Question Did i just get the worst core i9 9900K ?

[pegabee]

Hi All

I've been trying to overclock my core i9 9900k for two weeks now, but i am more and more leaning towards that I just simply got a very bad luck on the silicon lottery.

I'm running this in an MSI Z390 Godlike MB, 16 GB 3600 DDR4 and a samsung 970Pro M.2 SSD + AX1000 Corsair PSU, so power should not be an issue.

The system runs perfectly at core speeds, no problem. I've followed MSI's guides both from YouTube and their forum to overclock the CPU but I am running into issues.

If i set 5 GHZ, either with manual voltage or auto voltage, instant BSOD. I tried with Intel Extreme Tuning Utility as well, while running benchmark for 5 GHZ, it shuts off after a few seconds, so yea 5 GHz is out of question, even though i've seen these OC'd at 5.2 in videos.

I'm using a custom waterloop and generally haven't seen the temps going above 75 degrees.

So after 5 came 4.9. With the intel software I was relatively stable but when i tried to do a 3d mark, it shut down as well. System restarted and prompted to review bios due to failure with overclocking setups. I reseted BIOS but still had a few BSOD before reaching the desktop usually with "PAGE FAUILT IN NONPAGED AREA" - the affected file was always different.

After a few attempts windows booted properly.

3 things of note here:

• previously i though the ram or the maybe the motherboard was a problem, so i actually replaced them both, MB and RAM are literally 1 day old right now, processor has been with me for around 2,5 weeks.
• i realized both in BIOS and hardwareinfo that even when not overclocked the processors runs at pretty high voltage. often in the 1.3 area despite being more or less idle, idle temps are in the low 30s though.
• i'm running the latest version of the bios from MSI's page.

Am i missing something really obvious here or indeed I've just been "blessed" with a really bad CPU ?

 

[dhirajranger]

"i realized both in BIOS and hardwareinfo that even when not overclocked the processors runs at pretty high voltage. often in the 1.3 area despite being more or less idle, idle temps are in the low 30s though."

Looks to me like your PSU is not able to deliver enough current at lower voltage / not able to maintain steady power supply. can you check with a friend's PSU or try without water cooling rig to remove psu burden.

 

[mdd1963]

1.3 V is not really 'pretty high voltage' when discussing a 9900K , and certainly is not a cause for concern if your temps are 30C when idle...

However, you said the rig 'shuts off'? That is a cause for concern, pointing perhaps more to PSU or MB, but, I'd check you BIOS for any settings that might limit TDP, and make sure that no TDP limits are enabled...(Certainly, you'd be at near 130-140 watts with all cores at 5 GHz, so any BIOS options that add 30-40% to max available power would be needed)

I'd try simply setting most things to default, and XMP RAM profiles to whatever speed RAM you have installed, and see if the mainboard will has MCE (MultiCore Enhancement) enabled, where it will try to run all cores at max turbo, which for that CPU would be 5 GHz anyway....

at 7 :08 or so in the video linked below, there are several BIOS options discussed for your specific MB, however....can't hurt to double check any/all that might apply...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82k7BXh35N8

 

[pegabee]

Thank you for the tips.

I've ordered one more PSU and CPU, both of them should be here in the next 2 days. and then I Can do some comparison testing as literally these are the only two items I have not excluded from the list yet. (God bless Amazon return policy)

1) Ram has been replaced, same issues kept occurring - memory test has never shown any issues - I initially thought it was ram because all of the BSODs messages could be tied to memory problems

2) MB has been replaced but same issues keep happening with the same OC settings.

Once I have new components I'll try to do the following:

• New PSU + Old CPU
• New PSU + New CPU
• Old PSU + New CPU

In the interim I'll try to tweak the voltage with the existing setup. Is there a recommended limit I should not go above ? ie. 1.4 for the core i9 9900K ?

Also are there any tests I could run to determine if the PSU is performing at the right level ?

 

[-Fran-]

If you want to achieve a solid OC at 5Ghz with under 1.4v, sorry to say, but you're delusional. If you're using Auto Voltage, then the board may not be providing the necessary voltage because of safety boundaries (MoBo's try to avoid going over 1.45v as I've seen; could be wrong) and if you set it to a fixed ~1.43 volts (which is pretty damn high for these anyway), then you will loose power saving features for a constant 5Ghz OC. Pick your poison, but if you're trying to OC just for the epeen, consider not doing it with the 9900K, as it's already stretched out to the very limits of the Silicon by Intel.

That being said, I haven't OC'ed the latest and greatest from Intel, but they all follow the same formula in regards for Turbo states and C states. So I'm going by my general knowledge and understanding of the platform rather than personal experience.

And I don't think the PSU is faulty; I believe the MoBo is just trying to save it's behind by rebooting/shutting down.

Cheers!