[SOLVED] Blue screen after overclocking CPU

[Luke H./]

I have an I7 9700k at 5ghz all cores at 1.3v. I have ran multiple stress tests for the CPU and everything is fine, good temps, good voltages and the systems is stable.
And all of a sudden when performing small tasks such as watching YouTube or using Microsoft apps, the computer will randomly blue screen. Can anyone give me some advice on how I can resolve this problem, thanks.

 

[SubGTX]

What you use for a cooler?
Because, I don't own the CPU...yet, they say the voltages should be arount 1.37 for 5GHz.

 

[Luke H./]

What you use for a cooler?

The cooling is absolutely fine, it's an X62. When it's at 5ghz on full load it's sitting around 65°c

 

[SubGTX]

OK then up your voltage to 1.37

 

[SubGTX]

Reason I ask on the cooler is because when you up the voltage it will increase the heat

 

[Luke H./]

Reason I ask on the cooler is because when you up the voltage it will increase the heat

Yeah, I understand that. That's why it's at 1.3. It's very comfortable there. Just don't understand the blue screens

 

[SubGTX]

Your CPU needs a little bit more power to run at 5GHz

 

[Luke H./]

Your CPU needs a little bit more power to run at 5GHz

I appreciate your answer, but if it needed more voltage it would've shown blue screens in the stress tests

 

[SubGTX]

I know you're afraid of frying your CPU but these new coffee lake chips can take alot of voltage. They just produce a ton of heat when the voltage goes up.

 

[Luke H./]

I know you're afraid of frying your CPU but these new coffee lake chips can take alot of voltage. They just produce a ton of heat when the voltage goes up.

No, it's not that. I know it will just thermal throttle and turn off to avoid damage. It's just personality, I don't think it needs more voltage than 1.3. I say this because I've performed several stress tests on it at 100% usage and even prime 95 for 2 hours and no blue screen. If there were to be too little voltage on the chip, it would have blues screened during the tests.

 

[MadsModsat]

What voltage setting are you using, I don't mean Vcore, but are you running "Adaptive" (as it is called on ASUS boards) or "Dynamic" (as I believe Gigabyte calls it), I've forgotten what MSI calls it - or are you using Offset, by any chance?

If you aren't using constant Vcore, maybe the voltage drops too low when the CPU is under light loads.

Also, stresstesting for two hours isn't a lot. You should run different benchmarks for longer periods of time, overnight for example, is a good way of doing it.

I also hope you are using more than just Prime95 to test for stability? Realbench is good too, and OCCT as well. AIDA64 is also good.

But no matter how well the computer passes stresstests, an OC is never stable, if you get random BSODs that can be traced back to faults caused by the overclocked CPU. In many ways, everyday use is also a test that needs to be passed - it sounds like your OC needs some more tweaking.

 

[Luke H./]

What voltage setting are you using, I don't mean Vcore, but are you running "Adaptive" (as it is called on ASUS boards) or "Dynamic" (as I believe Gigabyte calls it), I've forgotten what MSI calls it - or are you using Offset, by any chance?

If you aren't using constant Vcore, maybe the voltage drops too low when the CPU is under light loads.

Also, stresstesting for two hours isn't a lot. You should run different benchmarks for longer periods of time, overnight for example, is a good way of doing it.

I also hope you are using more than just Prime95 to test for stability? Realbench is good too, and OCCT as well. AIDA64 is also good.

But no matter how well the computer passes stresstests, an OC is never stable, if you get random BSODs that can be traced back to faults caused by the overclocked CPU. In many ways, everyday use is also a test that needs to be passed - it sounds like your OC needs some more tweaking.

Thanks for your reply. I'm using a gigabyte aorus board. I have AVX offset at 0. Load line calibration is where it should be. And I've used all of those tests and more. I see no other reason to run it for long periods, such as overnight.

 

[MadsModsat]

The reasons for running them overnight is, is very simple, you want to know if your OC is stable. Two hours of Prime95 means nothing, really.
When you run stability tests for extended periods of time, it may actually reveal stability issues that you are not aware of otherwise. Somtimes an OC that seems stable for 5 hours will fail in the 6th hour. That's the reason for running them in extended periods of time. Do you ever use your PC daily for more than two hours straight?

But if you want to make sure what is causing the BSODs you are experiencing, you should analyze the dump files. There are certain errors that will point you in the right direction and if you analyze them correctly, can actually indicate if it is voltage-ralted for example.

And the easiest test to perform at all, is to see if you get the erorrs with your CPU at stock settings, or only while the CPU is OC'ed.

An OC that fail web browsing is not a stable OC.

But you never said what type of Vcore settings you are running. I'm not talking about AVX Offset, I'm talking about Offset Vcore Voltage.
Unless you are running contant Vcore, you should have a look and see if an offset voltage may help in low demand situations.
What is your actual Vcore in light and heavy load scenarios. Are you aware of how much Vdroop you get, and so on? Those are a few things worth looking at if you only experience errors when not running at maximum capacity

 

[Luke H./]

The reasons for running them overnight is, is very simple, you want to know if your OC is stable. Two hours of Prime95 means nothing, really.
When you run stability tests for extended periods of time, it may actually reveal stability issues that you are not aware of otherwise. Somtimes an OC that seems stable for 5 hours will fail in the 6th hour. That's the reason for running them in extended periods of time. Do you ever use your PC daily for more than two hours straight?

But if you want to make sure what is causing the BSODs you are experiencing, you should analyze the dump files. There are certain errors that will point you in the right direction and if you analyze them correctly, can actually indicate if it is voltage-ralted for example.

And the easiest test to perform at all, is to see if you get the erorrs with your CPU at stock settings, or only while the CPU is OC'ed.

An OC that fail web browsing is not a stable OC.

But you never said what type of Vcore settings you are running. I'm not talking about AVX Offset, I'm talking about Offset Vcore Voltage.
Unless you are running contant Vcore, you should have a look and see if an offset voltage may help in low demand situations.
What is your actual Vcore in light and heavy load scenarios. Are you aware of how much Vdroop you get, and so on? Those are a few things worth looking at if you only experience errors when not running at maximum capacity

I'm am very experienced when it comes to this. This is the one problem I've had and not found a solution. It does not blue screen on optimised setting. Only when I set an overclock. I have even followed an overclocking guide for my specific motherboard and cpu and I'm still having issues. I have checked and analysed the dump files but they lead my to a dead end. I use the computer every day for at least 4 hours, and always get the blue screens performing small tasks.

 

[Mohammed3546]

I'm am very experienced when it comes to this. This is the one problem I've had and not found a solution. It does not blue screen on optimised setting. Only when I set an overclock. I have even followed an overclocking guide for my specific motherboard and cpu and I'm still having issues. I have checked and analysed the dump files but they lead my to a dead end. I use the computer every day for at least 4 hours, and always get the blue screens performing small tasks.

Even if you followed a guide on how to overclock your cpu, not every cpu die is the same, because of imperfections some cpu dies may have the ability to overclock more and the others don't, some others may need more voltage to get stable some need less, SubGTX said bump the voltage to 1.37v and see if that works

 

[RodroX]

Theres another thing you could try, set your OC frecuency to 4.8GHz. And test the system for 1 day, if that fix the bluescreen, then as many here tried to tell you, there likely a voltage problem (or deficit), may not be vcore, but some other voltage setting.
Also remember not every silicon is the same, just because the guy in the video and another 3000 people could oc the cpu at 5.0GHz doesn't mean yours can too. Thats why its called silicon lottery, in fact this is the findings of the Silicon Lottery 90% of the CPU tested:

Coffee Lake Refresh

SSE Frequency

AVX2 Frequency

Vcore

% Capable

9700K

5.00GHz

4.80GHz

1.350V

Top 90%

This next one is the 100% fo the CPU tested:

9700K

4.90GHz

4.70GHz

1.337V

100%

Thats why many here are saying you may need more voltage, and why I said drop down the frecuency to 4.8GHz and test again.

Another thing you can do is share the complete model of your motherboard, and make and model of the powersupply and RAM, and even better some screenshots of the OC settings. Is not easy to tell you what could be the problem without more info.

Also did you only OC your CPU, or did you overclocked your RAM too?

What about the GPU, is it overclocked?

Cheers!!!

 

[Luke H./]

Even if you followed a guide on how to overclock your cpu, not every cpu die is the same, because of imperfections some cpu dies may have the ability to overclock more and the others don't, some others may need more voltage to get stable some need less, SubGTX said bump the voltage to 1.37v and see if that works

I do apologise, I have fixed the problem and forgot to mark as fixed. I analysed a dump file and it lead me to a ram issue. I performed ram diagnostics test and the problem was fixed there. I didn't think the problem related to the CPU in any way because it would always blue screen on idle. Thank you for all your comments.

 

[Mohammed3546]

I do apologise, I have fixed the problem and forgot to mark as fixed. I analysed a dump file and it lead me to a ram issue. I performed ram diagnostics test and the problem was fixed there. I didn't think the problem related to the CPU in any way because it would always blue screen on idle. Thank you for all your comments.

You're welcome. So the problem was the ram, the whole time i thought that the cpu needs more voltage

 

[Luke H./]

Theres another thing you could try, set your OC frecuency to 4.8GHz. And test the system for 1 day, if that fix the bluescreen, then as many here tried to tell you, there likely a voltage problem (or deficit), may not be vcore, but some other voltage setting.
Also remember not every silicon is the same, just because the guy in the video and another 3000 people could oc the cpu at 5.0GHz doesn't mean yours can too. Thats why its called silicon lottery, in fact this is the findings of the Silicon Lottery 90% of the CPU tested:

Coffee Lake Refresh

SSE Frequency

AVX2 Frequency

Vcore

% Capable

9700K

5.00GHz

4.80GHz

1.350V

Top 90%

This next one is the 100% fo the CPU tested:

9700K

4.90GHz

4.70GHz

1.337V

100%

Thats why many here are saying you may need more voltage, and why I said drop down the frecuency to 4.8GHz and test again.

Another thing you can do is share the complete model of your motherboard, and make and model of the powersupply and RAM, and even better some screenshots of the OC settings. Is not easy to tell you what could be the problem without more info.

Also did you only OC your CPU, or did you overclocked your RAM too?

What about the GPU, is it overclocked?

Cheers!!!

Thank you very much for your detailed response. After a couple of days of troubleshooting I found a specific dump file and analysed it. It lead me to ram related problems. I performed a ram diagnostics test and the problem was fixed there. The computer had not crashed for a week after that. So I turned my clock speed up to 5.1 on all cores just to see if it was possible. So after another week of frequent testing the CPU seems to be doing perfectly fine, I managed to leave the Vcore voltage at 1.30v and no overheating on the chip and is around a temperate of 55 - 65. Thank you for all your comments they were also very helpful!

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
Power supply: Corsair RM850X

 

[Luke H./]

You're welcome. So the problem was the ram, the whole time i thought that the cpu needs more voltage

Yes I do apologise, I think everyone on this page thought if was a voltage issue. But with a couple more days of scrolling through dump files I found one that lead to something about ram. Which I'd never thought about. The ram XMP had been turned on so it could run at 3200mhz. Not sure if that was the problem, but I ran a diagnosis test for the ram and it said it had found 1 issue. So then the program corrected that issue and with further usage and stress testes it turned out that the problem had been fixed. I checked in the bios and still the XMP was enabled after the fix. So I'm not entirely sure what it did, but it fixed it! No more blue screen for a week after that, and even managed to up the clock speed to 5.1 on all cores at the same voltage of 1.30. Still no blue screens a week after I made that change to the clock speed so all looks to be perfectly stable.