4690k weird OC behaviour

[Tuugeboi]

My PC keeps randomly crashing every couple of days while my 4690k is OC'd. Okay, sounds familiar. Just turn up the voltage or lower the clocks, right? Well, no. I can get it to 4.9 GHz @ 1.325V and run any stress test or game just fine for hours on end. The crashes don't seem to correlate with CPU load, the PC will usually just snap the power off while browsing or watching videos.

 

I've tried fiddling with VCore, clocks and secondary voltages, swapped my RAM, tried with a different PSU, nothing helps. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and have you managed to solve it?

[Skiiwee29]

If it is just snapping off and not blue screening, then that doesnt sound like an OC problem, more a power problem...

[Heavygun1450]

I don't know, but that is a pretty crazy overclock on a 4690k. My 4670k Can get to 4.3 GHZ at 1.275V on a hyper 212 EVO (due to temperature constraints.) hitting 75Cish.

[Wiflare]

What are your c-state settings? My 3570k can do much lower voltages (1.17 / 1.18 @ 4.5ghz) because I messed with them a little.

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

I've got the 4690k aswell - I can kinda relate to this behaviour but when it does, it BSOD's (WHEA UE). It only happens when my vcore is too low, for example 1,2 @ 4,3. It needs 1,250-1,255 to run stable at this OC. I'm testing 4,4 at 1,260 atm, cooling with a H100i v2. Stats - http://prnt.sc/exbtzk

 

Update - 4,4 seems to be stable at 1,260, 2hr AIDA with mid 60's on avg.

[Tuugeboi]

23 hours ago, legacy99 said:

If it is just snapping off and not blue screening, then that doesnt sound like an OC problem, more a power problem...

True, I'll try switching out my cpu 8-pin extension cable and see if it helps.

23 hours ago, Heavygun1450 said:

I don't know, but that is a pretty crazy overclock on a 4690k. My 4670k Can get to 4.3 GHZ at 1.275V on a hyper 212 EVO (due to temperature constraints.) hitting 75Cish.

Oops, 4.9 GHz @ 1.4 V / 4.8 @ 1.325. But yeah, I struck the silicon lottery with this one.

23 hours ago, Wiflare said:

What are your c-state settings? My 3570k can do much lower voltages (1.17 / 1.18 @ 4.5ghz) because I messed with them a little.

Default. This one can do 4.5 @ 1.2v, too. Maybe lower, haven't tried out trimming the voltage.

17 hours ago, A6aKaH_Anastasiya said:

I've got the 4690k aswell - I can kinda relate to this behaviour but when it does, it BSOD's (WHEA UE). It only happens when my vcore is too low, for example 1,2 @ 4,3. It needs 1,250-1,255 to run stable at this OC. I'm testing 4,4 at 1,260 atm, cooling with a H100i v2. Stats - http://prnt.sc/exbtzk

 

Update - 4,4 seems to be stable at 1,260, 2hr AIDA with mid 60's on avg.

Mine doesn't BSOD at these voltages, just straight snaps off. 4.4 is a decent OC, u should go for 4.5 since you still have some headroom in terms of heat. Mine runs at 80 degrees at 4.8 GHz, a bit high but i'm willing to trade off the reduced life span for the e-peen of higher clocks hah.

[Skiiwee29]

I think it could be your motherboard potentially since you have tried a different PSU already. The motherboard is the only other variable that controls the power delivery. If you are using the board in your profile, the MSI Z97 Gaming 3, there isnt many power phases on the board. I would look at upgrading your board as it is the likely source at this point. 

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

21 hours ago, legacy99 said:

[...] The MSI Z97 Gaming 3, there isnt many power phases on the board. I would look at upgrading your board as it is the likely source at this point. [...]

Good point. My ASUS has 8 for example, that's the reason I've choosen it over the other options at the given pricepoint.

Edit, is this normal? 

 

[Tuugeboi]

On 4/18/2017 at 3:15 AM, legacy99 said:

I think it could be your motherboard potentially since you have tried a different PSU already. The motherboard is the only other variable that controls the power delivery. If you are using the board in your profile, the MSI Z97 Gaming 3, there isnt many power phases on the board. I would look at upgrading your board as it is the likely source at this point. 

I've been thinking about trying a different mobo, but don't want to shovel out 100+ € for one until I can locate the problem. It doesn't seem to be a lack of power phases, though, since a 100% load presents no problems whatsoever. The crashes only happen during light loads.

[Skiiwee29]

6 minutes ago, Tuugeboi said:

I've been thinking about trying a different mobo, but don't want to shovel out 100+ € for one until I can locate the problem. It doesn't seem to be a lack of power phases, though, since a 100% load presents no problems whatsoever. The crashes only happen during light loads.

But its not a "crash" since there is no error code or blue screen. Its a hard system shut down, meaning power is getting interrupted somewhere along the circuitry. Since you have replaced the PSU already and it did not help, that leaves only one other variable that works with power, and that is the motherboard. Any individual component issue or failure would cause blue screens or crash errors indicating what it was from. This is not happening. Logical reasoning at this point is the motherboard based on the evidence. 

[Imakuni]

On 16/04/2017 at 9:18 PM, Tuugeboi said:

My PC keeps randomly crashing every couple of days while my 4690k is OC'd. Okay, sounds familiar. Just turn up the voltage or lower the clocks, right? Well, no. I can get it to 4.9 GHz @ 1.325V and run any stress test or game just fine for hours on end. The crashes don't seem to correlate with CPU load, the PC will usually just snap the power off while browsing or watching videos.

 

I've tried fiddling with VCore, clocks and secondary voltages, swapped my RAM, tried with a different PSU, nothing helps. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and have you managed to solve it?

Both 4.9 and 1.325v are unrealistic values for a 4690k, unless you are using a custom loop +delid or other exotic solutions. Tune that down, you're crashing because your CPU can't handle those numbers.

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

Small update - I needed 1,290 for 4,5 and 1,330+ for 4,6 but at this point the temps peaked outside of my comfort zone which is around 70+- under synt. load (H100i v2). So I think I'm gonna stay with 4,5 for now.

 

Quote

Both 4.9 and 1.325v are unrealistic values for a 4690k, unless you are using a custom loop +delid or other exotic solutions. Tune that down, you're crashing because your CPU can't handle those numbers.

 Could you please explain this further @Imakuni? No salt here, just curious.

[Imakuni]

3 hours ago, A6aKaH_Anastasiya said:

Small update - I needed 1,290 for 4,5 and 1,330+ for 4,6 but at this point the temps peaked outside of my comfort zone which is around 70+- under synt. load (H100i v2). So I think I'm gonna stay with 4,5 for now.

 

 Could you please explain this further @Imakuni? No salt here, just curious.

It's literally what I meant, these values are too high for regular AIO operation. For the voltage, I expect anything above 1.25v to be pretty hard to cool on Haswell on a proper test; for the clocks, 4.9 is already really good on i7 by themselves, let alone on the lower binned i5 - as you've said yourself, you already need 1.29 for 4.5ghz, 4.9 is just "pffff".

[Tuugeboi]

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

It's literally what I meant, these values are too high for regular AIO operation. For the voltage, I expect anything above 1.25v to be pretty hard to cool on Haswell on a proper test; for the clocks, 4.9 is already really good on i7 by themselves, let alone on the lower binned i5 - as you've said yourself, you already need 1.29 for 4.5ghz, 4.9 is just "pffff".

I already said it's fully stable under load, just crashes when idling/under light load. Also it doesn't matter if I do 4.2 or 4.9, the same crashes occur regardless of voltage. I keep it at 4.8 GHz for daily use to limit the temps a bit, done 4.9 just for testing purposes. As for your cooling concerns, it does pass 80 degrees under AIDA64, but none of my daily workloads (mostly gaming) get it to peak over 75 C. And i'm comfortable with that.

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

Thank you  @Imakuni

 

Tuugeboi, these are mine after a day of gaming load without AIDA - http://prntscr.com/ezclt8 For me my limit is at around 70+ for synthetic loads, I don't like going past that.

[Tuugeboi]

14 hours ago, A6aKaH_Anastasiya said:

Thank you  @Imakuni

 

Tuugeboi, these are mine after a day of gaming load without AIDA - http://prntscr.com/ezclt8 For me my limit is at around 70+ for synthetic loads, I don't like going past that.

Yeah, most people advise not to go over 70 degrees, but since my cpu is kind of old and I'm planning on upgrading soon, I wanna push it to the limits.

 

Nothing wrong with being cautious, though, especially if you're planning on keeping it for a long time. 4.5 GHz is a decent OC, and your temps are really good for the voltage you're using. Do the fans on your aio get loud under load? The h100i v1 stock fans were unbearable, hence why i swapped them for the (painfully expensive but absolutely wonderful) Gentle Typhoons.

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

I use Noctua NF-F12's on it. Atm fixed at 50% even under load, around 800 RPM. They're much better.