Asus X99 system stutter

[Fuad]

Hello,

My System:
Asus X99 Pro - usb 3.1
Intel 5820k
BeQuite dark rock pro 3
Ram Corssair 16 GB
Gigabyte GTX 970
PSU: Thermaltake 850w, Gigabyte 800w
Creative Soundblaster Z
Wacom Intuos 5
Windows 10 pro

Randomly I get system stutter, video-audio out of sync, micro freezes, the issue varies from very light stutter to somtimes un tolerable system perfomance, somtimes it takes few hours to appear, other it appears almost immediatly after power on.
Rarely I get (CPU over voltage error), I turn off the PSU, wait for few secondes, the power back on and everything is normal (CPU core Voltage is set to 1.104v).


Hardware wise: same issue appears with or without overclocking, and I tried the following:
- Bios updated
- Switched PSU: no change
- Swithced Keyboard & Mouse: no change
- Switched HDD to SSD: no change (PS: Sata is set to AHCI mode in bios)
- Disabled other HDD storage drives: no change
- Disabled motherboard wifi and used only Lan card: no change
- DIsabled Lan card and used Wifi: no change
- Disabled Asmedia 3.1 usb controller: no change
- Switched pcie slot for Creative soundblaster: no change (MB audio is already disabled in bIos)
- Set Creative soundblaster pcie slot to -pcie Gen 2 instead of auto- : no change
- Reseated cpu cooler & Ram & Display card, reapllied thermal paste: no change

Software wise:
- Many windows clean installs
- Drivers MB: latest from Asus: no change
- Drivers MB: latest from Intel: crashes and stability issue.
- Drivers Display card: many versions from very old to latest, no change
- Drivers Creative: latest and no change
- Power plan set to high perfromance & Disable cpu parking: same issues exsist but less apparent.
- LatenyMon: please see:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/28qbwtfwsqu5uh6/Latency_Drivers.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/psesj6e2zrm12ss/Latency_Main.jpg?dl=0

I've been trouble shooting my system on my own for over 6 monthes now, and I have nothing more to try, so any help is much appreciated.

Kind Regards

 

[photonboy]

Sounds a lot like system memory issues. I assume you did a full pass using MEMTEST86?

www.memtest86.com

Create the USB or DVD boot tool, then boot to it. If you don't know how, just go into the BIOS and find the "quick boot" (or whatever it's called) and select the USB/DVD which needs to be already inserted.

You can also set the DVD drive as the first boot device, and your Windows SSD as the 2nd device (will check DVD drive for bootable media on bootup).

Run for a FULL PASS (about 30min per 8GB) or until errors.

If any errors, shut down then test one stick at a time. (see motherboard manual for slot to use with one stick only) If one stick fails and one passes you have your solution though you normally RMA memory back as an entire kit.

Really not sure what else the issue could be. Only other options would be:
a) bad motherboard, or
b) bad Power Supply

 

[Fuad]

Thanks Photonboy for your reply, I just finished memtest86, took about 01hr 18min to complete with no errors.
I can also rule out PSU since I already tired 2 different ones.
Any other suggestions I am all ears.

 

[photonboy]

Hmmm.. sounds like maybe the motherboard.

I would contact Asus at this point (Tech Support) and arrange to replace the motherboard.

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-USB-3-1-Intel-Motherboards/product-reviews/B00VUK55M2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_hist_1?filterByStar=one_star&pageNumber=1

*Reading the 1/5 comments which are 19% of comments it shows the quality of this board is very, very poor suggesting a fundamental design flaw likely not necessarily a poor choice of components or manufacturing quality. Multiple people went through MULTIPLE replacements.

**You could try to downclock the memory or CPU (perhaps both at the same time at first) to see if that helps. Really hard to say where the issue lies. Note that passing MEMTEST86 is no guarantee since it's not under much load, in fact intermittent issues are just plan a huge hassle.

OTHER:
Looking up customer feedback for OTHER motherboards too. Really hard to tell as every X99 board has issues. (all boards do in general but X99 seems more problematic for some reason)

 

[Fuad]

Hello Photonboy,

Sorry for the late reply I was sick in the last few days.
I agree, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong in all X99 platforms & very high rma rate, the strange thing is that the processer is great at rendering (I use maya) but at realtime performance applications (such as substance painter, zbrush) I get random performance stutter at the beginning of each brush stroke, sometimes it runs great, other not regardless of the project size I am working on.
I don't have RMA ability on my motherboard, and I wont invest any more money in X99 platform.
Right now I installed Win 7 to rule out any driver issues, and I will revert to my onboard soundcard and remove creative card as a last resort.

Sorry to trouble you this much, but do you have any insight regarding ryzen (thinking about 1700 or 1700x) and motherboard, Ram ?

Kind Regards

 

[photonboy]

Hi,
I have a very good understanding of Ryzen.

If your applications tend to be well threaded then it's probably the best choice. Some points are:

1) use 3200MHz Dual Channel (such as 2x16GB) DDR4 memory. (Ryzen needs up to about 3200MHz due to its architecture to get full benefit)

2) hard to choose a motherboard since so many have crappy reviews despite the fault being AMD not giving enough warning. MOST of these issues have been addressed with UEFI(BIOS) updates.

3) if you have a good CPU cooler there may be an AM4 adapter for it. If not, you'll want a good cooler to get the max overclock

4) THREADRIPPER
- this is a different socket for mostly higher-count CPU's. For example, there's a 16C/32T (twice the cores/threads of the R7-1700/1700X/1800X) for $999USD. A good value for what it is, but still expensive, and your software still needs to be capable of benefitting from those number of threads (for some programs a better GPU for something like CUDA acceleration may make more sense than getting a better CPU).

Threadripper has QUAD CHANNEL support as well so you don't need the same frequency for memory. Not sure the exact cutoff though.

5) I'll make a "build" of the core parts and post it below. (for R7-1700)

6) R7-1700, 1700X and 1800X are identical CPU's once overclocked. Unless there's been some binning which hasn't been shown to be true (even if it was the difference is so small after overclock it's hard to justify the R7-1800X for sure).

 

[photonboy]

1) WARRANTY?
By my calculations your Warranty should be THREE YEARS and still in effect.

2) There is an AM4 update kit to support your motherboard.
http://www.bequiet.com/en/am4

3) Here's the core parts for a Ryzen build (CPU, motherboard, DDR4 memory).
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/CzLGtJ

I know you had a bad experience with an Asus motherboard but don't avoid Asus just because of that. This board seems to be relatively good quality and value.

4) Unfortunately you'd likely need to buy a new Windows license then reinstall everything. Sucks I know.

I know you don't want to risk another bad X99 board but the cost of a new system is adding up. Again, I thought your Warranty was still good but it's up to you.

5) AMD RYZEN isn't optimized for in games and programs, but we will see this improve in the future.

*So not only will programs CODE to optimize the general architecture of Ryzen better, but programs will in general use more THREADS as time goes on so relative to something like the Intel i7-7700K which has HALF the cores/threads but higher performance per core, the R7-1700 will improve a lot over time.

6) Lots of videos and articles about Ryzen but again many will be slightly incorrect as things have changed since the initial release.

7) Building the PC would go generally like THIS:
a) put together motherboard, DDR4 memory, CPU, CPU cooler, graphics card, monitor...
b) then confirm it boots (nothing else yet)
c) update the BIOS
d) run MEMTEST86 (good idea before installing Windows)
e) Install Windows 10 64-bit Home or Pro (again, new license)
f) setup FAN PROFILE (motherboard fan software from motherboard site)
g) test for at least a few days before overclocking
h) overclock (plenty of guides) to roughly 4GHz
i) *create a backup IMAGE of the C-drive (SSD?) using a program like Acronis True Image once all your main programs are installed and the system appears stable.

**Keep that first backup Image because errors can creep in over time. It's best to have the ability to RESTORE a backup that should be clean. I do recommend setting Acronis TI (or whatever) to automate weekly backups, and delete OLDER backups.

Acronis TI is a bit confusing at first, but I have Incremental (one "chain" with four "links", then it deletes and starts over. weekly. 2nd highest compression level as highest is minimal compression benefit for much higher time)

 

[Fuad]

Hi again,

1- Regarding the warrenty issue, I bought this MB while I was in (UAE - Dubai), and now I am in Austria and I don't have the receipt although I still have the box intact, so I don't know what to do or whom should I contact, if you think there is a way to make it work then I'm all ears.
2- Ryzen RAM: will adding 32GB (4x8 same model as you picked) cause any issues?
3- Asus MB: I will take your word for it.

Thanks!