[SOLVED] 3770K crashes at high vcore PLEASE HELP!

shot1ko

Prominent
Jan 24, 2019
7
0
510
Hello everyone,
MB: Asrock Z77 WS
Cooler: Noctua NH D15

Problem is that, CPU running 4.0ghz still crashes at 1.32v, and 4.3ghz still crashes at 1.45v. Tried tons of different settings, results were always same, PC crashes at very high cpu voltage.
On other board (Asrock z77 extreme 4) I was able to run 4.3ghz at 1.25 with no problems after hours of stress testing. I used fixed voltage and disabled C-states, thats all.

Temps were always below 70C at full load.
I also did re-flash bios.

I also tried to leave everything Auto and just increase multiplier at 4.2ghz, PC didn't crash but vcore reached almost 1.5v.
 
Solution
First, I wouldn't do that. Set the LLC to just below middle. So for you on that board, probably 6. High LLC is only for EXTREME overclocking configurations, and your configuration does not constitute an extreme configuration.

5 or 6 at most. Might even start with 7 and see how much vdroop there is if possible/stable at some point.

Too much voltage can cause crashing and instability just the same as too little.

Those power supplies were very good, well, pretty good, when new, but that was like 8 years ago. That means it was likely sitting in inventory for two years before you bought it, and now six years later we can assume it is at least six years and more like 8 years old. Probably group regulated, almost certainly. Probably has...
Besides the CPU temps, have you check the motherboard temps. The motherboard (VRMs) could be overheating or they are not longer able to provide the voltage you need.

If you haven't, also reset the motherboard to default settings in case there is a setting stuck and it is preventing any OC.
 
I've seen a lot of threads regarding not being able to overclock well on that board, but based on it's 8+4 power phase design it ought to be fairly decent.

Did you buy this board used?

The first thing I'd probably recommend doing is pulling the CPU back out and making 110% certain that there are no bent pins on the motherboard socket. Sometimes they are incredibly difficult to see if you aren't specifically looking for them, even requiring some kind of magnification to clearly identify in some cases.

The other thing to initially look at is the possibility that the CPU cooler isn't installed just right. If it's too tight at one corner or on one side, it can cock the CPU in the socket and cause all sorts of weird problems. It needs to be incrementally tightened in a crosshatch pattern and it needs to be totally even and flat. I'm sure you know what you are doing, but it's also an easy mistake to make even sometimes for veteran builders.

I'd take a visual check of the motherboard as well. Look for any bulging or leaking caps or scratches that might have scored traces or any burnt marks.

Have you tried stress testing it at the stock configuration using Prime95 version 26.6 Small FFT or Realbench using the stress test option, to see if the problem is only related to overclocking or whether maybe there is actually a bigger concern that reaches beyond just the overclocked configuration? Sometimes problems only become MORE obvious when overclocking, but exist even at the stock configuration you just don't notice it as much as the overclock tends to magnify problems.
 
I didn't check the socket pins but everything else seems ok.
Problem isn't that pc isn't stable, problem is that in order pc to be stable, it needs high vcore. All temps are below 70c at 100% load and in gaming it barely reachs 60c, cooler and cooling isn't the issue thats for sure.

One thing I'm really confused about is that in MoBo description there is line where it says:
"Voltage - Supports 1.35V to 1.60V", what does that mean?
 
So, I wasn't trying to indicate the cooler being a problem due to thermal compliance. There are a variety of other ways for an improper cooler installation to affect operation when the CPU gets slightly cocked in the socket due to uneven mounting pressure. It's ALWAYS worth checking because I've seen that cause everything from drives that wouldn't work correctly to red dots onscreen to instability or even failure to POST.

As for that comment about voltage, where are you seeing that? Specifically?

And how do you know that stability isn't the issue? Have you tested the stability at the stock configuration to KNOW that? Just because a system doesn't bluescreen or restart, doesn't mean that there are not stability or power delivery issues.

You also didn't answer the question regarding whether or not this was a used board you purchased, or if it was NOS (New old stock).

What was the reason you changed motherboards to begin with?
 
I was monitoring voltages via bios, hwmonitor and cpuz, the difference was not much to make sense.
I ran p95 v26,6 small fft full night, about 9-10 hours and everything seemed ok. That moment cpu was running at 4.0ghz and 1.35vcore, anything lower causes blue screen. I bought this mobo and i5 2500k several years ago as an upgrade from 775. They were both used. I also had high vcore issues then but didn't pay attention, thought it was just awful chip. And few days ago a friend of mine gifted me his i7. He was running that chip at 4.3 ghz at 1.25v. My pc doesnt even boot at that vcore using 4.0 ghz
 
So you weren't actually running the i7 on the Extreme4, to be able to reasonably compare the two? Is there something wrong with the Extreme 4 or is that board still good? Obviously, with the addition of four hyperthreads you're not going to be stable at the same voltage as you were with the 2500k, so that is normal. The fact that it doesn't want to be stable at those clocks regardless of voltage might actually indicate that there is a problem with the CPU, and might be why your friend gifted it to you in the first place. Then again, might not be that at all.

Have you run the Intel diagnostic on the CPU to test it at stock settings?

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool
 
My friend had that chip paired with extreme 4, and i wanted to use same oc settings and run same speed at same vcore, as i said 4.3ghz was running at 1.25v, 2500k has nothing to do here.
NO! just forget about that he gifted me coz it was faulty cpu.
Tomorrow I'm gona try this cpu on P8z77 board and see vcore and ghz, but I'm sure problem is in my z77 ws borad, something is wrong with it not with cpu.
Just ran this diagnostic tool and everything is ok.
 
Then I would totally agree that it is probably due to the motherboard if

It worked fine on the other board.

It passes the CPU diagnostic test.

The other possibility is that since he was using a different power supply, I would assume, than you, perhaps there is an issue with fluctuation or power delivery from your power supply. What is the exact model of your power supply and how long has it been in service?

And not that this is entirely relevant to your problem, since you HAVE tried various configurations, but even using the exact same CPU you are very unlikely to ever get the same exact stability on different boards using identical settings. There will always be variances between boards or from CPU to CPU, even if the motherboard model is identical but especially when they are different. Every motherboard and every CPU has it's own unique characteristics and what works on one may not work exactly the same on the other. It can, but it doesn't always.
 
Hmm, never thought about psu.
I'm using OCZ ZS 650w bronze 80+, 5-6 years old, bought new one from store.
Other pc parts are:
gtx 1060 6g
1ssd, 1hdd, cd/dvd rom, 5 case fans.

I understand what you are saying but vcroe jump from 1.25 up to 1.4+ at same or lower speed is abnormal, whatever boards are used to test same cpu
 
Not really, if you are talking about the Auto configuration. Motherboards almost always tend to seriously overdo the voltage when you raise the multiplier if you leave the voltage to the motherboard to determine. If you mean NEEDING to manually raise the voltage that high, then yes, that is unrealistic and is probably the motherboard itself, but if you don't have stable, clean voltage from the power supply, then it is equally possible that you have to use that much voltage to compensate for that.

Have you tried making any adjustments to the LLC settings to compensate for vdroop on that board, with the base voltage set to a more reasonable level?
 
I used LLC level 1 (100% for asrock board) and fixed voltage to get stable 1.3v at 4.0ghz. Crashed when windows logo appeared, then raised vcore by 0.010 and haven't crashed since then. BTW the settings i ran p95 and was gaming as well was 1.35

Do you think my ocz psu can be a problem at some point?
 
First, I wouldn't do that. Set the LLC to just below middle. So for you on that board, probably 6. High LLC is only for EXTREME overclocking configurations, and your configuration does not constitute an extreme configuration.

5 or 6 at most. Might even start with 7 and see how much vdroop there is if possible/stable at some point.

Too much voltage can cause crashing and instability just the same as too little.

Those power supplies were very good, well, pretty good, when new, but that was like 8 years ago. That means it was likely sitting in inventory for two years before you bought it, and now six years later we can assume it is at least six years and more like 8 years old. Probably group regulated, almost certainly. Probably has some degradation of the capacitors, almost certainly. That unit had very good voltage regulation, ripple and protections when it was a current platform, but now it's just old and tired.

The fact that it still does it's job is a testament to the quality of the unit overall, but honestly I think if it were me I'd retire it to a lighter duty machine until such time as it exhibits obvious signs of failure, and get something much newer with a modern platform if it's going to be part of an overclocked system. But that's just me. I wouldn't use any five year or older power supply from the old days when the warranties were usually only a year to three years, for overclocking anything these days. Modern power supplies are built to run under demanding conditions, if they are good quality platforms from a well trusted source, for as much as five to ten years.

If you click the spoiler box below you can see MY particular recommendations when it comes to selecting a new power supply if you decide that is what you want to do. It might not be your core problem, but it certainly couldn't hurt and it's probably a really good idea no matter what else might be going on. It could even be the core problem. Any problem you can have on a system, CAN be due to something with the power delivery.

Let's start with the biggest misconception out there, which is that if a unit has high watts it will be ok or is good. No. Just, no.

There are plenty of 750-1000w units out there that I wouldn't trust to power a light bulb and might in fact be more dangerous due to their supposedly high capacity due to poor or non-existent protections inside the unit.

If the platform isn't good to begin with, how many watts or amps it says it can support is irrelevant.

Higher 80plus certification doesn't mean anything, UNLESS it's on an already known to be high quality PSU platform. For example, a Seasonic Prime platinum unit is going to be a better product than a Seasonic Prime Gold unit, because we already know the Prime platform is very good, and platinum efficiency along with it shows there are some improvements internally to account for the higher efficiency.

In a case like that, it might be worth it. It's likely the unit will create less heat, it will probably have better performance in regard to ripple, noise and voltage regulation. It might shave a few pennies, or dollars, off the electric bill over the course of a year.

Other than that, it is not going to perform any better than the same platform with Gold efficiency. On the other hand, just because a unit has Titanium 80plus ratings doesn't mean the unit is any good at all. For example, there are Raidmax units with Titanium efficiency and I wouldn't trust one of those to power a light bulb. There are a lot of units like this out there.

If the platform isn't good to begin with, whether or not it has an 80plus certification or not is irrelevant.

Whatever you do, don't EVER buy a power supply based on whether it has RGB or lighting, or looks like it might be a quality unit. Some of the biggest hunks of junk out there look just as good as a Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium, but I assure you, they are not. So far as I've seen there are really no excellent units out there that have RGB built in. Maybe one or two models, but rest assured you'll be be paying for the lighting, not for the quality of the power supply.

I don't know what country you reside in, and I know that sometimes it's hard to come by good units in some regions, but when possible, when it comes time to get that PSU, I'd stick to the following if you can.

Seasonic. Seasonic isn't just a brand, they are a PSU manufacturer, unlike many of the PSU brands you see they make their own power supply platforms AND a great many of the very good PSU models out there from other brands like Antec, Corsair and older XFX are made by Seasonic.

Just about anything made by Seasonic is good quality for the most part. There are really no bad Seasonic units and only a very few that are even somewhat mediocre. They do make a few less-good quality OEM style units, but mostly those are not going to be units you come across at most vendors, and they are still not bad. Also, the S12II and M12II 520 and 620w units are older, group regulated models. At one time they were among the best units you could buy. Now, they are outdated and not as good as almost any other Seasonic models. They are however still better than a LOT of newer designs by other manufacturers.

The Seasonic 520w and 620w S12II/M12II units CAN be used on newer Intel platforms, if you turn off C6/C7 in the bios, but I'd really recommend a newer platform whenever possible. Prices are usually pretty good on those though, so sometimes it's worth accepting the lack of DC-DC on the internal platform. Higher capacity versions of the High current gamer are not based on that platform, so they are fine. Those being the 750w and higher versions.

Most common currently, in order of preference, would be the Seasonic Focus series, then Focus plus, then Prime, then Prime ultra. It's worth mentioning that there are generally Gold, Platinum and Titanium versions within each, or most, of those series, but that does not necessarily mean that a Focus plus Platinum is necessarily better than a Prime Gold. It only means that it scored better in the 80plus efficiency testing, not that the platform is better.

Again, don't let yourself get tangled up in the idea that a higher 80plus rating specifically means that it is a better unit than another one with a lower rating, unless you know that it is a good platform from the start. All these Focus and Prime units are pretty good so you can somewhat focus on the 80plus rating when deciding which of them to choose.

Super Flower Super Flower is another PSU manufacturer. They also make most of the good units sold by EVGA like the G2, G3, P2 and T2 models.

Super Flower doesn't have a very broad availability for the units with their own brand name on them, and are not available in a lot of countries but for those where there is availability you want to look at the Leadex and Leadex II models. The Golden green platform is fairly decent too but is getting rather long in the tooth as a platform AND I've seen some reviews indicating a few shortcomings on units based on this platform.

Even so, it's a great deal better than a lot of other platforms out there so you could certainly do worse than a Golden green model. Units based on the Leadex and Leadex II platforms are much better though.

Corsair. The CX and CXm units are ok as a budget option, but I do not recommend pairing them with gaming cards. The newer 2017 models of CX and CXm are better than the older ones, but still not what we'd call terrific, so if it specifically says 2017 model, or it has a capacity other than an even 100, like 550w, 650w, 750w, etc., then it's likely at least better than those older ones. Aside from that, any of the TX, RMx, RMi, HX, HXi, AX or AXi units are good. Those are listed from best to worst, with the best being the AX and AXi units.

Antec. The True power classic units are made by Seasonic, and are very good, but are not modular. The High current gamer 520w and 620w, or any other PSU you see on the market that is 520w or 620w, are also made by Seasonic, based on the S12II and M12II platform for modern versions, and are pretty good units but again they are an older platform that is group regulated so if you go with a Haswell or newer Intel configuration you will want to avoid those because they do not support the C6/C7 Intel low power states.

The Antec High current gamer 750w and 850w units are very good and are not the older design, which came in 520w and 620w capacities and were good for back then but again, are an aging Seasonic platform that is not the best choice most of the time these days. Occasionally, these older units MIGHT be the best unit available and you could do worse than one of them, but a newer DC-DC platform is desirable when possible if it doesn't mean sacrificing quality elsewhere in the platform. There are however older and newer HCG models, so exact model number will likely be a factor if choosing one of these however both the older models and the newer models are good.

Antec Edge units are ok too, but reviews indicate that they have noisy fan profiles. I'd only choose this model if it is on sale or the aesthetics match up with your color scheme or design. Still a good power supply but maybe a little aggressive on the fan profile. This may have been cured on newer Edge models so reading professional tear down reviews is still the best idea.

Antec Earthwatts Gold units are very good also.

BeQuiet. BeQuiet does have a few decent models, BUT, you must be VERY selective about which of their models you put your trust in. From model to model their are huge differences in both quality and performance, even with the same series. If you cannot find a review for a BeQuiet unit on HardOCP, JonnyGuru or Tom's hardware that SPECIFICALLY says it is a very good unit, and does not have any significant issues in the "cons" category, I would avoid it. In fact, I'd probably avoid it anyhow unless there is a very great sale on one that has good reviews, because their units are generally more expensive than MUCH better units from Antec, Seasonic, EVGA and Corsair.

Super Flower. They are like Seasonic and they make power supplies for a variety of other companies, like EVGA. Super Flower units are usually pretty good. I'd stick to the Leadex, Leadex II and Golden Green models.

EVGA. They have BOTH good and not very good models.

Not very good are the W1, N1, B1, B3 (All models except the 650w model), BQ, BR, BT and G1 NEX models.

Good models are the B2, B3 650w, G2, G2L, G3, GQ, P2 and T2 models.

FSP. They used to be very mediocre, and are a PSU manufacturer like Seasonic and Super Flower, although not as well trusted based on historical performance. Currently the FSP Hydro G and Hydro X units are pretty good.

I would avoid Thermaltake and Cooler Master. They do have a few good units, but most of the models they sell are either poor or mediocre, and the ones they have that ARE good are usually way overpriced.

This is just ONE example of why I say that. Very new and modern CM unit. One of the worst scores ever seen on JG for a well known brand name product. Doesn't look to be much better than a Raidmax unit. Sad.


And most of the models I have linked to the reviews of at the following link are at least good, with most of them being fantastic.


Certainly there ARE some good units out there that you won't see above among those I've listed, but they are few and far between, much as a hidden nugget of gold you find in a crevice among otherwise ordinary rocks and don't EVER assume a unit is good just because of the brand.

If you cannot find an IN DEPTH, REPUTABLE review on Tom's hardware, JonnyGuru, HardOCP, Hardware secrets (Old reviews by Gabe Torres), Kitguru (Only Aris reviews), TechPowerUP, SilentPC crew or a similar site that does much more than simply a review of the unboxing and basic tests that don't include reliable results for ripple, noise, voltage regulation and a complete teardown of the unit including identification of the internal platform, then the unit is a big fat question mark.

I recommend not trusting such units as companies generally always send out review samples of any unit they feel is going to get a good review, and don't send them out if they know they are going to get hammered by the reviewer. No review usually equals poor quality. Usually.

Other models that should never be trusted OR USED AT ALL, under any circumstances, include A-Top, Apevia, Apex (Supercase/Allied), Artic, Ace, Aerocool (There might be one model worth using, but I'd still avoid them.), Aspire (Turbocase), Atadc, Atrix, Broadway com corp, Chieftech, Circle, CIT, Coolmax, Deer, Diablotek, Dynapower, Dynex, Eagletech, Enlight, Evo labs, EZ cool, Feedtek, Foxconn, G7, HEC/Compucase Orion, HEDY, iBall, iStar computer co., Jeantec, JPac, Just PC, Kolink, LC Power, Linkworld electronics, Logisys, Macron, MSI, NmediaPC, Norwood Micro (CompUSA), Okia, Powercool, Powmax, Pulsepower, Q-tec, Raidmax, RaveRocketfish, Segotep, SFC, Sharkoon, Shuttle, Skyhawk, Spire, Startech, Storm, Sumvision, Tesla, Trust, Ultra, Wintech, Winpower, Xilence (Until I see a reputable review of a model showing different), xTreme (Cyberpower), Youngbear and Zebronics.

 
Solution
Someone here had EXACTLY same problem I have and then he fixed it but didn't say what exactly he did.
Can you guys help me to figure it out?

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/115545-intel-core-i7-3770k-high-vcorevoltage/