaps larger) PSU and finally try a different motherboard…

 

If anyone has some suggestions or thoughts as to what might be causing the issue or what I can do further to troubleshoot it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

Hello. I have the same problem.

Random freezing.

 

Config:

 

AMD FX 8350

MSI 990 FXA GAMING

PSU THERMAL TAKE 730 Smart SE

3X 8GB DDR3 HyperX Fury 1866MHz

Cooler Xilence radiator + fan

SSD ADATA SP900 data 128gb

Hdd WD 2TB

Hdd WD 500GB

GC SAPPHIRE RX550 4GB

PCI WiFi card TP Link 300

 

The problem started when I changed the antenna of my previous PCI WiFi card D-Link while the desktop was running and it froze suddenly.

 

From this time I am observing random freeze even the CPU is not hot.

 

I observe also while touching the chooser radiator an over heat while occur and all other applications are showing 35°C temp.

 

Could you please help and advise if I do have to change the motherboard or even other thing.

 

Your help will be much appreciated